Project development

PERINE partners concentrated their work in the first quarter 2004 on further introducing the PERINE internet catalogue to educational researchers (online since ECER 2003) and on it's improvement.

On the third annual PERINE meeting, held from 26 - 27 February 2004 in Vienna (kindly organised by Elfriede Tajalli, BMBWK) a set of new research themes was agreed: 1. teachers and teaching profession, 2. learners, 3. ICT and e-learning, 4. quality assessment, 5. knowledge society, 6. psychology.

Presentation of information on PERINE homepage has been rebuilt by the DIPF in order to extend the information services for researchers. "In focus" links now to a selection of current important national and European documents. A European conference calendar, relating especially to the themes covered in the PERINE catalogue, is now available.

Denmark finished its work on an XML- solution for exporting Danish data to the PERINE database. These experiences will be helpful for further technical improvements, which were also discussed in Vienna. Several decisions on improvements were taken especially regarding the search facility (to be implemented in summer).

A strategy for representation at ECER 2004, to be held at the University of Crete were agreed too. From the UK Sam Saunders will present a paper reporting on 2004 follow up surveys on how educational researchers use of the internet and Perine database. The surveys has been conducted in the meantime by all partners in eight European countries. Phil Sheffield will arrange for representation in the Postgraduate Network Pre-conference.

In March 2004 a follow-up proposal for PERINE within Framework 6, and in liaison with an EERA-based Framework 6 proposal was prepared and co-ordinated by the UK partner and sent to the EU. The deadline for submission of proposals to the appropriate area of Framework 6 fell on 4 March 2004. The new proposal was submitted on time and included new partners in Greece, Finland and France but regrettably omitted Denmark in this next phase. Partners expect to know the results of the proposal in time for ECER 2004. The proposal aims to further develop and to stabilise the internet resource catalogue, which has been initiated by the PERINE project. Everyone recognised the deficiencies of the experimental pilot catalogue and expressed a commitment to working on its improvement should a further project be approved. The UK co-ordinator also liased with the co-ordinators of a related bid to Framework 6. That proposal is for a collaborative internet environment for EERA and connects with PERINE interests in various ways.

As part of PERINE's efforts to establish a sustainable contact to national research institutes and communities several activities have been undertaken in the different countries to further introduce the new database and the project, e.g.:

In Austria PERINE cards were appended to 700 copies of the compendium "Bildungsforschung in Österreich 2002". Thus information on the availability of the PERINE- database and its kind of information was spread to the Austrian research community and to Austrian education experts on central, regional and community level.

In Denmark educational researchers at the Danish National University of Education got a presentation a presentation on the PERINE database introducing information resources.

In Germany PERINE was presented in the context of two fairs. At the congress 21. - 24.03.2004 "Bildung über die Lebenszeit" organised by DGfE, SGBF, SGL-SFFE and ÖFEB at the university of Zurich and at the Librarians Day 2004 in Leipzig researchers were able to search in the PERINE catalogue and to get information cards at the DIPF booth.

In Hungary a new leaflet about the library's services and databases contains also information about the PERINE project, and is being distributed among the users of the library.

In Italy an article on PERINE has been published by Marisa Trigari in the educational journal "Scuola e citta", No.4, La Nuova Italia, 2003. Furthermore informative material on the project and the database has been produced and was distributed during events to which INDIRE participated or organised (e.g. Expo dell'Educazione-Milan;...).

Further national and European activities of the partners

All PERINE partners which operate nationally significant information services have also been involved in this quarter in further interesting activities on national an European level.

Austria
The Austrian Information Unit on Education and Educational Research: Federal Ministry for Education, Research and Culture

• Editing and distribution of the document on educational research in Austria in 2002 (Bildungsforschung in Österreich 2002 (http://opac.bibvb.ac.at/2bflb) Start of collecting data on educational research in Austria in 2003 (until the end of March 2004 149 items had been reported.
• Contribution to and dissemination of products of the European education information network EURYDICE: "Focus on the Structure of Higher Education in Europe (2003/04) - National Trends in the Bologna Process".
• Finalisation of- EURYDICE - studies on children of immigrants, of the update of Glossary 1 on "Examinations, Qualifications and Titles". ( http://www.eurydice.org )
• EURYDICE work in progress on the yearly update of the Austrian contribution to the EURYBASE - database on education systems (http://www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/frameset_eurybase.html), Key Data in the European Union 2005, Key Data on ICT, Key Data on Foreign Languages, Civic Education
• Work in progress on the Austrian publication in English and German language "Development of Education 2000-2003" for the 47th UNESCO - IBE International Conference on Education, Geneva, September 2004.
  
