Title: Cross-border classroom as a resource for social transformation
Abstract: In recent years, educational policy makers, researchers and practitioners have been investigating effective models of collaboration between the universities and schools aiming to develop the skills that today's students require for a changing world. Although, there are many good examples of collaboration between the Proceedings of the 4 International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education Vol. 2 . Knowledge technologies for social transformation GUNI Global Univers i ty Network for Innovat ion – www.guni rmies.net universities and schools, collaborations that focus only on the technical aspects of education-teaching have turned out to be not very productive over the long term. Those which make connections to critical social and intellectual issues, linking more effectively school and university resources with community needs have more potential. Nowadays in an effort to cope with the new educational challenges the municipalities and schools have been searching for new solutions based upon the networking and co-operation with the Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The networking, manoeuvring, building of partnerships with the with relevant stakeholders, including the local higher education institutions, making alliances with foreign counterparts, introduction of new technologies, also the interpersonal and institutional ties can maintain the vitality of schools and villages, keeping educational quality, and helping the rural youth achieve the highest-possible level of education. The school/university networks / partnerships offer big advantages to teachers and students, but this powerful tool comes with a price tag. To create and utilize those networks effectively the efforts should be undertaken to make the teachers, students, relevant decision-makers, and other stakeholders understand that a school could no longer be seen as a separate/individual institution. Apart from that, in a near future the networks linking up the small and remote schools would become the key actors in the educational market. This paper describes the Cross-Borders Classroom project which offers a promising model for bringing together the higher education, school sector and remote communities to support implementation of sustainable school reform. School sector in the European North – Background Rural and small town schools are a vital part of the public education system both in Finland and Russia. Traditionally those schools have played a central role in their communities. Besides providing for basic education, they often have served as a cultural center in the community. Athletics, drama programs, library services, music, and other social activities conducted at schools have played an important part in community life and identity formation dating back to the 20th century. Many small and rural communities now face a decline in their quality of life due to the economic downturn and the globalization of the marketplace. Businesses have Proceedings of the 4 International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education Vol. 2 . Knowledge technologies for social transformation GUNI Global Univers i ty Network for Innovat ion – www.guni rmies.net closed and many young and well-educated citizens have left for urban areas. Additionally, social services, including schools, have been regionalized or consolidated as cost-cutting measures. These trends have led to high levels of unemployment and the deterioration of rural economic, social, and educational well-being. The demographic situation in many small / remote communities also leaves much to be desired. The population is getting older, and the birth rates are rather low, which automatically leads to low number of new pupils / students coming to the schools of Finland and Russia every year. While rural and small town schools have many of the same needs as other schools, they often face different challenges based on their unique characteristics. Funding deficiencies, lack of programs targeted to students with special needs, difficulties in recruitment and retention of teachers, and inadequate facilities are among the challenges facing rural schools. As a result for the last decade a significant amount of the schools in sparsely populated areas has been closed down. The problem described above applies to the schools and municipalities situated in the remote areas of the Northern Finland and the Republic of Karelia (Russia). According to the latest reports by the Statistics Finland among 3180 active comprehensive schools operating in Finland in 2006, 348 comprehensive schools can be found in Oulu province (North Ostrobothnia). In 2006 a total of 186 comprehensive schools or schools providing special education at the comprehensive school level were closed down or merged with another educational institution in Finland. The number of closures, totaling 17 comprehensive schools, was the highest in the Region of North Ostrobothnia. In the neighboring territory, namely the Republic of Karelia (Russia), the situation with the school sector also seems to be unstable and recent trend unfavorable. The latest figures reported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Karelia demonstrate that for over 3-year period 33 of 189 comprehensive schools in the Republic of Karelia have been closed down. Case study: Cross-Border Classroom The Cross-Border Classroom (CBC) project is initiated in 2006 in order to create a permanent network linking the Finnish and Russian schools supported by HEIs and to Proceedings of the 4 International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education Vol. 2 . Knowledge technologies for social transformation GUNI Global Univers i ty Network for Innovat ion – www.guni rmies.net enhance the vitality of schools and villages by developing and testing new models to maintain the operation of the schools in a cost-efficient and high-quality manner. The CBC project is a joint Tacis/Interreg project funded by the European Union’s Euregio Karelia Neighbourhood Programme and coordinated by the University of Oulu, Learning and Research Services (Finland) in cooperation with the Karelian State Pedagogical University (KSPU, Russia). Among the partners taking part in this project are 8 Finnish and 10 Russian schools situated in the remote areas and also the Institute of Teacher Training of the Republic of Karelia. The CBC project is designed to develop networks between schools, which in turn would have in many ways a positive effect on the factors influencing the vitality of small villages. Models of cooperation are built from the level of the decision-makers all the way to the university faculty, school teachers and young schoolchildren. Making use of the IT infrastructure, common teaching contents, learning materials and other network resources have been produced to support the teachers’ work. The CBC project is also undertaken to promote the quality and competitiveness of rural education by creating, testing and introducing the innovative models of operation. As the University of Oulu and KSPU play an active role in training and retraining of teachers and updating the school curricula, their and other HEI’s increasing orientation towards the school sector may influence the whole system of basic education, thereby having a much greater impact on sustainable development of small and remote communities in the long term. The educational quality in the small and rural schools is being continuously increased by addressing the problem both with people-intensive and technologyintensive solutions. The cross-border pedagogical cooperation, in-service training programmes, introduction of new information and communication technologies in education are expected to contribute to quality and equality of educational opportunity for the students living in the remote areas of Karelia and Finland. Conclusion The Cross-Border Classroom project seems likely to have contributed to maintain the school system and also support the small and remote communities in the Russian Karelia and Finnish Northern Ostrobothnia. Yet, the promising results are not Proceedings of the 4 International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education Vol. 2 . Knowledge technologies for social transformation GUNI Global Univers i ty Network for Innovat ion – www.guni rmies.net necessarily sustainable. Making school as the centre / resource for the community development, establishing new university/school alliances, manoeuvring, teacher / pedagogical cooperation are all elements of strategies, in which local and international collaboration is essentially required. More active cooperation between the relevant stakeholders, including the authorities, higher education institutions, business community is also needed. Preface In recent years, educational policy makers, researchers and practitioners have been investigating effective models of collaboration between the universities and schools aiming to develop the skills that today's students require for a changing world. Although, there are many good examples of collaboration between the universities and schools, collaborations that focus only on the technical aspects of education-teaching have turned out to be not very productive over the long term. Those which make connections to critical social and intellectual issues, linking more effectively school and university resources with community needs have more potential. Nowadays in an effort to cope with the new challenges the schools and communities have been searching for new solutions based upon the maneuvering and networking with relevant actors, including with the higher education institutions. The room for manoeuvre the schools have can be presented as follows:
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot