CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Conference Program
10 November 2022, Thursday
PLENARY SESSION
Arena Cinema, Mall Markovo tepe, Plovdiv
Moderator: Asenka Hristova, Executive Director of the Institute for Research in Education12:45 - 13:00 Education is the best investment – presentation by Svetoslav Dragiev, Executive Director of the Foundation "Lead by example"13:00 - 14:30 LUNCH (served in the House of Culture "Boris Hristov")
PARALLEL SESSIONS
House of culture "Boris Hristov"
Parallel session 1.1, hall: Center for creative training, ground floor
Working language: Bulgarian
14:30 - 15:20 Open lesson from "Skills for Innovation" - workshop, teachers and students from STEM High-school "Prof. Emanuil Ivanov", Kyustendil 15:20 - 16:00 RoBy – learning through play and strategies for changing the microclimate in the classroom, based on game scenarios – workshop, Iglika Angelova, KAIT 16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK16:30 - 18:00 Climate fresco - learning as a game - workshop, Magdalena Maleeva and Gergana Berova, Wind of ChangeParallel session 1.2, hall : Small conference room, floor: 1
Working language: English (translation will be provided)
14:30 - 15:00 The role of the Learning Support Zone in the school – presentation by Maria Montebello, director and Priscilla Micallef university educator and teacher at the Junior high school at the College of St. Ignatius in Handaq, Malta 15:00 - 16:00 The methodology of Celestin Freinet – presentation, The art of Rhetoric meets Freinet – workshop for social and emotional competences by Kaliopi Matiudaki, 2nd School Glika Nera - Athens, Greece 16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK16:30 - 17:15 Courage to be imperfect: Using encouragement instead of praise in the classroom - workshop, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marina Chibisova, Moscow State Pedagogical University and Vera Todorova, DIITT at Trakia University17:15 - 18:00 STRENGTHen social and emotional competences of pedagogical counselors and career guidance professionals - tools and results from an Erasmus+ project (2019-2022) – workshop, Speranta Tibu, Alina Craciunescu and Marcela Calineci, National Center for Policy and Evaluation in Education, RomaniaParallel session 1.3, Hall: Large conference room, floor: 1
Working language: Bulgarian
14:30 - 15:00 Creating with Edpuzzle - Gonzalo Sanchez, EdPuzzle 15:00 - 16:00 Teacher Professional Development Guidelines for Project-Based Learning and STEM – a workshop with the participation of trainers from the Center for Creative Training and representatives of "Vasil Levski" Primary School, Razgrad 16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK16:30 - 17:15 Technologies with added value – examples from the school practice – by the representatives of "Chernorizets Hrabar" School, Plovdiv and "Lyuben Karavelov" School, Plovdiv17:15 - 18:00 The role of the learning environment in the educational process – Yuliana Atanasova, director and Marina Tomova, deputy director of "Hristo Botev" Primary School - Aheloy, arch. Galina Milkova, ThinkforwardLab11 November 2022, Friday
PLENARY SESSION
Arena Cinema, Mall "Markovo tepe", Plovdiv
Working language: Bulgarian
08:00 – 09:00 Registration of participants
09:00 – 09:15 Space Dreams – motivational speech by Tatiana Ivanova, the first Bulgarian woman trained by NASA as an astronaut
09:15 – 10:00 The role of digital technologies in the sustainable development of Bulgarian education – panel discussion: Dian Stamatov, Chairman of the Union of Employers in the Public Education System in Bulgaria; Asen Alexandrov, Chairman of the Association of Directors in Secondary Education in the Republic of Bulgaria; Stefan Stoyanov, deputy Mayor of Education, Business Development and European Policies, Plovdiv; Vihra Eramyan, director of EG "Ivan Vazov", Plovdiv; Vyara Dukova, headmaster, Vocational High School of Computer Modeling and Computer Systems - Varna,
moderator: Alexander Angelov, Center for Creative Education
10:00 – 10:30 Romania Secondary Education Project - ROSE: Resources for teachers and counsellors in developing social and emotional competences, presentation, Oana Mosoiu, Romanian Ministry of education, Unit for the Management of Externally Financed Projects (UMEFP)
