What is it about?
The article describes the establishment of a new upper secondary school in a small community of 3000-4000 inhabitants in the Icelandic countryside. The way in which collaboration with the local community in developing the curriculum has resulted in a school model that is qualitatively different from traditional schools, empowering students and revitalizing the community. The boundaries between the school and the community has been opened up and individuals as well as organizations and firms contribute to students learning both by entering the school as temporary teachers and by offering support for students doing authentic projects outside the school. The vision for the role of education is the guiding light while digital tools are key tools for implementing the new school model.
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Why is it important?
The need to develop school practice in line with societal development has been on the agenda of people working in education for a long time. New policies have been put forward and developmental projects have been launched but few have sustained. It has been claimed that the isolation of schools from their communities is one of the hindrances for school development. The school-community collaboration described in the article is a good example of how a genuine collaboration can be established and fostered by emphasizing the importance of education for both individuals and the community.
Perspectives
I have enjoyed the many visits to the school, talking to teachers, students and the general public and experience how proud they are of their school and how much they appreciate it's importance. I remember also meeting a foreign artist staying for several weeks at the school as a guest in an international artist residence in the town. She was committed to teach the students artwork at the same time as she was allowed to make artistic photo project on the school. She had never seen such school practice and her photos are evidence of a remarkable model for school practice with focus on personal student-teacher communication.
Thurídur Jóhannsdóttir
University of Iceland
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Creating a school that matters: networking for school-community development, Journal of Curriculum Studies, June 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2017.1337812.
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