International

Case study 1

Collaborative learning and working through networks, Austria

The Austrian New Secondary School reform started as a relatively small-scale project in 2008 with 67 pilot schools. Since then, it has become a mandated school reform that will be completed in phases by 2018. Central to the reform is the creation of a new leadership position at the school level, the Lerndesigner, a teacher-leader who, together with the school’s principal and other teacher-leaders (subject co-ordinators, school development teams, etc.) serve as change agents in their schools. They are guided by the principle of school-specific reform and focus on the dual national reform goals of equity and excellence.

Much effort is devoted to building social and leadership capital through networking events. These play a central role in the reform as they provide the venue for learning, peer learning and dissemination of good practice. A specially designed two year national accredited qualification programme for Lerndesigners and an online platform for sharing ideas and practices are integral parts of the reform’s continuous professional development and leadership development efforts.

Source: OECD (2015), Schooling Redesigned: Towards Innovative Learning Systems, Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264245914-en.

Case study 2

Neighbourhood as School project, Brazil

A new concept of education was developed in Vila Madalena, a small district in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo. Since 1997, the non-governmental organisation Cidade Escola Aprendiz, has been turning squares, alleys, cinemas, ateliers, cultural centres and theatres into classrooms. This “Neighbourhood as School” concept, an extension of formal schooling, aims to expand learning spaces in the community, creating a pedagogic laboratory in which learning is also knowing oneself and socially intervening in the community through communication, art and sports. The success of the Neighbourhood as School concept rests on a partnership among schools, families, public authorities, entrepreneurs, associations, craftspeople, non-governmental organisations and volunteers. Everybody educates and everybody learns.

Source: UNICEF (2009), Child Friendly School Manual, UNICEF, New York. www.unicef.org/publications/files/Child_Friendly_Schools_Manual_EN_040809.pdf.