10:30 - 11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:00 - 11:40 Innovations through the 1:1 model – panel discussion, Anika Petrova director of "Vasil Levski" School - Ardino; Maya Gesheva, director of the National Financial High School, Sofia; Maria Atanasova, deputy director of "Ivan Vazov" Language High-school - Plovdiv; Students from "Ivan Vazov" Language High School, Plovdiv;
Moderator: Stanislav Hristov, Center for Creative Education
11:40 - 12:00 The community of the Cloud Teachers – presentation, Elena Varzilova, Chairperson of the Google Educators Group
12:00 – 12:10 Speech by Deputy Minister of Education Mrs. Maria Gaidarova
12:10 - 12:50 Project-based learning with LEGO® Education – panel discussion with the participation of Ani Angelova, director, "Ivan Vazov" School in Varshets, Greta Stoyanova, senior science teacher, "Alexander Georgiev Kodjakafaliyata" Primary School in Burgas, Sevil Ivanova, psychologist, "Alexander Georgiev Kojakafaliyata" Primary School, Burgas, Margarita Stoilova, deputy director of the "Lyuben Karavelov" Primary school, Ruse
moderator: Valentina Venkova, Center for creative education
12:50 - 13:00 FIRST LEGO LEAGUE - presentation, Dimitris Siskos, manager of EduAct, Greece
13:00 - 14:30 LUNCH (served in the House of Culture "Boris Hristov")
PARALLEL SESSIONS
House of culture "Boris Hristov"
Parallel session 2.1, hall: CTO, ground floor
Working language: Bulgarian
14:30 - 15:45 LEGO® Education Workshop: Coding and Teamwork for Beginners – workshop, Valentina Venkova, Center for creative education and Tanya Andonova, Kinder Coder
15:45 - 16:00 Technical break
16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK
16:30 - 17:45 LEGO® Education workshop: coding and teamwork for junior high school – workshop, Valentina Venkova, Center for Creative Learning and Tanya Andonova, Kinder Coder
Parallel session 2.2, hall: Small conference room, floor: 1
Working language: English
14:30 - 15:00 Strategies for a whole school approach to social and emotional education – presentation, Paula de Waal, Ca' Foscari University Venice, Italy Working language: EN
15:00 - 15:30 3 models for social and emotional education: the experience of 3 Italian schools in the SEEVAL project – panel discussion, Sabrina De Biagi, Monica De Toni, Stefania Gamba from Istituto Compensivo Statale di Dolo, Deborah Galiazzo from Istituto Canossiano di Treviso, Federica Scamporrino from Istituto Compensivo Caio Giulio Cezare - Venezia - Mestre, moderator: Paula de Waal, Ca' Foscari University Venice, Italy
15:30 - 16:00 The Romanian SEEVAL pilot program for integrating social and emotional education in school – presentation, Petre Botnaryuk, National Center for Policy and Evaluation in Education, Romania
16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK
16:30 - 17:30 Recommendations for educational policies for social and emotional education – moderated discussion with the participation of specialists from Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Malta, Austria
moderator: Kostas Diamandis, Action Synergy, Greece
17:30 - 18:00 Socio-emotional competences in motion! – workshop by Marcela Calineci and Luminita Mitrofan, school counsellors at the Municipal Centre for Resources and Educational Assistance Bucharest (CMBRAE), Romania
Parallel session 2.3, Hall: Large conference room, floor: 1
Working language: English (translation will be provided)
14:30 - 15:40 Promoting SEL through student voice and choice – workshop, Kevin Sherman, Cloud Education Solutions, Republic of South Africa
Working language: Bulgarian
15:40 - 16:00 Social & emotional learning: Creating an ecosystem for success – presentation by Miglena Nikiforova, “Lachezar Tsotsorkov” Foundation
16:00 - 16:30 COFFEE BREAK
16:30 - 17:20 How to choose a focus for our innovation? – workshop on good practices with the team of the Center for Creative Learning and Innovative Schools
17:20 - 18:00 Together through the technologies – panel discussion with the participation of Desislava Ralcheva, deputy director of SUUNZ "Louis Brail" - Sofia, Iva Boneva, executive director of Association for shared learning “Ela”, Lena Parova, director, "St. St. Cyril and Methodius" School - Vetren
THE CONTEXT OF THE CONFERENCE
Why Social and Emotional Education
"Connecting information from different sources, taking on board new ideas, testing them through trial and error: adults use these skills everyday, and they’re all creative.
