Perşembe School Network Studies Have Been Completed
As a part of our project, which aims to explore the concept of School Networks and Polycentric Inspection Model carried upon to evaluate their performance, a sample school network was formed in Perşembe/ Ordu consisting of 10 schools listed below. The process and activities were coordinated by the Local Department of Education in Ordu
-Ordu Social Sciences High school (Project partner)
– Zehra Şelale Anadolu High school.
– Perşembe Anadolu İmam Hatip (Islamic Vet School)
– Sakin Şehir Vet School (Tourism and Catering)
– Perşembe Şehit Ceyhun Arslantürk Vet School (Vocational school for girls)
– 75. Yıl Preschool
– Cumhuriyet Primary School
– Gazi Primary School
– Atatürk Lower-secondary School
– Beyli Lower-secondary School
Each school selected one administrator (mostly vice principals) and one teacher for the networking studies. The teachers have participated voluntarily and they had previous project experience in eTwinning, Erasmus+ and other local or national projects.
What have we done within the Network?
Kick-off Meeting (January, 2022)
Having started with staff selection, the networking studies have officially commenced with a hybrid meeting, where 10 teachers, 10 school administrators, administrators and coordinators from the Local Department of Education and Inspectors from the Turkish Board of Inspection got together to discuss what problem or topic to address within the network.
At the meeting, the majority of the participants agreed that within the current educational system, students are being pushed too hard to achieve academic achievement. It was pointed out that schools lack social activities and other extra-curricular activities to support multiple intelligences. The volunteers decided to cooperate for 4 months through different activities.
So the main goal of the network was decided to be “To increase the quantity and quality of the social activities provided by the school network.” Other sub topics and aims of the network were:
-Increasing the Attractivity of VET education among students and parents,
-Using facilities like workshops, libraries, halls and materials for different purposes together,
– Foreign language learning,
– Reading and literature,
– Art.
Young Authors Panel (February, 2022)
Perşembe Gazi Lower-Secondary school is home to a group of young authors, who have story books in the fantastic genre. In an attempt to promote their success story and to stimulate more students to write, the network held a panel with those authors and a total number of roughly 150 students and teachers from the schools of the network heard their success story and got to ask questions and share their own experiences.
Mask Workshop (March, 2022)
As two of the aims of the network are to promote VET education among younger students and to share workshops and other facilities within the network, Şehit Ceyhun Arslantürk VET school, which contains a Child Development branch, hosted students from the kindergartens and primary schools of the network at a mask workshop. The workshop enabled kids from those schools to see how it is like at a VET school while also giving a chance to the VET learners to interact with children.
Water Marbling Workshop For Teachers (March, 2022)
In order to promote professional development and teacher interaction within the network, 22 teachers from the network schools got together to learn and experiment water marbling. Ordu Social Sciences High School hosted the event, where the art teacher of the school taught the basics of water marbling and gave the participants a chance to create their own art piece.
Puppet and Stuffed Toys Workshop (April, 2022)
With the same purposes as the mask workshop, the Puppet workshop also brought VET learners, preschool and primary school students together for a fun activity. The students made grass heads and other toys with assistance from the VET learners of the Child Development departments. 50 students from 3 different schools were hosted by the VET school during the two-day, four-session workshop.
High School Karaoke Concert (April, 2022)
In parallel with the aims of both increasing the quality and quantity of social activities and support the foreign language learning among the students, a karaoke concert was held with 12 students from three different high school joined the concert as performers while another 150 joined as audience.
All songs were in English and the performances were appreciated by the audience. Zehra Şelale Anadolu High School coordinated event and the participating schools agreed to do such an event again in years to come.
Breakfast Workshop (May, 2022)
Sakin Şehir VET school, which focuses on tourism and catering, hosted 20 students from the high schools of the network. The workshop started with a presentation by the head of the Catering Services Department of the school on the importance of breakfast and what a well-balanced breakfast should include.
After the presentation, the participants stepped in the workshop to prepare a healthy and a hearty breakfast for themselves. They had to chance to use the appliances and tools in the workshop.
Closing Meeting (June, 2022)
In order to finalize the events, do a recap of the network studies and to plan the evaluation process, 20 teachers and administrators came together at Sakin Sehir VET school. During the meeting network members discussed the positive and negative impacts they obtained during the activities.
During the meeting, the participants also discussed how the network will be evaluated through Polycentric Inspection Model. The questionnaires for teachers, students, administrators and parents were introduced and the process during and after the evaluation was clarified.