The Provincial Director of Education, Juan Ángel Berbel, has reported the publication on the respective web pages of the Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFPyD) and the Faculty of Education and Sports Sciences of the University of Granada (UGR) at the Melilla Campus of the call for the training and innovation program ‘HERMES’.
It is a program for the professional development of teachers through training stays during the academic year 2024-2025, with the objective of continuing to advance in new formulas that allow the permanent training of teachers and that have proven to be effective in other national geographical areas.
At the same time, Berbel said, it is about making it possible to establish and consolidate networks and collaborative projects in order to connect teachers and methodologies of the Public Centers of Early Childhood and Primary Education and the Queen Sofia Special Education Center with teachers and students of the Faculty of Education and Sports Sciences (FCED) of Melilla of the UGR.
This is how this program of training stays for the professional development of teachers emerges, with which it is intended, on the one hand, to reflect on the teaching practice and share methodologies, innovation projects and action research that contribute to updating the scientific, pedagogical and methodological knowledge of the teachers of the different educational stages.
All this, furthermore, results in a greater connection and interaction between university and non-university teachers that will also affect the collaboration that is already maintained between both institutions for the realization of the practices in teaching centers regulated by Order ECD/1039/2017, of October 24.
“The program is configured through two-way professional training stays between participants from public schools and the headquarters of the University of Granada in Melilla,” he explained.
Thus, as Berbel has indicated, the action of the program consists, on the one hand, in facilitating the teachers of the University the possibility of actively observing the work that takes place in the classrooms of public schools and, on the other hand, facilitating the teachers of these centers the observation of the work of the university professor in order to generate joint research and innovation projects that result in an improvement of the learning of the students of the CEIPs, CEE and the University.
Centres of Melilla
All the CEIP and the CEE of Melilla will be able to apply for participation in this call as long as they are accredited as collaborating centers to tutorize practices to the students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education and Degree in Primary Education, in accordance with the provisions of Order ECD/1039/2017, of October 24, and have actively participated in all the activities related to the development of the Practicum.
The centers interested in carrying out the training stay at the University will do so through the participation of a maximum of two teaching staff members per center with final destination per center.
FCED teachers who teach in the Early Childhood Education and/or Primary Education Degrees who intend to develop a project or action of innovation or research-action in collaboration with the selected center will be able to participate. A maximum of four professors or university professors may participate, two per educational center.
Working networks
As reported by the Provincial Director of Education, the training stays will serve to establish connections and working networks between teachers of the educational centers and the University that facilitate the development of joint projects of training, innovation and/or research in the following school year. The observation of the management, planning, use of methodologies and organization of other centers will be a source of inspiration that results in the improvement of the quality of the education offered in both institutions.
Thus, with regard to the structure of the training sessions, they will have an initial session, a training stay and a final day of sharing.
As for the initial session, the teachers who attend on behalf of the educational centers, as well as the participating university teachers, will be convened in order to create connections and working networks that make the stays more effective.
During this day, the guidelines of the program will be explained and the planning of the stay established by both the teachers of the educational centers and those of the University will be delivered. In schools, this planning will be the responsibility of the Director of the school, who will act as project coordinator in his/her area of responsibility.
The elaboration of the program will be carried out with the contributions of the participating teachers. In the case of the University, the coordination of the project and, therefore, of the planning, will be assumed by the person or persons with competences in the fields of practicum and innovation, by delegation of the Dean or Dean of the center.
Good practice models in the classroom
With regard to the training stay of university teachers in the CEIP or CEE, it is foreseen that it will have a maximum duration of five teaching days, twenty-five hours, which will be established by mutual agreement between the teachers participating in the stay.
The educational center will ensure that the two university teachers have the opportunity to know the functioning of the center and to observe models of good practices in the classroom, as well as to participate actively, according to the project and the type of activity to be carried out.
These stays will not mean the paralysis or interruption of the ordinary operation of the teaching day. In the case of the university, and provided that it has the approval of the teacher, the educational center and the corresponding Commission, the time could be extended if the stay is part of a project that requires its extension for its proper implementation.
With regard to the training stay of teachers of the CEIP or CEE at the University, it is also planned to last a maximum of five teaching days, twenty-five hours, which will be established by mutual agreement between the teachers participating in the stay.
In this case, the University will guarantee the updating of the knowledge of the teachers and the opportunity to know and participate in a research or innovation project that has a real impact on their educational center.
Real training impact
Finally, as far as the final day of sharing is concerned, it will consist of a session of sharing the experiences of each participant, highlighting the benefits and the upgradeable aspects of the experience.
Special emphasis will be placed on the real impact of this training on teaching practice and on the impact on students. Likewise, the possibility of developing joint training, research or innovation work for the next school year will be assessed.
In this session, each participant will prepare a brief document containing his/her reflections on the program and which will be given to the committee for assessment.
Schedule
As Berbel has reported, the delivery of applications goes from September 23 to October 15; the selection, according to the established scale, will be carried out from October 21 to 23.
The provisional publication of the award will take place on October 24, and from October 25 to 29 will be the deadline for claims. The following day, on October 30, the final publication of the award will be made.
As for the development of the experience in the first semester will be developed from November 4 to December 2 and the development of the experience in the second semester will take place from April 22 to May 21. The final memory delivery deadline has been set for June 23.