1. How do you organise an international meeting?
Before answering this question it is important to ask yourself what you want to achieve, and what are your goals for organizing this kind of meeting? Here you can think of the following questions:
- How big is the need of working together with partner schools in the future?
- Which interests do pupils/ teacher/ schools share when taking part in projects?
- Can we continue building on existing activities and projects?
- Can we facilitate these projects with good logistics and organizational preconditions?
- Are there expertise in the partner schools to allow cross-curricular activities to occur?
- What arrangements and aims will we put in the “partner project plan”?
- Which arrangements have to be made in the field of communication?
- Which threats/pitfalls can we define?
- Are the finances and commitment of the school available to organize a international meeting?
It is very important to answer these questions with your workgroup before you start. These are essential to a successful start up and maintenance of a international network. These can evetually be put down as workgroup goals.
These goals will be described in the program, so that each participant can prepare himself to answer the questions.
CASE
The following is the meeting that was held in June 2008. This meeting took place at Sg. St.-Canisius.
The following partner schools were invited to this meeting:
- Nelson Rural School, Miramichi Canada (Rick Hayward)
- Lyceo Aristofane, Rome, Italië (Rita Illiano)
- Lahntalschule Biedenkopf Duitsland (Karl Heinz Bredemann)
- Gymnasium an der Stenner, Iserlohn, Duitsland (Mareen Bottzeck)
- Realschule Uelsen, Duitsland (Peter Sosinsky)
- IES Barcelona, Spanje (Cesar Carrasco)
- La Cala de Mijas,Malaga, Spanje (Ana Cortés Real)
- Las Marinas, Roguetas de Mar, Spanje (Pedro Escobar Fernandèz)
- Celebi Mehmet Lisesi, Bursa, Turkije (Nese Akdogan)
- Mankkaa Koulo, Espoo, Finland (Leena Hardy)
Preparation: division of tasks within the workgroup
Beforehand a division of tasks will be made within the workgroup. This division of tasks is explained in the scenario.
Example scenario:
Invitations: Jos will write invitation, Marjan will translate it and the contact person will send them: deadline first week of April.
Make program: VRM and BOJ
Plan rooms: VRM
Discuss accommodation: BOJ
Finances: BOJ
Consultation schoolboard: VRM and BOJ
Format arrangements/contract : BOJ
Possibilities for (exchange) projects
Intern and extern communication: VRM and BOJ
Time schedule + deadlines: VRM and BOJ
Table of holiday periods: BOJ and VRM
Division of tasks/ being co-ordinator: VRM and BOJ
Which communication platforms: VRM
Preparation: The invitation
The invitations will be send by e-mail. The invitations will contain the following points:
- Date, place, time schedule of the meetings and time when the guests will be welcomed
- Accommodations, arrangement of services
- Short descriptions of the partners who have received an invitation
- Names and contact information of the (main)organizers
- Introduction, aims and expectations of the meeting
- Program survey
- Finances
- Description of the expectations of the participants, for example by giving a short introduction of the first meeting and by thinking in advance about possible projects
- Form to sign up
- This all should be in English, ask colleague
The invitation that we have used you will find here.
Preparation: support and information within the school
Make sure that you will give your colleagues enough information so that they are up-to-date. Clearly explain what the excess value is and why something like this is organised by the school. Invite colleagues to be present once in a while and give them the feeling that everyone is welcome to participate.
It is a conference of the school and not of the workgroup internationalisation.
Colleagues should have the possibility to give input to this conference; the conference should be discussed in the different departments and teams. This way the conference has a wide support and does not have an ‘elite’status. Indicate what this input can exist of, for example by indicating whether one is enthusiastic about working together internationally or whether one feels the need to start emailprojects or apply for other projects.
Preparation: domestic business
Of course it is necessary to make clear agreements in advance about domestic business. Clearly communicate with the schoolboard about the route you need to follow. Then you will have to make a clear schedule with the janitor or domestic service in which you will take care of the catering and the rooms you will need in the schoolbuilding. Besides that it is important to make sure that your guests will have a good accommodation. Keep in mind privacy and recreational possibilities for your partners. Also think about the means of transport to and from the place of accommodation during the conference.
To give the conference an official quality the opening meeting was opened by our location director.
The first day was about ‘getting acquainted’, where the school was introduced and the possibilities of the school were discussed. A cooperationplatform has been made and agreements have been made on the format for the "Agreement of partnership" where projects can be described.
Subsequently during the afternoon sessions appointments were made about project descriptions. The second day was about ‘projectmarket’. The partners were put into small groups and started making arrangements. At the end of the day these arrangements were presented to everyone involved.
A Wiki had been made where you can find all the participants and the list of agreements that were made.
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