Management

PARSEL

6.1 Project management

A formal project management structure will be set up from the start of the Project and continue the work of the preparation team. This will involve three levels of project management:

• Project Coordinator• PARSEL Steering Committee• Project Internal Management

6.1.1 Project Coordinator The Co-ordinator will be responsible for liaison with the

Commission, the overall management of the Project and the distribution of funds received from the EU. As such, the responsibilities of the Project Coordinator are seen as providing an oversight of the project and progress made, by undertaking:

• financial management and making suitable financial arrangements;

• efficient cooperation and communication between all partners in the project;

• ensuring adequate coordination of activities and strong communicate with outside bodies;

• communicating progress and outcomes from the project to partners, the Commission and ensuring adequate dissemination.

The Project Coordinator will support the work package leaders, directly and via the steering committee, by:

• drawing attention to delivery dates and any potential problems in meeting the objectives of each work package by the consortium;

• ensuring that links are made between work packages in ways that take full advantage of synergies and inter-dependencies;

• checking that national developments are operating smoothly and meeting expectations.

6.1.2 Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee will :

• meet (via video-conferencing) on a regular 3 monthly basis.

• advise the Co-ordinator on the overall direction of the Project, on any adjustment to the programme of work and on any significant changes in the use of resources or timing.

• support the Project Coordinator in ensuring overall partner coordination, workpackages meet their targets and evaluation instruments, linked to the outcomes of testing teaching/learning materials, are suitable for use in the partner countries and with comparable translations.

• A particular function of the steering committee will be to ensure adequate attention is paid to formulating and upgrading dissemination plans and that these are timely put into action by each partner.

6.1.3 Project Internal Management:• Workpackage leaders will be from the 4 partners

forming a first tier of management and will have clear responsibilities to the Co-ordinator for the timely sending of deliverables and for the specified developments, reports, guidelines, translations and progress coordination.

• Nevertheless, there will be a strong emphasis on the collaborative aspects of the Project and hence a commitment by all partners to ensure their contribution is well managed at the local level.

• This will be reinforced through the workshop meetings taking place every 4-5 months in which all partners will be expected to make presentations.

• Communication to enhance internal management will be through e-mails and, as necessary, direct telephone conversation both within the country and with the workpackage coordinators/Project Coordinator.

• Special efforts will be made to ensure adequate dissemination plans are in place by all partners, both for within the country and for the wider dissemination and that careful and timely attention is paid to the creation of journal articles and seminar/conference papers.

6.1.4 Decision-Making Procedures

• There will be a formal procedure for the resolution of disputes through a majority vote within the steering committee with the Co-ordinator having both a deliberative and, if necessary, a casting vote.

6.1.5 PARSEL Management Plan

• The role of all participants, and the related timelines, would be formalised through contracts drawn up between each of the partners by the Coordinator and agreed by the Steering Committee.

• The Project Management Plan will be detailed for each component of the project and agreed by the Steering Committee and will include the schedule of financial payments to be made to the partners.

• The Steering Committee will draw up plans for dissemination, both at the local and European/ international level, and for future plans beyond the project pertaining to the website and exemplary teaching/learning materials.

6.1.6 Contract Management• Financial control and reporting will be the

responsibility of IPN. • It will be the responsibility of the Co-ordinator to keep

all partners of the project informed of all contractual matters relating to the Commission.

• The Project administrator, appointed within IPN, will be responsible to the Co-ordinator, in the first instance, and to the Steering Committee for the dissemination of information to all partners in good time for them to act.

• Additional members of staff will be appointed as required on a short-term contract or secondment basis to undertake duties relating to particular areas of concern.

6.1.7 Information Flow and Updating of Workplan

• In addition to informal contacts, partners will report orally at each steering videoconference meeting and more formally, in writing, at each workshop meeting of the consortium. This will cover progress of work specified in the various work packages, problems encountered and how the problems were being tackled. There will be major reviews of the project developments at months 8, 18 and 24. The Project Co-ordinator will work with the work package leaders on the preparation of reports to the Commission; these will require approval by the project Steering Committee. The steering committee will decide on any updating of the workplans and the Project Co-ordinator will be responsible for conveying this to the Commission.

