School-Based Case Studies Action Plan
Template
This action plan template is there to help you identify and plan the implementation of your actions. While it can be a working document for the duration of the pilot, a final version needs to be submitted as
part of your main output of the pilot activities. The final draft will become part of a package of resources which should help other schools and teachers implement some of the actions you have piloted.
Please keep this in mind when drafting the final version. The pilot activity has three specific goals which are identified below. It is not necessary to implement actions targeting all three goals but ideally
you would cover at least two of the three goals in some form through your actions.
Background
Your name: Celeste Maria de Oliveira Costa Correia Simões
Country: Portugal
Short introduction to your school (e.g. school Agrupamento de Escolas de Carregal do Sal – AECS - (Carregal do Sal School Cluster) is located in the district of Viseu, more specifically, in the municipality of Carregal do Sal, in the
level, size of student body, number of heart of the Beira Region in Portugal. Carregal do Sal is the home region of the Portuguese consul-general in Bordeaux Aristides de Sousa Mendes who, disobeying superior orders,
teachers/staff, location, special focus areas, etc.): issued visas and passports to an undetermined number of refugees fleeing from Nazism. The cluster is composed of 5 different schools (some 7km away from each other) - a
Kindergarten school, 1 primary school (1-4 graders) 2 elementary/basic schools (2nd and 3rd cycles and one of them with primary level as well) and 1 elementary and secondary
school (3rd cycle and secondary level students). So, basic education is the predominant level in my school cluster, which also offers vocational courses and Adult Education
courses. There are 1115 students in the school cluster, mainly in primary anpd elementary/basic education - 704. There are 180 students in kindergarten, 148 in the secondary level,
65 in vocational learning and 18 in adult education courses.
My school is a UNESCO associated school, it has won an eTwining National Quality Label and an eTwinning European Quality Label and Flag with a Kindergarten project. Students
usually participate in national contests, with good overall results: Youth Parliament, Spelling Bee, Entrepreneurship, Drawing competitions, European Language Label, Inter-school
competitions, etc. The school cluster has a stable teaching staff (there are 136 teachers) with good professional and personal relationships, which contributes to a healthy school
environment.
How is professional development organised in This page on Eurydice gives all the information about continuing professional development in Portugal, and thus in my school cluster: [Link]
your school (or region/country)? E.g. where does policies/eurydice/content/continuing-professional-development-teachers-working-early-childhood-and-school-education-57_en
it happen? What incentives are there? How is it In short:
recognised? How is it rewarded? What formats - CPD is compulsory for teachers and the number of hours they have to attend depends on their echelon;
are available? - For the purposes of career development and progress, teachers must attend 25 hours at the 5th echelon and 50 hours at the remaining echelons of continuing training or
specialised training courses;
- There are different kinds of activity based on continuing professional training: training courses, training workshops, study circles, short courses or, at the request of the Scientific-
Pedagogical Council of Continuing Professional Training, internships and projects.
- Professional development can happen inside or outside school;
- Continuing professional training is organised by different sorts of sponsors:
a. Higher education institutions;
b. Training centres run by school associations. There are 91 School Association Training Centres (Centros de Formação de Associação de Escolas – CFAE);
c. Municipal and inter-municipal run initiatives organised by schools and kindergartens that get together for the purpose;
d. Not-for-profit professional or scientific association training centres;
e. Ministry of Education central services, training in areas considered relevant for developing the educational system and other sponsors whose intervention is deemed useful in this
domain.
- Teachers can attend free courses at their local school association training centre (Agrupamento de Escolas de Carregal do Sal is one of the 5 school clusters that belong to CFAE-
Planalto Beirão, the local school association centre);
- Online courses and courses/seminars/conferences taken abroad can be accredited through the central Scientific-Pedagogical Council of Continuing Professional Training – CCPFC -
[Link]
MERG
(teachers have to send the certificates and programme);
- Leave of absence for CPD launched or organised by central services (i.e. the Ministry of Education’s central and/or regional Departments, the school/school cluster in which the
teacher works), is preferentially given when training takes place during the non-teaching service hours of the teacher. If it has been proved impossible to time training activities so
that they harmonise with the teacher’s non-teaching part of the timetable, the teacher is given leave of absence during his/her teaching timetable. Whatever the case, training may
only be given the go-ahead after the school/school clusters have ensured that there will not be a break in the lessons the teacher normally gives. If the training course is upon the
teacher’s own initiative, it will have to be done when there is no teaching, during the school holidays.
