Policy Roadmap to European Policies for Living-Lab-Based Open Schooling
What are the policy challenges for the implementation of living-lab-based open schooling in Europe?
Methodology to produce the roadmap
Policy challenges in science education
Disparities in Basic Science Literacy. Students are likely to enter open schooling programmes with varying base levels of scientific competence: a 2010 study authored for the European Commission (Schlicht et al. 2010) on educational inequality across European Union regions observed significant disparities in the quality and effectiveness of science instruction offered throughout the EU. sentence permalink
Regional disparities. In regard to general education achievement in the EU, there appears to be a North-South divide: low-performing students are concentrated in southern Europe, while students in Northern European countries display higher levels of competency.sentence permalink
Rural Areas. Rapid urbanisation across EU member states has also decreased the populations of rural areas and encouraged migration of young people to towns and cities; consequently, a disproportionately low share of the EU’s under-50 population resides in remote areas and schools in these regions tend to be small and underfunded.sentence permalink
Financial Issues. Open schooling initiatives must be implemented in a way that does not create extra financial burden for students and families.sentence permalink
Physical and Legal Issues. Although most EU countries have implemented legislation on the subject of ensuring access to education for children with disabilities, monitoring and enforcing these regulations has proved to be a challenge.sentence permalink
Digital Divide/Access to Technology. As the digital transformation of society and the economy continues, it becomes increasingly important for educational policy to take into account the necessity of technological literacy.sentence permalink
Lack of Qualified Teachers. Innovative living-lab based open schooling initiatives require teachers who are digitally competent, and who are skilled in managing projects and partnerships with community actors. In 2020, 33% of teachers across the EU were more than 50 years old. Facilitating the entry of digitally adept young professionals into teaching and upskilling of the existing workforce are a crucial policy challenge.sentence permalink
Families and Culture. Parents and caregivers play a central role in encouraging children’s interest in learning, creating learning opportunities outside of formal educational structures and facilitating appropriate cognitive development.sentence permalink
Lack of Cooperation. The 2015 Science Education for Responsible Citizenship report criticised inadequate investment in facilitating strategic collaboration between teachers, students, external education providers, researchers and industry professionals.sentence permalink
Lack of Stakeholder Commitment. Consistent meaningful interaction between educational institutions and third-party stakeholders is crucial to avoid stakeholder disengagement.sentence permalink
Support System. The European Commission’s 2020 Working Group on Schools Policy, which examined whole school approaches to challenges facing educational systems, concluded that facilitating strong cooperation between teaching staff, parents and families was crucial to prevent student disengagement.sentence permalink
Student Engagement. It is important to prevent students from disengaging from science learning on the basis of perceived ineptitude. Presenting scientific learning as an ongoing process – rather than one based solely on mastery of a specific set of concepts – may help to sustain student interest in science into and through post-secondary studies.sentence permalink
Gender Gap. Despite their superior performance on tests of scientific aptitude, women and girls remain significantly underrepresented in STEM-related fields. PISA 2018 found that 14% of top-performing girls in science or mathematics expected to work in science or engineering compared with 26% of top-performing boys.sentence permalink
Low Interest in Science Studies and Related Careers. While STEM professionals are in high demand, and growth in these sectors is required to address topical concerns ranging from climate change to food and water security, interest in scientific tertiary studies and careers is not picking up.sentence permalink
Monitoring. Another challenge in implementing open science learning initiatives is the lack of strategies to compare and analyse the outcomes of these programmes. While the EU has historically relied on standardised tests of academic ability like PISA to assess the quality of national education systems, these examinations tend to focus on reading, writing and mathematics at the expense of science.sentence permalink
Evaluation Issues. It has proven difficult to observe, measure and quantify the contributions of out-of-school programmes to the broader learning ecosystem.sentence permalink
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Policy recommendations in science education
Mainstream Open Schooling. Incorporate open schooling in national educational strategies, central policies and curricula, boosting its legitimacy as a fully fledged alternative to more traditional teaching methods, rather than a complementary activity that ultimately is perceived as an optional “add-on.” This can improve stakeholder as well as parents and caretakers engagement and thus support teachers in adopting the SALL methodology. Student engagement with STEM education and potential careers is also likely to benefit from this novel, more flexible approach.sentence permalink
Policy challenges to be addressed: sentence permalink
Lack of stakeholder commitment (including families)sentence permalink
Lack of cooperationsentence permalink
Lack of student engagement with STEM subjectssentence permalink
Gender gap in STEMsentence permalink
Low interest in science studies and careerssentence permalink
Train the Teachers of the Future. Integrate open schooling into teacher training curricula and encourage the development of leadership, facilitation, and project management skills, as well as digital and technological competencies among newly qualified teachers. In parallel, invest in upskilling the existing workforce (lifelong learning), so that teachers and educators familiarise with the tenets and aims of open schooling and can engage with these initiatives.sentence permalink
Policy challenges to be addressed: sentence permalink
Lack of qualified teacherssentence permalink
Lack of support systemssentence permalink
Digital dividesentence permalink
Make Funding Available for Open Schooling Programmes. Create incentives for school management to invest in open schooling initiatives. Taking into account existing disparities in science literacy, schools in under resourced regions and rural areas should be prioritised so that no one is left behind.sentence permalink
Policy challenges to be addressed: sentence permalink
Financial burdensentence permalink
Regional disparities (North-South, urban-rural)sentence permalink
Disparities in basic science literacysentence permalink
Support Schools in Accommodating Students’ Needs. Open schooling programmes should be designed to be as inclusive as possible. Schools need funding and, where necessary, technical support to fully implement existing legislations and policies to ensure accessibility, and to better support students with disabilities. sentence permalink
Policy challenges to be addressed: sentence permalink
Physical and legal issuessentence permalink
Prioritise Skills Development. Promote a shift away from traditional grading, and encourage rigorous monitoring and evaluation of open schooling initiatives. While standardised testing may continue to have some utility in providing consistent measurements of scientific knowledge at the national and international levels, the results of these assessments should not be relied upon solely to evaluate the success of open schooling programmes.sentence permalink
Policy challenges to be addressed: sentence permalink
Monitoring issuessentence permalink
Evaluation issuessentence permalink
Do you agree with this set of policy recommendations?sentence permalink
Do you want to add any other?sentence permalink
Do you want to merge any category?sentence permalink
Do you want to add any policy gap?sentence permalink
Do you think that they cover the entire spectrum of the problem?sentence permalink
Please add your ideassentence permalink