• Deliverables will be sent to the Project Co-ordinator by the work package leaders by dates specified in the Management plan and in line with the achievement of the delivery dates set out in the table listing deliberables.

• Subject to the formal approval of the Steering Committee, the Project Co-ordinator and work package leaders will agree on any security measures appropriate prior to public access being granted to services and materials developed within PARSEL.

• Formal reports on the manner in which the authorship of the original examples of teaching/learning materials and work of the consortium is recognised and acknowledged during the dissemination of the model and exemplar materials will be made to the Steering Committee by the Project Co-ordinator, with extensive reports on exploitation plans being made by the time of the mid-term review (interim exploitation plan) and three months prior to the completion of the Project (final exploitation plan).

• The exchange of ideas and the extent of the deliberations during the Project will be conducted confidentiality.

6.1.8 Quality Assurance Mechanisms

• Quality within PARSEL would be assured through the involvement of two groups:

• the project steering committee

• an external reference group

• The Co-ordinator will be responsible for the active involvement of all groups at all stages in the evaluation of the work packages and for ensuring that the evaluations are completed on time.

• The steering committee however, would provide a major check on quality discussing matters of concern and will refer outcomes or actions required to the Project Co-ordinator.

External Reference Group

• An external reference group will be set up which will include: senior academics from other institutions, who have had experience as external examiners or assessors related to teaching/learning materials; and representatives from professional bodies concerned with education and training quality standards.

• At least one member will be from the ICASE management body. Procedures for the involvement of the quality assurance teams will be through involvement in the workshops held before the mid-term assessment and the final internal evaluation of PARSEL (workshops 3 and 7).

6.2 Plan for using and disseminating knowledge

• One output of this project is to create an interactive website that would enable members to disseminate appropriate information, and allow teachers to have a source of exemplar materials and/or resources. This allows a coordinated management of all dissemination materials to ensure adequate coordination.

• And by this means the project intends to share evidence of exemplary strategies that promote effective reflective school teaching and provide a forum for the development of the school curriculum, assessment and methods that are exemplary with respect to relevant school science teaching.

The partners will create a regional network for relevance in science education. By operating at a local level, the partners will establish links with existing

communities, and work with these, or establish other local dissemination links.

The local links are seen as important in providing opportunities for translation of the materials into the local language and making available materials, tested in the local situation, which promote relevance of science teaching within a country.

By linking internationally through ICASE, the partners forge additional international dissemination channels.

The partners will audit provision and disseminate information with respect to strategies and developments they have evaluated.

Partners will:create dissemination links within a country and internationally; • contribute to the project operation and dissemination strategies;• share expertise and materials that strive towards combating the EU

concerns for a lack of future scientists and a well informed public on science and technology affairs;

• agree on a combined strategy for promoting best practice for relevance in science teaching and through local dissemination links test exemplars in secondary classrooms;

• evaluate, report and disseminate outcomes of testing the exemplary science teaching materials and resources to promote relevant science teaching.

The project thus sees important sub-objectives as:• creation, enhancement and nurturing of opportunities for

collaboration and partnership between network members;

• development of a shared vision between partners on relevant teaching materials;

• provision of a forum for discussion and dissemination of effective practice related to science teaching/learning materials and/or resources;

• development of questionnaires for teacher and students on the outcomes from using exemplar teaching/learning material in the classroom;

• raising the profile of relevance approaches in science education which strive to increase the popularity of science subjects in school and through the popularity of science and technology, developments within society.

6.2.2 Local Dissemination Strategy• The project recognises that developing a shared vision between

partners is not sufficient and that there is a need to disseminate this to teachers and stakeholders within a country.

• The major stakeholders are seen as science teachers, science teacher educators, curriculum developers, the scientist community and industry.

