Promoting Learning Environments from Nursery to Primary School

<< Background >>Partners’ long-term observations and additional research established that many children lose interest in going to school as they progress through the compulsory education system. Reflecting on this and observing the changing attitudes of pupils in the classroom as they progress through their schooling, our partnership concluded that there is a critical point at which this shift takes place. This is the transition from infant to primary education. It is also at this time that there is an important methodological change, moving from working in spaces centred on the wellbeing of the pupil to spaces centred on the achievement of academic success. Knowing, thanks to numerous investigations, that the emotional state of the student is key for meaningful learning to take place, we wanted to extend and adapt the practices that have proven successful in early childhood education to primary education in order to reduce the struggle that both children and teachers often experience in the classroom, due to lack of motivation, lack of autonomy, diversity in the rhythms and styles of learning, decrease in group cohesion, short attention span and lack of interaction; all this leading to a decrease in aspirations and academic success.<< Objectives >>The project aimed to address the transition from the first to the last years of school in a progressive and coherent way, with the objective of achieving a formula that, taking inspiration from early childhood education, resolves the identified challenges that Primary Education faces today, by applying a change in its pedagogical approach. The goal was to promote pupils' personal development as well as their academic development, by establishing dynamics that favour interaction between peers and with adults, decision-making and problem-solving, group work and creativity, while respecting the individual needs of each pupil. To achieve this, modifications were necessary, not only in the methodologies used, but also in the transformation of physical spaces and the training of teachers in order to empower them with this new approach. This project followed a logical phased approach in researching, developing and testing an alternative to traditional teaching and learning based on the use of innovative learning environments in primary education.<< Implementation >>We researched the current state of early childhood education to identify key points, strengths, and weaknesses. Teaching staff were trained locally and internationally. Then we developed 24 didactic units for the most common Learning Environments in Early Childhood Education classrooms. Building on this, we created 14 examples for Primary Education classrooms.In parallel, we transformed some school spaces and created an implementation manual for future use. Implementation activities included:1.Regular partner meetings2.Continuous Quality Assurance and internal evaluations3.Research of best practices at nursery and primary levels4.Teacher training5.Establishing a framework for designing didactic units aligned with EU priorities and national curricula6.Designing Didactic Units for nursery and Primary Education levels7.Creating a sustainable Implementation Toolkit for new LEs users8.Designing LEs for specific school locations9.Transforming classrooms into updated LEs10.Piloting the methodology11.Evaluating and adjusting spaces and lesson plans as needed12.Assessing impact and collect case studies13.Developing a platform for teacher training resources14.Dissemination in schools and multiplier events<< Results >>In a very concise summary:1.Meeting minutes assessing progress and planning next steps2.Booklet on the use of the Learning environments in Nursery Education with updated recommendations and a compilation of 24 ready-to-use Didactic Units.3.Trained staff: 47 across the partnership4.Modules with 14 Didactic Units for LEs in Primary Education, covering different ages, areas and subjects.5.Implementation Toolkit for the creation of new LEs.6.Detailed designs of spaces into LEs. 7.New spaces transformed into LEs created in participating schools. 8.LEs methodology implemented in Primary Education levels of participating schools. 9.Feedback surveys and activities to measure the satisfaction of both teachers and learners with the methodology.10.Finalised training package and resources available on the created platform. 11.Impact report based on surveys and case studies measuring responsiveness of children and empowerment of teachers.12.Dissemination through social networks, local TV news, amongst local schools’ community and families, special events at school and a multiplier event.13.Raised awareness of the need to update and adapt teaching methodologies among the members of partners’ educational communities