Loule, Portugal, March 2019
Participants : Maria Lykartsi, Olga Alexandridou
The course is an introduction to portuguese educational system giving an insight view of Escola Secundaria de Loule, a first class portuguese model school, located in Loule, a small traditional town in Algavre, the southest municipality of Portugal. Our participant teachers spent a week in Loule and had the chance to experience insight alternative ways to work, prepare, learn and acquire new abilities and skills to implement in their class. They also had given the opportunity to observe different school management strategies and expand their european network, participating on other teacher's classes and having meetings with the school's director and the school board. Last but not least they attended cultural visits, among them the famous Carnival of Loule!
Case Study : Ecola Secundaria de Loule
1. School Presentation
|
Escola Secundaria de Loule is a model portuguese school, consisted of a general and a vocational high school. 1200 students and 130 teachers work in a modern school bulding, that can fulfill every educational need. The school is well organized making wide use of digital resources. Technology coexists with Art, as you can see high tech infrastructures and paintings on the walls. It is an enviroment friendly school, with a school radio with the equipment to play live music during the breaks! |
2. Infrastructures
Infrastructures in ESL are in a really high level. You can find not only football, basketball and tennis courts, but also swimming pools olympic dimensions, a dance and yoga/pilates room and a professional theater stage with removable auditorium. Physics and Chemistry labs are excellent equipped and as for IT sciences there is not only IT labs with 3D printers, but moreover robotics labs. In such a lab we were introduced to Lego Education and had a playful and creative learning time. |
|
3. Special Education
|
At ESL there is a Special Education Department, in which we were also invited. Students with special needs are not separated in special school, but they are an organic part of the school community, attending their own programme and activities. Interesting is that there is a tailor made programme for each student, according to his/her skills and educational needs. Art and Physical Education is used as a dynamic tool to empower these students, that work in small groups with many assistant teachers. |
4. Vocational Education
Vocational Education plays an essential role in portuguese educational system, as it can help develop new professional skills leading to many employment opportunities. In Portugal vocational and general education usually coexist at the same school building, allowing an interaction between students of different orientations. We were informed about vocational courses, visited infrastructures and observed technology courses. |
|
5. Lesson Observation (History Class)
|
Our European project's coordinator, Maria Lykartsi attended a history class of 5th grade. The number of the students was 27. They started a new chapter, "The Industrial Revolution in Europe". The book was chosen by the teachers, since they used one book at national level only during dictatorship.... .Absences and subject content were kept digitally, though no bell rang! Students were responsible for their breaks, and the class was extremely clean. |
6. Into the School's Kitchen
Located in the southwestern corner of continental Europe, where the western side of the Strait of Gibraltar meets the Atlantic ocean, Portugal is technically not on the Mediterranean, though its cooking style reflects definitely Mediterranean flavors. We tasted portuguese kitchen in the school, where students of the tourist and cooking department were practicing their knowledge under their teacher's eyes. Seafood risotto, grilled sardines, portuguese chicken dish, pastel de nata, all followed by coffee, are some of the flavours we enjoyed during our course. |
|
7. Visit to other educational level schools
|
The last day of our course we visited other educational level schools (like Agrupamento de Escolas Padre Joao Cabanita), where we observed infrastructures, attended lessons and interacted with other teachers. We were impressed by the the wide use of the experiential learning approach at the primary level, as we observed gardens with strawberries and lettuces into the school yard and art installation for women's international day. School libraries and theater stages we met almost everywhere! |
8. Cultural Visits
The Algarve is the southeast region of continental Portugal. Its administrative centre is Faro, a historic and culturally rich city, which we visited on our last day in Portugal. Although the weather was rainy we did a boat tour to the natural park of Ria Formosa and explored Ihla do Farol. We also experienced the Carnival of Loule, the oldest event of its kind in Portugal - and probably the biggest! |
|
9. Certification