• The latter two groups are included because the voice of scientists is often very powerful within a country and their involvement and interest would be a major dissemination support. Industry, as a potential employer and with views on the type of science education that is important, is seen as another key stakeholder in the development of materials.

• Industry is often a sponsor of such materials and hence their involvement and interest would assist the future developments of materials and/or resources promoted as relevant for science teaching.

• A key target for dissemination of materials and/or resources is naturally the science teacher and hence a key factor is not only their interest, but also their ability to accept and take ownership of the model for teaching material development. This is assisted by forming links with the local professional science teacher association and a key role for ICASE is disseminating outcomes to such associations.

• By involving teachers in testing the translated materials in the classroom, additional outcomes can be disseminated as well as developing ownership of the approach for relevant teaching materials in the classroom.

Key sub-objectives related to local dissemination strategies:

• translation of the teaching/learning materials and/or resources into the local language;

• gain acceptance of the exemplar teaching/learning materials and the model for further development and use within science teaching;

• try out and monitor the use of such materials with a view to providing more dissemination information on outcomes on the relevance of the materials/resources in the local situation;

• formulating dissemination strategies to encourage greater use of the exemplar materials.

6.2.3 Wider Dissemination ObjectivesThe network members of the project recognise the important need for

dissemination and this is put forward as a key feature of the project. This applies not only to the model and the exemplar materials/resources related to this, but to dissemination to a range of European and other countries, based on the outcomes of using teaching/learning materials in the classroom

The project would thus build on its extensive, existing international, regional and national relationships for this purpose. It would make particular use of its links with ICASE and the relevant science teacher education organisations with which it interlinks, as well as with institutions, scientists and industry though its known contacts.

Key sub-objectives related to dissemination are this seen as:• initiating mechanisms for the disseminating of relevant teaching/learning

materials and/or resources with specific reference to promoting relevance of science teaching and raising the popularity of science in the eyes of students;

• ensuring trans-national co-ordination and dissemination of ideas and best practice related to science teaching and resource materials for relevance;

• further developing relevant national and international links.

The partners would have three clear functions: • Contributing to a model, and accompanying exemplar

teaching/learning materials and/or resources, based on a sharing of expertise and developments, reflecting best practice with respect to policy, practice and strategies related to the promotion of relevant science teaching, as a part of the project strategy to raise the popularity of science in schools.

• Guiding dissemination of the materials through testing in the local situation to wider stakeholders e.g. teacher educators, scientists and industry with respect to promoting relevant science teaching based on local issues and student interests.

• Dissemination of the model and exemplar materials/resources together with the outcomes of utilising the materials/resources in the classroom situation in a range of European and other countries.

• The partnerships created will provide an opportunity to raise the profile of issues identified by teachers at the local and national levels, as well as provide a mechanism by which the teacher voice on the theme of relevant science teaching and the many constraints to this, can inform national and international debate within the science education community.

6.3 Raising public participation and awareness

• The project will establish an effective mechanism for dissemination of exemplar materials based on the model at a national level in each participating country with the help of the partners and ICASE (links to the national science teacher association) to include:

• Education practitioners - teachers and schools• Teacher educators - science educators and

universities• Scientists – Academy of sciences, universities• Industry

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• The project will undertake the translation of exemplary materials into the local language (as appropriate) and test each translated material/resource in 3-5 classrooms in each country.

• The project will promote ownership of the model and determine the appropriateness of the exemplar teaching/learning materials and/or resources.

• The project will disseminate the materials and outcomes through a variety of channels.

• The testing will be carried out by identifying interested teachers, with the partners providing guidelines and developing instruments to measure outcomes.

• The project will involve local teachers, teacher educators and industrialists in each of the planned workshops to be held in different participant countries.

• Through this it is planned to raise greater awareness and participation by education and industry groups in raising the standard of science education within the country.

• And by encouraging the exemplary materials or materials created by teachers based on the exemplary material in the schools, it is expected that greater public awareness will be raised by students communicating with their parents.