The Pedagogy and Educational Science Department of Groningen University will host a national symposium on pedagogical professionality, thinking skills and learning in collaboration with ISED (a national research school for educational sciences) on 10 and 11 February 2010.Departure for the symposium is the English Learning to Learn (L2L) programme of work, a national initiative led by the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Learning and Teaching (CfLaT).
Key to the L2L approach to professionalisation is making learning more learnable by pursuing the active, conscious use of thinking and learning skills. This is done in close collaboration with teachers and learners, using their own skills and interests as a starting point. For that reason L2L projects are initiated by, executed and evaluated by teachers and learners themselves.Project are supported by university researchers in particular with respect to sharing practical means, methods and evaluation. A very wide range of projects has been carried out in this manner over the last decade in primary, secondary and higher education institutions and classrooms.
Prof. Dr. David Leat and Dr. Kate Wall of CfLaT will share their experiences with the L2L approach on the first day of the symposium. They will bring along research posters that teachers in England have made to report on L2L activities. Also contributing to the symposium are schools and educational practitioners working in the Groningen area, since the aim of the second day of the symposium is to determine the likely value of an approach of this kind for Dutch educational practice.
The symposium is in English but aimed at a predominantly Dutch audience. It will welcome especially doctoral students who are researching topics that are directly relevant to the L2L approach, such as professionalisation of teachers, motivation for learning, self-initiated and selfdirected learning, and so on. University researchers are also welcome, but are expected to contribute €25 towards the cost of the symposium. The number of places are greatly restricted, and practitioners/researchers working in the Netherlands are given priority.
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