Francesca, de la academia IFOM de Bolonia, recibe a Don José Carlos

Hoy toca otro pequeeeeño comentario en inglés, para practicar un poco -tenemos ahora muchos lectores entre el alumnado- y porque su autora es Francesca Tamburini, la responsable de haber organizado el curso de formación de nuestro compañero José Carlos García allí en la bella Bolonia. Una vez más, damos la voz a nuestros socios.

Exhaustivo, detallado y preciso. Francesca nos explica con detenimiento los objetivos del curso, los métodos de trabajo y alguna que otra cosilla más sobre el centro de formación al que, casi con toda seguridad, acudirá nuestra compañera de Biología, Pilar Colmenero Varea, dentro de unos meses, como parte del programa de movilidades de nuestro humilde proyecto ErasmusPlus KA101.

Comentábamos hace un par de entradas, que, para asegurar el éxito de una movilidad tan importante es la motivación y preparación del profesorado participante como la adecuada selección del curso, del centro que lo imparte y de sus estándares -lamento usar esta palabra por gastada, sorry- de calidad.

Empezamos a planificar este viaje allá por Diciembre, así que ha llovido -es un decir aquí en Jaén- un poco desde entonces. Un parto, con un par de semanas extra. 

Uno de los objetivos de este sencillo blog es el de poder ayudar a aquellos de vosotros que estéis pensando en la posibilidad de solicitar un proyecto EramusPlus, y este comentario de hoy va en esta línea, en tanto que buscar proveedores de cursos de calidad no es nada fácil, ni la gestión de la comunicación con ellos, ya que las distancias siempre pueden causar algún pequeño problemilla, si bien no es el caso en esta ocasión.

Además, aprovechamos para comentar un tema que pocos ciudadanos conocemos, la Carta de Derechos Europeos para una Movilidad de Calidad, que aparece desglosada al término de este artículo. No está de más echarle un vistazo si estáis pensando en organizar algún tipo de movilidad. 

Aprovecho para dar las gracias a Francesca por su amabilidad y paciencia, sabiendo que acogerán a José Carlos con mucho cariño y que su estancia en Bolonia será de gran provecho.

Por cierto, hoy toca saludar a nuestros nuevos amigos de esta semana, de Guatemala, Libia, Paraguay y La República Dominicana, junto con nuestro ya asiduo lector de la maravillosa isla Mauricio.

Manuel Molina.
Coordinador del proyecto EramusPlus.

'The Institute for Training, Employability and Mobile learning (IFOM) is a training centre that holds an extensive experience in designing and implementing learning mobility projects for teachers, education staff and students with the support of European programmes, especially Erasmus+. 

IFOM designs and organises training courses and structured training events such as job-shadowing and study visits for teachers, trainers, headmaster and other education staff with the aim of supporting the development of competences and transversal skills as well as the quality of the education system in Europe.

Every year we introduce new courses based on innovative education trends and participants’ feedback. In 2018-19 we offer 22 different courses about ICT and new technologies, soft skills, inclusion and special needs, intercultural learning and diversity, anti-bullying and early school leaving, non-formal education, project-based learning, stress management, work-based learning, entrepreneurship, innovative teaching methods and much more. Last but not least, we organise our courses in 3 beautiful locations in Italy (Bologna and Palermo) and Spain (Tenerife).

You can get a full view on our course offer and experience at www.erasmustrainingcourses.com and in our course catalogue.

During the first week of October, IFOM will have the pleasure to welcome JOSÉ CARLOS GARCIA PALACIOS from IES Sierra Mágina to its brand-new training course “Outdooreducation: a new way of teaching and learning”.

During the training week, José Carlos will have the possibility to exchange experiences and good practices on how to integrate outdoor learning activities in formal education with fellow colleagues from Malta, Latvia, Ireland and Croatia.

The course is designed to provide teachers and other education staff with the basic skills and tools to lead a wide range of group exercises, problem-solving games and experiential activities in the nature, on school sites, in local parks as well as in urban settings. The general aim of the course is to foster excellence and innovation in education by equipping teachers and education staff with the basic knowledge and skills to integrate outdoor education activities in their education programmes.

Thanks to this course participants will get acquainted the key elements, principles and growing trends related to outdoor education and teaching outside the classroom. Certainly, it is an opportunity to get to know and experiment practical activities and group games that could be used and integrated in a real course.

We wish to José Carlos to make the most of this Erasmus+ experience and we’re looking forward to welcoming him to Bologna!

Our pedagogical approach and quality standards

IFOM course offer is designed to meet market, school and education staff’ expectations. We know the real context and the challenges that teachers have to face every day and we do our best to address both specific professional needs and the development of soft skills and transversal competencies and challenges.

During our long-lasting experience, we have developed a specific pedagogical approach based on the use of innovative teaching methods, experiential training, learning-by-doing and best practices exchange in a cooperative and international environment. Moreover, we do our best to tailor the working methods and the training program on participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.

What our past participants appreciated the most during our training courses is our interactive and hands-on approach as well as our support for the project application phase, practical arrangements (boarding and lodging), certification and dissemination activities. We also believe in the importance of networking and socialization. That’s why during our training courses we organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy and Tenerife as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation links.

As project partner, IFOM brings a strong added value to an Erasmus+ project thanks to:

- Its experience in more than 100 Erasmus+ projects

- Its international activity and presence (e.g. eTwinning, SEG, EPALE…)

- Its involvement as stakeholder in the European Commission initiatives and networks

- Its dissemination and visibility capacity and support

We comply to the 10 principles set in the European Quality Charter for Mobility:

1. Information and guidance: we provide every participant with access to clear and reliable sources of information and guidance on mobility and the conditions in which it can be taken up, including details of the Charter and the roles of sending and hosting organizations

2.  Learning plan: we draw up a learning plan describing the objectives and expected outcomes, the means of achieving them and the evaluation measures, taking account of reintegration issues

3. Personalization: we tailor the mobility based on participants’ needs and we ensure that the training course fits in with personal learning pathways, skills and motivation of participants and develops or supplements them

4. General preparation: before departure, we can provide participants with general preparation tailored to their specific needs and covering linguistic, pedagogical, legal, cultural and financial aspects

5. Linguistic aspects: we support the participants both before, during and after the course, we speak 10 languages do we can fully support the participants form the linguistic point of view

6. Logistical support: our venues are easily accessible and based on our vast experience in mobility projects we provide detailed information and assistance concerning travel arrangements, insurance, the portability of government grants and loans, residence or work permits, social security and any other practical aspects

7. Mentoring: we provide continuous mentoring to advise and help participants before, throughout and after their stay

8. Recognition: we’ve vast experience in recognition of learning outcomes and we assist participants and sending organizations in the recognition and certification process including the issuing of the Europass mobility certificate

9. Reintegration and evaluation: during the training we run daily evaluations as well as a final evaluation to monitor and assess all aspects of the training courses and ensure its quality, when appropriate we run an ex-ante and ex-post evaluation to assess the learning outcomes and the competences acquired, after the training we support participants in order to enhance their reintegration

10.  Commitments and responsibilities: we draw up and sign with the participant a learning agreement and quality commitment and we monitor that the training course comply with these standards.

For more information about our course offer and experience, please visit www.erasmustrainingcourses.com or take a look at our course catalogue. For any further information, please feel free to write to Francesca at the following email address: f.tamburini@ifom.info

Francesca Tamburi.