eTwinning for Hospital Schools in Gothenburg, Sweden Last month a professional development workshop was held in Gothenburg, Sweden for Hospital Schools. This was the first time a workshop has been held for this particular teaching group, and in total the event brought together 75 teachers from 24 countries across Europe.
The workshop ran over three days and gave participants a chance to share experiences, network, create new project ideas together, and plan eTwinning projects for the future. There was a strong focus on giving the teachers time to mix and talk together in groups. Although all present were teachers in hospital schools, this covered a broad range of institutions, teaching practice, and levels of pupil engagement so there was a lot to talk about and compare.
As well as this, there was the opportunity to reflect on ways of working. A talk on Inclusive Education in the Swedish education system from lecturer Thomas Barow of University of Borås, prompted a lot of debate. Participants valued the chance to share and discuss their own experiences. How do teachers
manage with the range of pupils in their care, for example? How are school classrooms provided and paid for? We also heard from a representative of HOPE, the European Network for Hospital Schools, and visited the National Competence Centre for Rare Diseases at the pastoral setting of Ågrenska on the outskirts of Gothenburg.
In the second and third days of the event, there was a focus on creating projects. Although everyone was new to eTwinning they came up with some excellent project themes and ideas. As the teachers busily worked in groups, the eTwinning staff present were able to think about how eTwinning could support and work more with Hospital Schools in the future. With this in mind, the eTwinning team in the UK are looking for ways that eTwinning can engage with UK Hospital Schools in the future.
If you would like to contact us about this, please e-mail the team at eTwinning@britishcouncil.org