- The principal can decide if a certain course is compulsory for some teachers, if it is considered important for the school performance, plan, improvement...
- The principal is a member of the local school association centre and belongs to its Board of Directors. Together with the centre director they decide the CPD courses for the
upcoming year(s).
- 1 teacher from each school cluster is also part of a special section of the school association centre and together with the director of the centre they come up with the yearly CPD
plan that has to be approved by the Board of Directors.
- Teachers hand in a copy of their certificates at the school administration in order to be included in their professional files.
Goal: Get more colleagues to participate in TA courses
Current situation in relation to Action to achieve goal Steps required to implement the action Resources Stakeholders Key Milestones
the goal required to involve
- Continuing professional training is - Have teachers answer a survey to know their CPD 1. Have a meeting with the principal to present the pilot Computer Principal 1. End of April - get approval and support from
compulsory and teachers must attend 25h preferences 2. Get permission to run a survey among teachers in AECS Internet Heads of principal and create the survey and the text to
th
at the 5 echelon and 50h at the - Share the pilot in Conselho Pedagógico/CP 3. Create the survey Survey Department be presented at the CP meeting
remaining echelons (there are 10 (Pedagogical Council) meetings (meetings run by the AECS Teachers 2. Beginning of May – CP meeting
4. Write the text/Create a PPT to be presented by the
echelons) principal with all the heads of department) to 3. May – Sending the Survey to AECS teachers
- Teachers seem to prefer in-person acknowledge the importance of participating in this principal in the CP meeting explaining the essentials of the after CP meeting
training, usually at the local School project – both at individual level and for the school – pilot 4. End of May – Deadline to receive survey
Association Training Centre, which has free and present TA website and courses 5. Send the survey to all teachers via official school email submissions
courses for all subject areas 6. Analyse the results 5. June – Analyse the survey results
- Most teachers ignore that online 7. Design specific actions to clarify unknown facts –
courses/webinars have certificates of certification and accreditation of online courses/webinars;
attendance and that these can be
present TA website and courses
accredited by the Scientific-Pedagogical
Council of Continuing Professional Training
(CCPFC)
- Number of teachers who participate in
online/TA courses is unknown as well as
the reasons for choosing in-person over
online courses
Situation after the survey analysis (108 - Organise a study group to take a TA course 1. Recruit at least five/six colleagues to participate in the Computer Teachers in the 1. May - Find 5/6 colleagues who will
respondents) (Introducing Project-Based Learning in your PBL course Internet study group participate in the TA course and define the
- The vast majority of respondents prefer Classroom) together so that there is a support 2. Choose the best date to take the course Classroom EUN dates to take the course
online (95,4% of teachers) to face-to-face infrastructure for colleagues when they have 3. Find a room in school to meet with the participants and Analysis
2. May/June – create the analysis grid/learning
training (only 4,6%); questions do the first modules together grid/Learning Diary
diary
- 79 out of the 108 respondents have - Choose teachers from different backgrounds and Certificates
4. Choose the best days and time to do the remaining 3. End of June/Beginning of July OR end of
never attended online continuing with different levels of English proficiency to get a
professional training, that is, 73.1% of wider range of responses to the participation in the modules at home September/beginning of October – take the
teachers. Only 26,9% (29 teachers) have course 5. Create the analysis grid, sort of a learning diary, where course
already done some kind of online course; - Decide the best date to take the course – June/July teachers write down the challenges they face during 4. After the course – analyse the teachers’
- According to the remaining 29 or September/October participation in the course and ways they can be overcome learning diaries, get the certificates and send
respondents, the main sponsor of the - Do the different modules of the course always at them to CCPFC for accreditation
6. Ask EUN for certification of the course attended
online training they attended was the the same time – some in a room in school and others
Directorate-General of Education (DGE), at home, which will allow participants to experience
corresponding to 58,6% of answers, different situations: being together in school allows
followed by Portuguese Universities for a closer support on my part, whereas at home,
[Link]
MERG
(34,5%) and national Teacher Associations. each one will have to take decisions on their own
Nobody attended Teacher Academy and only in extreme cases will they contact me, even
courses and only 2 attended European though I’m doing the modules at the same time. The
Schoolnet online courses; goal is to make them more autonomous and
- Out of the 108 teachers, 91,7% (99 confident that even if they don’t master the
teachers) have never attended MOOCs, language, for example, they can still do the
with 9 teachers (8,3%) saying they have module/course
already attended this type of online - Create an analysis grid, where teachers will note
course. Crossing this result with Question down the problems they felt while doing the course
5, the number of teachers who have - Get certification for the course, even if it is not an
already attended online continuing active course, so teachers perceive its importance
professional training (29), we notice that for progression and career development
although there are 29 teachers who have
already attended online courses, 20 of
them never participated in a MOOC. The
main reason for not attending a MOOC so
far is lack of knowledge about this type of
CPD course (67,7%), but 32,3% of teachers
admit they are not interested in this type
of training.
