Exchange on teacher education within COLOURS

– We felt that we did not know much about the COLOURS cooperation and were curious to find out more about what it means, says Pia.

In early May, Pia, together with Emma Jynnesjö, program area manager for the preschool teacher education, visited Albacete, one of the places where University of Castilla-La Mancha is located. The exchange took place with the help of funds from Erasmus+ and was Emma's first Erasmus exchange.

– From the beginning we thought that the purpose of the visit might be more structured, but in retrospect it was good that it was a rather unconditional visit about how we could cooperate. By meeting colleagues at a Spanish university and getting to visit a preschool, we could compare how they and we work with preschool teacher education, says Emma. They had arranged a very nice and instructive visit for us.

Pia believes that one can see the possibility of exchange at different levels. It is about the more formal, how we get agreements for exchanges for teachers and students. Then it is important that there are relevant courses in English. But it is also interesting with the more informal opportunities to collaborate together on courses and course content - internationalization at home.

– They actually have a whole teacher education for Primary that is entirely in English, says Pia.

Possibility for shorter exchanges

– It is difficult to get students out on exchanges for whole semesters. But for the entire education's internationalization, we are also interested in other types of collaborations, says Pia. Blended Intensive Program (BIP) for example. COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) is already carried out within the primary and preschool teacher education. There, they set up virtual meeting places for our students, to create exchanges within courses.

It was a happy moment to create relationships with the students, the preschool and the university

Emma Jynnesjö

In addition to visiting the university, Emma and Pia were at a preschool where they got to follow teaching situations for the students. There they got to see how the students worked with the children and how the teacher supported them.

– It was a happy moment to create relationships with the students, the preschool and the university, says Emma. We do about the same way when we work with the children here at home in Sweden. What distinguishes between the Swedish and Spanish system is that the trained preschool teachers only work with children between 3-5 years. No higher education is required to work with 1-2 year olds.

Another thing that differed was the outdoor environment, at least if you compare with the preschool that Pia and Emma visited.

– There we can learn from each other, I think, says Emma. The climate affects a lot. The outdoor environment was sparse there. Maybe they go away more? We did not have time to go into the outdoor environment so much, but it would have been interesting to hear more about it.

Work is now underway to sign a partnership agreement for student and teacher exchange and VFU. Pia and Emma have far-reaching plans also for other collaborations. A next step is to invite the colleagues from Castilla-La Mancha and find opportunities for digital collaborations. Maybe we will go back with more colleagues next year to deepen the cooperation further.

– It is an amazing opportunity to be able to travel through Erasmus + funds, says Emma. You can get it for Staff training, that you shadow or teach, but it is also an incredibly good competence development. You learn a lot about our own school system by being away. What is special about us becomes much more visible when you compare with how others do.

Proposal number: 101124491
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.