  For further information please visit the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
  

Denmark
National Library of Education

• Continuing the work of supporting the researchers at The Danish National University of Education. The Library provides presentations of information resources and supports each researcher in his use of the databases.
  

  For further information please visit the National Library of Education in Denmark

Germany
German Institute for International Educational Research

• On an expert meeting at the "Landesinstitut für Schule und Medien/Brandenburg" in Potsdam , 28. - 30.01.2004, organised by the Humboldt University Berlin, seventy experts discussed about quality and use of educational information portals. An empirical study on the use of the German Education Server maintained by the German Institute für International Educational Research and other servers were presented. Summary of the Workshop.
  
  
• In the context of a workshop preparing the "EU Study Visit Program" (CEDEFOP), Prof. Uwe Lauterbach (DIPF) gave a lecture on comparability and possibilities of transferring vocational education systems considering as example the EU Study Visit Program (EUS). The discussion focused on the question, if dealing with vocational education systems in other countries in the context of exchange programs may help to initiate reforms in the German vocational educational system through models of best practice, and which basic conditions are necessary for a successful and sustainable innovation transfer.
  
  
• Prof. Dr. Eckhard Klieme (and the DIPF as co-sponsor of the reception) attended the founding assembly of the European Association for Methodology (27. February 2004), which serves to promote the research and the development of empirical research methods in the fields of the Behavioural, Social, Educational, Health and Economic Sciences as well as in the field of Evaluation Research. The Association is situated in Jena/Germany.

  For further information please visit German Institute for International Educational Research
  

Hungary
Hungarian National Library of Education - National Educational Library and Museum

• The Portal of Hungarian Educators is being developped It contains nearly 400 records of different education related internet resources from Hungary and other countries.
• A new virtual presentation of the library and its services has been developped in April. The guided tour is available on the homepage.
  
  
  For further information please visit the Hungarian National Library of Education - National Educational Library and Museum
  

Italy
National Institute of Documentation for Innovation and Educative Research

• NEW! Within the National Portal on Adult education (http://www.bdp.it/eda/home.php) – born to support lifelong education activities – a glossary is being created especially for experimental teaching in vocational training courses;
• NEW! A new work on inter-database search has started. A team of experts (engineers, documentalists, experts in communication theory) is studying an interface – both from a software and documentation point of view – where the user can easily search in all INDIRE database. We decided to include the PERINE database too since its data are desribed in XML formats;
• NEW! Indire fond, 'Ottavo Gigli' a dealing with educational material dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century (public and private correspondence, original documents, documentary material etc.) is being implemented.
• A sub-site called 'Abitare la scuola' (Living at school) is being designed, presenting interesting examples of innovative educational buildings, spaces, playgrounds, commented by an architect who is expert in the field. This is a way of stressing the importance of the physical setting to educational researchers and administrators;
• PuntoEdu, national project established by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) for the teacher in-service training on new technologies (http://puntoedu.indire.it/) in the framework of the MIUR- ICT project. New e-courses have been designed also for school managers;
• National project called 'POF' (Piani dell'Offerta Formativa) (http://pof.indire.it/) on the schools educational supply. A free authoring software has been acquired by Indire as to allow schools to edit their educational plans;
• Erasmus Caffè, an interactive environment for university students participating in the Erasmus programme (student exchange programme);
• CELEBRATE, a European project that seeks to create an innovative approach to teaching by using e-Learning technologies and learning objects (INDIRE role: partner);
• Valnet, (http://www.eun.org/eun.org2/eun/en/About_eschoolnet/content.cfm?ov=4829&lang=en) a European Validation Network (ValNet) aiming at building knowledge about innovation in schools and helping create the conditions for creating schools of tomorrow;
• INDIRE has regularly updated the following databases during the period:

  GOLD (http://www.indire.it/gold): documentary units relating to best practice in Italian schools at any level of education. The system is undergoing a process of revision. The new database will contained best practices selected by IRREs (Regional Institute for Educational Research) on the basis of common qualitative indicators. NEW! A software for helping teachers document their experiences is being designed by the INDIRE staff (technical and documentation staff).

