This is a reference for Sara Paolazzo

Drop-In

The training activity took place
in Saulkrasti, Latvia
organised by Latvian NA
22/05/2018-27/05/2018

Aims & objectives

Drop-In was a 5 day training course (TC) for youth workers and teachers who want to improve and support the learning process of (potential) school drop-outs. The TC was designed to:
-Discover various reasons why youngsters disconnect from school
-Experience different ways of learning
-Reinforcesynergies between formal and non-formal education
-Share and learn tools, methods and best practicesfrom different international perspectives

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

The TC involved 30 participants, both youth workers and teachers, from: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Ireland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey. Teachers and youth workers who work with 14 to 18 year olds; who wished to have an impact on potential school leavers to boost their learning curve-either inside or outside school-and who want to share and learnin an international group of like-minded.

The team of trainers was an International team. It was formed by a trainer from Latvia (Stanislavs Babins), one from Netherlands (Floris Muller) and one from Bulgaria (Sandra Apostolova).

Training methods used & main activities

The training was based on three principles:
- Exploring together
take accountability for the outcomes and the groups wellbeing. We learn and share from and with each other.
- Diversity of methods
take different learningstyles into account and make use of the knowledge and (intercultural) differences within the group.
-Experiential learning
learning by doing as an important learning style. That means not only theory, but also doing activities and learn from them.

According to these principles I implemented the following activities:
- Statements & Dilemma: define the school drop-out and analyze the phnomenon through participants' statements and dilemmas coming from their experiences and compare it with the official definition of the European Commission;
- Connecting Islands: introduction of the comprehensive approach of the EC to foster the cooperation between different social actors involved in the prevention of school drop-out by using legos
- Family Reflection: facilitate the daily reflection of small group by usign different methods
- Dockd Full of Methods and Methodologies: introduction of different non-formal methods useful to stimulate young people's motivation in education through 6 stations. This method was based on the methodology of self-directed learning: participants were free to join a station, follow the instruction to implement the method presented, and spend there how many time they wanted according to theri learning needs and interests
- Final Group Evaluation: after telling the story of the training from the first to the last day in order to help participants to remember their experience; I used the software Mentimeter to facilitate a group evaluation based in three simple questions: 1. what did I get out of the training?; 2. what did I improve/develop?; 3. what do you want to take with you?; 4. what do you want to leave here?; 5. how would you describe this experience with one word?

Outcomes of the activity

•Better understanding of the phenomenon of school drop-outs and early school leaving.
•Better recognition of the role of the different main stakeholders in the learning process of the youngsters.
•Better understanding how formal and non-formal education can reinforce each other.
•New perspectives, understanding and learnings from the intercultural and European differences in relation to potential school drop-outs.
•New tools and methods to support learning processes of youngsters.
•Understanding of several theoretical models related to the topic and how to apply them to their own context.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

- Organize and facilitate the activities before mentioned;
- Prepare flipcharts and materials for the activities
- Support the other trainers in implementing their activities;
- Facilitate the individual and group reflection on their learning process;
- Support participants' learning process
- Take into account participants' learning needs according to the objectives, activities and flow of the training.

I worked on this training for 5 days as a full time trainer.

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