Cross-curricular teaching Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cross-curricular teaching

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

CROSSCUT stands for Cross-curricular Teaching. The CROSSCUT project is a European project funded by the ERASMUS+ programme which aims at supporting secondary level teachers’ professional development by training them to adopt cross-curricular teaching approach, in order to enhance the acquisition of key competences by students. More specifically, it aims to:
– To study cross-curricular teaching practices within participating countries and identify success factors and obstacles to their implementation,
– To define the skills needed by teachers to develop relevant cross-curricular teaching practices,
– To design and develop an online training platform,
– To create a community of practitioners on interdisciplinary practices,
– To make recommendations for the effective implementation of cross-curricular teaching.
Coordinated by CIEP, this project implemented with 7 partners including teacher training and educational research institutions specialising in cross-curricular teaching and e-learning, in six European countries:
– Centre international d’études pédagogiques, France
– CICERO Learning from the University of Helsinki, Finland
– French Institute of Education, France
– Laboratory for Coherent Education and Learning (University College Lillebaelt, University College South Denmark and University of Southern Denmark), Denmark
– Educational Research Institute, Poland
– The Institute of Education of the University of Minho, Portugal
– The Open University, Portugal
– The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, Norway
This project was born in the context of the discussions about transversal key competences, the promotion of innovative pedagogical practices and support for the development of qualitative teacher training. Indeed, at the European level, eight transversal key competences for lifelong learning, representing “a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes[…] necessary for all individuals for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social integration and employment” were defined in 2006 and updated in 2018. Within the European Union, several countries have reformed their curricula in order to develop cross-curricular teaching and to promote the learning of these transversal competences through several subjects.
The development of curricula and pedagogical approaches that go beyond traditional disciplinary configurations as well as the priority given to the acquisition of transversal competences imply in particular an evolution of teaching practices. In-service training, in particular, should help teachers to go beyond the boundaries of traditional subjects by taking part in collective projects and developing different learning approaches and strategies, based in particular on more active student participation.
To achieve its objectives, the CROSSCUT project was organised in 4 consecutive steps. First, a situational survey was conducted to identify cross-curricular teaching practices that were proven effective in 26 selected secondary schools, and to identify success factors such as obstacles to the implementation of these practices, at both classroom and school level. The results of this study led to the definition of the most important skills to be acquired for the implementation of a cross-curricular teaching for teachers and school leaders. A reference framework compiling all the competences described in knowledge, attitudes and skills has been produced. Subsequently, a training programme for teachers and, to a lesser extent, school heads, was created and online training modules developed. They are accessible on an open, digital platform in English, giving access to resources and a professional community dedicated to cross-curricular teaching. The final version of the online training is available at the following address: https://crosscut.uab.pt. Finally, recommendations for political authorities and education stakeholders were developed on the implementation of effective interdisciplinary practices and the need to train teachers in these approaches.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 374830,81 Eur

Project Coordinator

CENTRE INTERNATIONAL D’ETUDES PEDAGOGIQUES – CIEP & Country: FR

Project Partners

• ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE LYON
• Stichting Leerplanontwikkeling SLO
• HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
• UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO
• UNIVERSIDADE ABERTA
• INSTYTUT BADAN EDUKACYJNYCH
• SENTER FOR IKT I UTDANNINGEN