Goal: Facilitate transfer of learning (from TA courses) to practice at classroom/school-level
Current situation in relation to Action to achieve goal Steps required to implement the action Resources Stakeholders Key Milestones
the goal required to involve
- Most online courses don’t ask FACILITATE TRANSFER AT CLASSROOM LEVEL 1. Have study group meetings to choose the module for the Computer Principal 1. End of June/Beginning of July OR end of
participants to develop a - Have teachers in the study group create an implementation of the activity/creation of the worksheet Internet Teachers in the September/beginning of October – facilitate
strategy/worksheet/activity during the activity/worksheet to use in the classroom, based on 2. Choose the level of students/class to involve Printer study group transfer at classroom level activities
st
course duration, test it in class and give the contents of a specific module of the course and 3. Discuss the activity/worksheet created in a study group Classroom AECS teachers 2. 1 term 2019/2020 (September or October) –
evidence of and feedback on this test it in class (whenever possible, depending on the meeting PPT Accreditation Centre facilitate transfer at school level activities
implementation date the course is taken) 4. Implement the activity/worksheet in class Worksheets for (if the short sharing
- Teachers who participate in online - Discuss the activity designed/worksheet created in 5. Discuss its implementation and the methodology students session is to be
courses usually just have to imagine/talk a study group meeting, to get feedback from developed in a study group meeting Handouts for accredited)
about/discuss possible implementation colleagues and improve it if necessary colleagues in the
scenarios but don’t actually have to create - Implement the action in the classroom, when sharing session
worksheets or design activities for possible (if the course isn’t taken during school time)
immediate use - Discuss its implementation
- Usually there is no formal or informal - Discuss how this methodology – have a time for
sharing of learning at school level, except if implementation of strategy/activity/worksheet in
teachers attended a specific training that classroom during an online course – can be
requires replication or if teachers are integrated into future TA courses
accredited trainers and wish, on their own
initiative, to share the resources with their
colleagues in the department, for example FACILITATE TRANSFER AT SCHOOL LEVEL
- Get the study group to do a short session to share
their experience to other colleagues in school (try to
have this session accredited as a short course (Ação 1. Design the session to share the experience to other
de Curta Duração) and share the experience at colleagues in school (and/or Department colleagues) and
Department meetings: raise awareness about TA courses
a) Challenges and how to overcome them;
b) Benefits of the course;
c) Activities/Worksheets created that show how
transfer of learning to practice in the classroom can
occur
[Link]
MERG
- Raise awareness about TA courses and how they
have excellent resources that can be put into
practice right away
Goal: Recognise learning of colleagues who successfully complete a TA course
Current situation in relation to Action to achieve goal Steps required to implement the action Resources Stakeholders Key Milestones
the goal required to involve
st
- Most teachers ignore that online - Design specific actions to clarify unknown facts – 1. Write a short text to be presented at a CP meeting about Computer Principal 1. 1 term 2019/2020 (September or October) –
courses/webinars taken through foreign certification and accreditation of online the procedure to get accreditation of online courses through Internet Heads of CP meeting
entities have certificates of attendance courses/webinars given by foreign entities foreign entities. This information will then be transmitted Department
and that these can be accredited by the through Department meetings to all teachers in AECS.
Scientific-Pedagogical Council of
Continuing Professional Training (CCPFC)
- There is no need for a formal recognition
in schools of the continuing professional
training done (meaning a formal
recognition by the principal, for example),
but teachers have to hand in their
certificates in the school administration
office
- Doing continuing professional training is
compulsory and considered, by most
teachers, a burden and extra work to be
done
[Link]
MERG
