School of Talents Erasmus Project

Project Title

School of Talents

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Pedagogy and didactics; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

What is demanded from people today and intended for the future? The ability to think and the ability to quickly solve any complicated problem, the courage to think. In the entire world the demand for creative, talented solutions is growing rapidly in all the spheres of industry, and nowadays much attention is paid to innovations, to efficiency of work, and thus to development of adults’ creativity. However, talent, i.e. talented and innovative thinking is rarely considered to be an inborn quality but a set of acquired thinking procedures and methods. If early in their lives people knew how to use these methods, how to solve intellectual tasks and find solutions, they would be more successful in the process of learning at all its stages, more effective and innovative in their working life irrespective of the sphere they worked in.
Therefore teachers must know how to make their pupils not only recycle the already created things and use “the right” solutions, but think themselves and generate new ideas, solve newly emerging problems and find innovative solutions; and therefore it is very important to strengthen pedagogues’ professional profile and develop know-how in the area of talented thinking advancement.
The aim of the project is to promote exchange of innovative practices among the participating organisations and, on the basis of such exchange, to work out a new methodology “Theory and Practice of Training in Talented and Innovative Thinking in Schools” for primary and lower secondary school teachers with the aim to help them develop talented and innovative thinking in their pupils.
This methodology reviews scientific literature and research-based materials and includes latest developments and methodological and practical recommendations on different didactical, organisational and institutional issues relating to teaching innovative thinking in the frame of general education. The central place in this methodology is allocated to TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and to adaptation of various aspects of this method to school teaching practices. The methodology is available in four languages – English, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian.
The mine target group of the methodology and the project are primary and lower secondary school teachers, pedagogues and students of higher education pedagogical institutions and trainers of adult education institutions – further education providers for teachers.
Representatives of all the above-mentioned target groups were involved in the project: pedagogues and students of the Pedagogical Faculty of the University; teachers and researchers working at issues of the quality of education from two institutions – teachers’ further education providers; representatives of an educational body that unites teachers from several schools and organises different activities for teachers and children; teachers and pupils from different schools.
The tasks included in the methodology were tested in pupils’ groups in schools; the methodology was evaluated in teachers’ focus groups (a total of 161 pupils, 43 teachers from 14 schools and 19 prospective and current pedagogues from Vytautas Magnus University were involved in the process of testing and evaluation); three external experts in the sphere of education gave their recommendations and assessed the methodology.
In addition to work on the methodology, one transnational project partners meeting, three learning and teaching activities and three multiplier events were held during the project time.
Integration of the new methodology into the curricula of the organisations involved in the project has already been initiated. Information about the project and the new methodology is being disseminated to a wide circle of stakeholders outside the project, in the project countries and outside them.
In the long run, the new methodological concept will raise professional standards and perfect professional profile of its users – pedagogues, and thus will help to raise the quality of education in schools and improve school pupils’ learning results. Later in years to come, today’s pupils – future workers are expected to be able to use their talented thinking abilities acquired at school and reach proficiency in creating new intellectual products and solutions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 94686 Eur

Project Coordinator

SIA PAC Agenda & Country: LV

Project Partners

• Fonds ASNI
• VYTAUTO DIDZIOJO UNIVERSITETAS
• Mittetulundusühing Partnerlus