CONFERENCE

Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 ,

Greece

Fig: 1 Giannitsa, is the largest city of Region in Central . The city located 53 Km distance from , Greece In the city leaves 29,789 inhabitants.

Fig. 2

The Τower of the Clock in the city of Giannitsa , Pella

INCLUDE in the context of ESEC Erasmus+ Partnership for Adults Education and in cooperation with 3o Public Schools’ PEKES have been organized at Giannitsa city a Great Conference under the title : " Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences"

Fig. 3

The conference took place at the Lecture Hal of 5th Primary School “PENELOPI DELTA” in the city of Giannitsa.

Participants

In this Conference participated 150 General and Special Education Teachers from 3o PEKES where all Public Schools from the region of Pella bellongs. The ESEC Erasmus+ conference has been organized in the context of teacher’s training sesions before the start of the new school period as an initiative of Educational Coordinator of the 3ο PEKES Dr Pinelopi Ksanthidou.

Conference speakers

1. Andreas Ekonomou, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Higher Education Department, ASPAITE, Coordinator EPPAIK / PESYP Thessaloniki. Prof. Ekonomou

presented the interactive relationship between educators and Parents and suggested the prerequisites of a good partnership based on the results of need analysis of the ESEC project. Prof Ekonomou presented the ecosystem model of Bronferbrenner (1979)1

2. Dr. Penelope Xanthidou, SEE PE70 3rd Pekes presented Theoretical Models of Parent-Teacher Interaction in special education and School and family collaboration models

3. Dr. Andromachi Nanou, Special Educator, President of the Include , Interdisciplinary Network for Special and Intercultural Education presented an holistic model of approaching children’s behavioral difficulties and suggested the competences the Educators could develop in order to cooperate effectively with families. She presented two short films 1) La luna (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=UD3NN1qDrhM) The film concerns how disagreements in children’s’ upbringing affects their feelings and how children can find finally their own solutions. 2) Party cloudy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZZ5Vq3hNw) This short movie approaches the resilience that teachers need to mobilize to deal with behavioral problems of children at school.

4. Maria Kontogianni, a member scientific team of the Include, presented physical exercises to help children to be concentrated in the classroom. These simple exercises develops self-consciousness and self-regulation of feelings and could be applied before and after the lesson in the class. They are easy to be taught to teachers. These exercises are going to be a part of training program for teachers and parents

5. Tsiomi Evaggelia, Special educator, INCLUDE member, presented 7 stages for preparing cooperation between teachers and parents. Dr Andromachi , in parallel , presented the competences that teachers has to develop in order to pass effectively through these stages of parent teacher cooperation for the better child support.

6. Andromachi Giatrakou Special educator, INCLUDE Scientific committee member, presented the ways that school and family could cooperate using social stories to teach social circumstances children with behavioral difficulties.

The conference came to an end with discussion on specific issues that were interesting for the participants.

1 Bronfenbrenner (1979) The ecology of Human Development. Harvard University Press

Photographs

Fig 4: Dr Andromachi Nanou, Special Educator, President of the Include , presented an holistic model of approaching children’s behavioral difficulties and she suggested the competences the Educators could develop in order to cooperate effectively with families.

Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Fig 5: More than 150 primary school teachers from general and Special education participate in the conference concerning ESEC Erasmus+ Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Fig. Andreas Economou, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Higher Education Department, ASPAITE, Coordinator EPPAIK / PESYP Thessaloniki. Prof. Ekonomou presented the interactive relationship between educators and Parents and suggested the prerequisites of a good partnership based on the results of need analysis of the ESEC project. Prof Ekonomou presented the ecosystem model of Bronferbrenner (1979) 2 Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

2 Bronfenbrenner (1979) The ecology of Human Development. Harvard University Press

Fig 4: Dr Andromachi Nanou, Special Educator, President of the Include suggested specific competences that teachers could develop in order to cooperate effectively with families.

Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Fig 5: More than 150 primary school teachers from general and Special education participate in the conference concerning ESEC Erasmus+ Project results from need analysis of teachers and parents Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences 5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Fig.6 Primary school Teachers participated in the ESEC Erasmus+ Conference Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences

5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Fig. 7 Tsiomi Evaggelia, Special educator, INCLUDE member, presented 7 stages for preparing cooperation between teachers and parents. Conference Extending educators’ and parents’ cooperation competences

5 - 9 – 2019 GIANNITSA

Outcomes

Teachers found ESEC project very important for their everyday communication with parents and children with behavioral difficulties. They express their feelings and thoughts in the discussion that followed the end of the speakers presentations. It was found thet:

1. negative emotions and self-challenge are presented by teachers in case behavioral problems exhibited in the class 2. Teachers' approaches to finding solutions follows holistic model at three levels of parent- school-child interventions as Dr Ksanthidou, Dr Nanou and Prof Ekonomou Presented. In

their view, it is not just the child being examined in case of behavioral problems but all the systems involved - the parents - the child 3. Seven steps for the preparation of the parent child cooperation presented Bryan's and Henry's (2012)3: a)I create climate conditions b) Recording needs c) Jam d) Create a shared goal e) Action f) Evaluation G) Keeping the momentum going

4. Competences such as : a) empathy, b) analytical thinking, c) purposefulness, d) organizational techniques e) management are some of the ones that discussed and suggested by the educators

ESEC conference were of great importance according Teacher’s opinions.

In conclusion, the development of specific competences for effective school family partnership are of great importance according to the educators needs. These competences are really important to be developed because parents are key persons for children adaptive behaviors and cooperation. ESEC project proved very important and useful for the teachers that participated in the ESEC Erasmus+ Conference from the Region of Pella Giannitsa .

Thessaloniki, 9/9/2019

Dr Andromachi Nanou Special Educator researcher in Inclusive education Chairwoman of INCLUDE

3 A model for building school–family–community partnerships: Principles and process J Bryan, L Henry - Journal of Counseling & development, 2012 - Wiley Online Library