Key findings from the SEAS project
Throughout the three years of implementation, the SEAS project has generated a wealth of knowledge resources and tools that draw from the experiences and systematic analyses of open schooling collaborations across six European countries.
These insights thus draw from collaborations that have involved a total of 39 primary and secondary schools (with secondary schools being majority), including 3956 students, 176 teachers, and 186 out-of-school organizations or partners from the public and the private sectors—including environmental organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, museums and cultural centers, as well as private companies.
The SEAS knowledge resources documents that have sprung from these varied collaboration networks are presented below.
Knowledge resources on how to establish and manage open schooling collaborations connecting the school with community partners
Principles and methods for transformative collaboration
The SEAS project has developed a guideline that lays out steps and guiding principles to be considered when first establishing open schooling partnerships in any given community.
• Plan and milestones concerning challenge implementation in open schooling networks
Complementing the above-mentioned guideline, SEAS has developed a Change-Lab methodology for facilitating transformative collaboration in school-community partnerships. The guideline includes theoretical and practical principles aimed at supporting the establishment and development of consortiums aimed at having transformative impact, in both schools and the local communities.
• A guideline document for implementing and following up Change-Lab Workshops
Empirical and analytical insights from SEAS local networks
Two Annual Local Assessment Reports document from-the-field experienced challenges and opportunities that emerged during open schooling activities carried on in the 6 participating countries. Drawing from a diversity of mostly qualitative methods and approaches, each local network contributes invaluable insights gathered during and following the implementation of open schooling projects, including insights on challenges and opportunities connected to the practical implementation, as well as connecting to the pedagogical and didactical questions that emerge when students address real local and global sustainability challenges.
• First Annual Assessment Report (2020-2021) (pdf)
• Second Annual Assessment Report (2021-2022) (pdf)
Theoretical insights and action-oriented models
Three Global Synthesis Reports take the empirical insights gained through the SEAS annual local assessments and develop them further into more general theoretical and action-oriented models that can inform both academics and practitioners interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying open schooling activities across three levels. , including collaboration across school and society, models on how students learn in open schooling contexts, and models on how teachers can both support students and be supported to carry out open schooling at its best:
• Report on models for the establishment and implementation of open schooling partnerships
• Report on models on transformational engagement, scientific literacies, and motivation
• Report on models of teaching and learning scientific literacy
Resources for informing the assessment/evaluation of open schooling innovations.
With the goal of informing future projects, both national and international, aiming at implementing and evaluating open schooling innovations, the SEAS project has developed an Assessment Framework that educators, school leaders, researchers and/or policy makers can use to evaluate their open schooling implementations.
The resource provides evaluation criteria as well as an overall framework that also can be used to guide the type of activities that can be wise to implement in an open schooling context.
• Open Schooling Assessment Framework
Policy making recommendations
More specifically addressing policy-makers, a white paper has been developed that summarizes insights gained through the SEAS project and turns them into down-to-earth recommendations on how to build social and political structures necessary to support collaborative innovation at the interface of the school and society, and aimed at empowering both teachers and learners to become agents of change through education.
• White paper on policy recommendations
Digital Tools to support Open Schooling
A guideline manual describing the use of two core tools used in SEAS: the cChallenge tool, that facilitates 30-days change challenges, and the Locally Relevant Teaching (LORET) tool, which supports teachers in connecting and integrating their open schooling ambitions to their teaching planning activities.
• Guideline manual describing the use of each of the SEAS digital tools
External links to the tools that have been explored in the SEAS project include the following:
• Cchallenge
• Loret tool
• Sensemaker
