How to improve the skills of teaching staff: all the challenges of the On the Way to Excellence project

Jan 18, 2024News

Teaching is an arduous task. Relating to the class group, listening to them, understanding them and learning how to interact with them can be even more complex. For this reason, within the framework of the project On the Way to Excellence, together with the other partner organisations, we have tried our hand at creating a support programme for teachers who have recently embarked on this career path.

From May to November 2023, 46 teachers with less than five years of teaching experience, residing in Warsaw, Athens and Palermo had the opportunity to participate in a 48-hour training organised as part of the project, thus being able to sharpen their knowledge in five different areas:

  • Interpersonal skills in dealing with students;
  • Managing critical situations in the classroom;
  • Dialogue with SEN students;
  • Managing personal crises related to one’s professional role;
  • Peer-mentoring at school.

After participating in the training, most of the teachers were extremely satisfied with their experience. The course enabled them to enhance their awareness of the context in which they work, increasing their self-confidence and desire to face different challenges. In the coming months, all the training modules tested by the above-mentioned teachers will be made available on the websites of the partner organisations. Promotional events will be organised in the project’s core cities to disseminate the programme and show its positive results.

Finally, at the beginning of December, the project partnership met in Athens to discuss changes to the modules and to organise the final conference to be held in Warsaw in April 2024. During this international event, the OTWE programme will be presented to more than 85 people working in education and teaching. Furthermore, it will be an opportunity for a valuable exchange on extremely important topics in all the countries involved.

If you are a teacher who has been working in a school for a short time and would like to strengthen your skills in classroom management, check out the resources that will be published in the coming months on: https://danilodolci.org/en/project/onthewaytoexcellence/. Don’t hesitate, take a look!

ON THE WAY TO EXCELLENCE – BEGINNER TEACHER SUPPORT PROGRAM is an Erasmus+ project funded by the KA2 Cooperation Partnership in Adult Education programme, which intends to support newly hired teachers in acquiring useful tools for class management.

Partners

For further information contact Giulia D’Annibale giulia.dannibale@danilodolci.org