Interactive groups

Description

SDG4 (Quality and Inclusive Education) good practice “Interactive Groups” is framed on the Learning Communities - Include-Ed Project, which has been adopted by many Portuguese schools since 2017. The interactive groups are a way to organise the classroom based on evidence given by the international scientific community and contrasted with the traditional practice in the classroom at education levels. Steps1:

1. – Invite voluntary community members to participate;

2. – The teacher organises heterogeneous student groups (6 or 7). Heterogeneity is guaranteed regarding knowledge level, skills, gender, culture, language, etc. The teacher also decides on which group tasks and materials to be developed. Interactive Groups are often used in the learning of core subjects such as languages (national and foreign) and mathematics, although they also work effectively in other fields such as physical education. Group tasks can be learning activities, exercising previous learning or consolidating learning.

3. – A 90-minute session is scheduled with the adults on the class and organised according to the following structure:

4. - With the students grouped and an adult assigned to each group, the session is divided into short periods from 15 to 20 minutes. Each volunteer has the same role that is encouraging the interaction and supporting dialogical learning. In each period, each group must undertake a specific instrumental activity. These activities are done on rotation; therefore, within one session, each small group has experienced four sessions, each one conducted by a different adult.

   
   

Link to website

http://www.dge.mec.pt/projeto 

https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/files/esl/downloads/12_INCLUD-ED_Interactive_Groups.pdf 

Country and location

The Learning Communities pilot project were carried out on different

Portuguese schools across the country:

• Agrupamento de Escolas do Cerco do Porto (Porto)

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Cristelo (Paredes)

• Agrupamento de Escolas Fernando Casimiro Pereira da Silva (Rio Maior)

• Agrupamento de Escolas João da Rosa (Olhão)

• Agrupamento de Escolas da Marinha Grande Poente (Marinha Grande)

• Agrupamento de Escolas N.º 1 de Serpa (Serpa)

• Agrupamento de Escolas Piscinas de Olivais (Olivais)

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Resende (Resende)

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Santo António (Santo António da Charneca

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Vila Nova da Barquinha (Vila Nova da Barquinha)

Actors/partners

Teachers, students, and educational community

Objectives

To analyse and apply educational strategies that contribute to social cohesion in the context of a knowledge-based European society, providing key elements and action lines to improve education and

social policies.

Results

The visible results are related to educative success and social cohesion.

Improves the academic results of all students, especially those who have greater difficulty.

Improves coexistence, generating democratic and inclusive learning spaces.

Improves the participation of families and the whole community.

Improves social cohesion by promoting dialogue and cooperation between all social agents.

Why is it considered a good practice?

it is based on principles of equality and solidarity;

it is based on a community-based approach and guided by dialogical learning, which includes egalitarian cultural dialogue, cultural intelligence and equality, and meaning transformation and creation;

there is evidence (including scientific) of school improvement, educational success and social cohesion;

it is possible to transfer those improvements to other contexts; 

involves all school community, not only school agents such as teacher and students but also families, neighbors, stakeholders, volunteers and other professionals;

it makes possible to achieve the EU's goals in terms of school dropping out (it should be less than 10%), concerning education level (at least 40% of the young generation should have a university degree in 2021), among others.

Elements of replicability in other contexts

It is based on a solid theoretical research;

It is possible to overcome the contextual perspectives that legitimate inequalities and use successful international actions as a basis for education and social policies;

The Successful Educational Actions have already been transferred to other contexts with excellent results, since they were not simply transposed but were recreated in dialogue with local people and institutions.