Erasmus+ KA2 MultiEd consortium partners discussed the prospects of project realization during the wartime
On June 29, 2022, a meeting of managers and coordinators of the Erasmus+ KA2 MultiEd project "Foreign Language Teacher Training Capacity Development as a Way to Ukraine’s Multilingual Education and European Integration" took place. The partners discussed the prospects for implementing the activities of the project, which has been extended to November 14, 2023.
The partnership was represented by the University of Tartu (Estonia), Heidelberg Pedagogical University (Germany), Aston University (Great Britain), as well as eight Ukrainian universities. Zaporizhzhia National University representatives Vice-Rector for Research Genadiy Vasylchuk, the coordinator, Head of the Department of Theory and Practice of Translation from English Svitlana Zapolskykh, and the project manager, Vice Dean for International Work of the Faculty of Journalism Katerina Sirinyok-Dolgaryova, took part in the meeting. Other partners were represented by V. O. Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National University, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Cherkasy National University, Poltava National Pedagogical University, Horlivka Institute of Foreign Languages of Donbas State Pedagogical University, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Volodymyr Hnatyuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University, and Vasyl Stefanyk Prykarpatskiy National University. All-Ukrainian Association of English Language Teachers "TESOL - Ukraine" and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine also participated in the meeting. Oleksandra Golovko, the coordinator and project manager from the University of Tartu (Estonia) moderated the meeting.
Svitlana Shytikova, head of the National Erasmus+ Office in Ukraine, spoke at the meeting, greeted everyone, encouraged and promised support in all project activities. The partners discussed in detail all stages of project implementation for each of the work packages. In particular, special attention was paid to the improvement of educational programs, new and updated courses, their launch, evaluation by stakeholders. Within the scope of the project, eight new courses were developed and fourteen were updated, feedback from stakeholders - teachers, students, employers - was received. Most of the partners have already completed the renewal and launched educational and professional programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctor’s of philosophy levels. Student surveying was conducted regarding the assessment of new and updated courses. The majority of universities analyzed the results and reported on the high evaluation of students, who emphasized the advantages of using the latest information technologies, CLIL methodology, and a student-centered approach to teaching.
Under the leadership of Elizabeth Wielander, lecturer at Aston University (UK), the development of an e-course "The CLIL Methodology" for school teachers is almost complete. The partnership plans to record video presentations, upload the materials to the Moodle platform of one of the universities, and then export the course to the platforms of other Ukrainian partners in order to target as large audience as possible. All-Ukrainian Association of English Language Teachers "TESOL - Ukraine" promised support in involving schoolteachers to the course.
The partnership has completed the analysis of a survey “Multilingual education in Ukraine” of students, teachers and administrative staff of the partner higher education institutions of Ukraine regarding their experiences in multilingual education. Based on the results of this work package, led by ZNU, multilingual education strategies will be developed in each of the participating universities, and joined document “National recommendations "Multilingual Higher Education in Ukraine" will be produced. The development of strategies and the writing of recommendations is planned in cooperation with the University of Tartu after the participants attend a series of lectures and workshops in August this year in Estonia.
The issue of working visits is relevant at the current stage, so there were discussed the internships for Ukrainian partners, which will take place in July-August, and will occur in 3 stages at the University of Tartu (Estonia). Three groups of ZNU teachers will participate in seminars, enroll into lecture courses, improve their qualifications and undergo internships abroad. The partners also paid current difficult conditions of cooperation in wartime, and difficulties in disseminating project results. It was decided to plan holding of conferences and seminars individually in accordance with the working conditions of each higher education institution of Ukraine, in cooperation with the coordinator and partners.