  NEW! Scuola, handicap, tecnologie (http://www.indire.it/handitecno), dealing with educational technologies for disabled pupils. The project is developing new contents and sections in the corresponding site;

  BIBL (http://www.bdp.it/risorse/banche/biblioteca/index.htm): bibliographic references about Italian and foreign scientific literature in the field of education (+ 556 – Tot.:18,730 records);

  Risorse Internet per la Didattica (http://www.indire.it/siti/index.php3): directory of Internet sites classified by curriculum subjects, indexed and abstracted (701 revised and updated + 24 new records);

  RIVI (http://www.indire.it/risorse/banche/rivi.htm): bibliographic references about periodical literature in the field of education (+ 223 – Tot.: 35,412);

  EMER (http://www.indire.it/risorse/banche/testate.htm), directory of current Italian educational periodicals, with an index and content notation (tot.: 380);

  DIA: Immagini per la didattica (http//www.indire.it/archivi/dia/): images covering a number of curriculum areas, with indexes and content description. (+ 1219 - Tot.: 9,308);

  Portale per l’educazione interculturale (http://www.bdp.it/intercultura/index.php), an educational portal on intercultural education, multilingual material and cultural-related initiatives;

  Valutazione del software didattico (http://www.indire.it/software): professionally certified educational software for any level of education. Assessed software: + 20 – Tot.: 222; selected: + 17 – Tot.: 188).

  Two other information services were managed and updated during the period:

  SET: scienza e tecnologia (http:www.indire.it/set/), about pilot projects on scientific and technological education promoted by MIUR within the 2001-2002 school year.

  WINIRIDE - the software for school library documentation and cataloguing, produced and maintained by INDIRE - was improved by adding the functionality of derived cataloguing from the Italian National Bibliography.

• INDIRE continues to operate as the Italian National Agency with responsibilities towards the Eurydice network.
  NEW! 1. Publication of the Italian version of "Key figures in Europe, 2002" – by the Eurydice Network;2. Newsletter of international information no. 1/2, 2002, titled "The educational system in the European Union Members – by the Eurydice Italian Unit; 3. Reports: 3a) Report on democratic citizenship education in the incoming countries; 3b) Report on (monographic records for each country and comparative introduction) on alternating training; 3c) report on the evaluation on compulsory education schools in Europe; 3d) Rreport and slides on educational policies in curriculum subjects, made in the occasion of the conference "What school in Europe?" organised by the CIDI, where the INDIRE Director was called to intervene, March 5-6, 2004; 3e) Report (monographic records for each country) on the European dimension within technical specialisation courses in higher education (France, Germany, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain – published by INDIRE/IFTS; 3f) Report of presentation of the databases of the Eurydice Network. Collaboration with the Eurydice European office for constructing the new Eurydice Thesaurus) and management of the European Socrates programme at a national level. The Institute has also continued to conduct special work playing as a reference point for school libraries and documentation centres in Italy and as a documentation and support agency for the Istruzione Formazione Tecnica Superiore.

  For further information please visit the National Institute of Documentation for Innovation and Educative Research

United Kingdom
British Education Index

• The BEI office began discussion with EERA Council about hosting the Association website at the University of Leeds. It is hoped that this arrangement will improve the presentation of annual ECER information by bringing website management closer to the BEI office, which presents the online conference programme each year.
• The office began work on a project to assess the viability of providing a cross-search, portal, facility for UK databases providing research-informed evidence for educational practice. This project was commissioned by the Teacher Training Agency, the Department for Education and Skills, the General Teaching Council for England, and the National Educational Research Forum. The final report is scheduled for presentation in late April/early May.
• The office has also been commissioned to produce a widening participation information service for the Generic Centre of the Learning and Teaching Support Network, which is part of the Higher Education Academy. "Widening participation" deals with issues to with improving access to, and take up of, higher education.
• The office also continues to work on the revision of its own information and on establishing practices to present it through a more portal-like facility. Of specific interest over the period: the Subject Portals Project, which provides an infrastructure for the provision of information, JAFER, a Z39.50 toolkit, and BALSA, an OpenURL resolver.

  For further information please visit British Education Index

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