So it’s no wonder business leaders now rank creativity as the most-wanted skill in the working world. Millions of children will grow up to do jobs that don’t exist yet, so creativity will help them adapt and thrive in any future."
Citation from LEGO Foundation website
UNESCO’s recent publication 'Rethinking Learning' agrees that social-emotional learning is essential.
Here’s what they found:
"[...] students’ social and emotional competence not only predicts school success, but also predicts a range of important outcomes in late adolescence and adulthood, including high school graduation, postsecondary completion, employment, financial stability, physical health, and overall mental health and well-being."
In addition to confirming the role of social and emotional skills as important predictors for the career and life, a major Survey of Social and Emotional Skills carried out in 2021 by OECD shows that 15-year old students, irrespectively of their gender and social background report lower SEL skills than the 10-year olds. On almost every social and emotional competence measured, 10-year olds do better than the 15-year olds. Parents and teachers confirm that.
The adolescence is a period of difficult transitions when the family role decreases in the life of the young people and the SEL skills are challenged. That is why the role of the school is getting even more important and more efforts should be put in support of the adolescents’ SEL, along with the academic performance.
MAIN TOPICS OF THE CONFERENCE
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING
The whole school approach to the social and emotional learning of adolescents is in the focus of the transnational project “Social and Emotional Education – Building inclusive schools and ownership of values” (SEEVAL), which has been carried out since late 2019 by partners from Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Malta and Romania.
We will be happy to share with the participants in the conference the outcomes of the 3-year work and practical examples of seamless integration of the SEL to the everyday life and curriculum of the school. Some important results of the project work are published in the Resources section of this website.
The SEEVAL project is implemented with the support from the European Commission under Erasmus+ program, KA3 - Support for Policy Reform, action: Social inclusion through education, training and youth.
SKILLS FOR INNOVATION
Skills for Innovation (SFI) is an initiative by Intel® Corporation aimed at innovative learning experiences which actively engage students in all learning environments. The expanding set of hands-on activities provide pre-designed learning experiences to help educators redefine how technology and social-emotional skills can be instilled in education. The focus of the initiative is on transforming the way technology is used in education and on inspiring the next generation of innovators.
Among the aims of the initiative are:
Expanding technology usage in education from only accessing contents to practicing hands on activities tied to curriculum concepts across all subjects and grade levels;
Using technology projects to enhance students’ social emotional skills like teamwork, leadership and resilience to failure;
Integrating technology in all subjects, not just STEM, and allowing future farmers, lawyers, and doctors master the technology mindsets and skillsets that can help them in their future careers.
Taking inspiration from SFI initiative we would like to go beyond it and to look into the roots of the creativity, the vasts of the imagination and the role of the school for nurturing the qualities of the future explorers and innovators.
THE 1:1 MODEL
The 1 to 1 model (1:1) is an organization of the learning process, where each student and teacher have their own electronic device, a personal digital profile connected to it and a constant access to the internet. The model is a natural step ahead that builds on the cloud technologies and benefits from the availability of learning platform with various applications and digital content.
The 1:1 model supports the meaningful use of technologies. The aim of its implementation is not to keep learners longer in front of the computer screen, but to increase the beneficial use of the technologies for: access to knowledge from many sources, solving real-life problems, creation of original content by the students in the process of learning. The model supports implementation of contemporary methods of teaching and learning such as flipped classroom, project based learning, inquiry based learning.
In addition to the enhancement of the academic achievements, the model supports development of social and emotional skills such as collaboration, communication, teamwork, leadership.
LEGO® EDUCATION
More than four decades ago LEGO Corporation started collaborating with teachers and educational specialists for creating solutions for teaching and hands-on learning. Based on the LEGO® system for playful learning combined with curriculum-relevant materials and digital resources those solutions formed the physical and digital capital that powers LEGO Education.
In addition to the goal to inspire interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) LEGO Education aims to support learners' creativity and engagement through positive experiences. The core of the LEGO Education approach is to bring learning through play to the classroom using instructional methods proven to support learning outcomes in cognitive, social, emotional, creative, and physical domains.
