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« L'euro : un projet pour impulser la citoyenneté européenne; des modules de formation continue pour les enseignants » entend élaborer un matériel pédagogique et didactique autour de l'euro qui pourra être utilisé dans les écoles et dans le cadre de formations continues pour les enseignants du primaire et du secondaire.

Le projet, prévu pour une durée de trois ans, est promu par des centres de formation d'Espagne, de Belgique, de France, d'Italie et du Portugal. Il s'appuie également sur un réseau de vingt-quatre écoles qui participent actuellement à des Projets Educatifs Européens dans le cadre de l'Action 1 de Comenius.

La première année de réalisation concerne le développement d'un CD-ROM interactif sur l'euro, l'organisation de formations locales aux Nouvelles Technologies de l'Information et l'élaboration de matériel pédagogique. Au cours de la deuxième année, les modules de formation seront élaborés et expérimentées dans les écoles participantes surrtout au niveau national.

La troisième année sera consacrée à la préparation et à la réalisation de formations continues dans le cadre de Comenius 3.2, ainsi qu'à l'élaboration d'un manuel et d'une page Web pour la dissémination du projet.

«Astronomía en el nuevo milenio: ¿Qué tipo de educación debe proporcionar la escuela europea» (l'Astronomie dans le nouveau millénaire : quelle sorte d'éducation doit offrir l'école européenne) entend développer un modèle européen commun pour la formation des enseignants du secondaire en astronomie, sur le rôle joué par cette discipline dans l'histoire de la culture européenne et dans les systèmes scolaires actuels. Le projet, promu par un partenariat issu d'Espagne, Allemagne, Finlande, Lituanie et Portugal, s'articule autour des activités suivantes :

1. analyser l'enseignement de l'astronomie dans les curricula de l'enseignement secondaire;
2. sélectionner les thèmes prioritaires que l'enseignement de l'astronomie devrait inclure;
3. réaliser du matériel pédagogique et l'expérimenter dans les centres partenaires;
4. offrir des formations scientifiques et pédagogiques dans le cadre de Comenius 3.2;
5. promouvoir la dimension européenne à travers l'enseignement de l'astronomie (observation du firmament, histoire de cette discipline scientifique et développements actuels liées au travail de l'Agence Spatiale Européenne).

Les produits concrets seront une formation continue et du matériel pédagogique à utiliser dans la formation continue.

The impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on education is really only in its infancy. While major investments have been made over the past five years in equipping schools with the relevant hardware infrastructures and Internet access, the real work is now only beginning. This involves trying to understand the nature of the technology on offer to us as educators, the pedagogical possibilities it opens up to us and its potential for communication. These issues are integral to the eLearning action plan of the European Commission, now entering its second phase.

Coupled with the potentials of the medium come the challenges. Among these are the ubiquitous nature of future learning environments, the ready availability of knowledge resources and the change that such items bring to the role of schools, teachers and learners. All of this, of course, is taking place against a background of a much wider societal change in the European context that is also impacting in a major way on educational establishments.

Central to the process of managing the change and creating the climate of acceptance and furtherance of the integration of new pedagogical practices involving the use of ICT into the educational establishment, is the role of the school leader. Without their support and vision the process of acceptance and integration becomes more difficult as traditionally they are regarded as a conservative rather than a proactive group in educational change. This needs to change so that the school leaders become agents of change, and in order for this to happen, there needs to be more emphasis on raising the awareness of school leaders to the issues involved.

Up to now the school leaders have been a rather neglected group in the training processes for educational technology, although this is now beginning to change in a number of European countries. I would argue that there is a major need of training models for school leaders, to remedy their lack of confidence, skills and understanding in this regard. Among the objectives of such training I would see some of the following issues although this list is by no means exhaustive:

1. School leaders and the future. – The development of Vision

2. ICT and new pedagogies. An examination of how ICT changes the pedagogic practices within a school.

3. ICT in a community context. The changing relationships between school and local communities.

4. Virtual Schools – Real Buildings. An examination of the issues behind managing a school where a part of its activities take place in cyberspace.

5. Lifelong learning

What is needed now in the development of a community of practice, is the identification across Europe of those school leaders who are interested in becoming – or are - the entrepreneurs of ICT usage in educational practice and who will discuss the relevant competencies that need to be developed for the future. Change is never easy, but change without mastery or understanding is impossible.Anne Gilleran, has worked in the field of education since 1972, firstly as a lecturer in counselling theories and techniques, then as a guidance counsellor and teacher. For ten years she was a school principal in Dublin, Ireland. Since April 2001, she has worked at the European Schoolnet (EUN) where she coordinates the School Managers Centre (SMC).

Crucial benchmarks in the three-year working period of the project include:

- collection of local information and scrutiny of particularly positive/negative cases
- investigation of local conditions for violence in schools, in the respective region
- development of adequate measures to be taken in order to: improve parents' level of information; support joint projects of teachers and parents and of intercultural projects; present eduactional contracts and ways of working with them; strengthen children's and parents' social competencies.

To achieve these aims and objectives, the partnership will hold a number of local, regional and transnational meetings and conferences. A brochure and a DVD film will document the projects results.