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INTERSCOLA 2007

Nesna 25.07.07

A presentation of LOSA, Nordland County, Norway

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LOSA

”Local education in cooperation with local working life”

Or

”Secondary education in rural areas”.

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The Main Objectives of the Project were:

- To give young people at the age of 15 to 16 in rural areas the possibility to attend upper secondary education in their local communities

- To reduce the drop-out percentage among first-year-students from rural areas

- To enable young people to stay at home one more year

- To strengthen and increase cooperation between the local working life, local authorities and educational institutions

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Based on 3 different fields of learning:

The field of web-based education: The students work individually with the different subjects. They are taught by their teachers via websites, web-camera, telephone, e-mail, chat-programs

Classrom-based education:

The students are supervised by a local adviser, by fellow students for the benefit of cross-curricular cooperation.

Local firms: which give in-firm training related to their field of work.

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Evaluation of the ”District school model” - A NETWORK SCHOOL

Worked out by Høgskolen in Nesna

• The main purpose of the evaluation was to find:

To which extent the education is qualitatively comparable to ordinary upper secondary education (basic level)

• To which extent this educational model can contribute to a general increase in the standard of education in small municipalities

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Evaluation of the ”District school model”-A NETWORK SCHOOL – 2003.

Main Conclusions.

- The project has to a high degree obtained most of the general objectives.

- The cooperation between the school and the local working life has been strengthened.

- The implementation of this model represents something new in Norway and it has been valuable both with regard to a general development of the remote districts and as an educational resource for students in upper secondary school in other areas (in Norway).

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Partners in the LOSA project.

• 2 main schools: Saltdal Upper Secondary School and Nordland Upper Secondary School of fisheries offer 10 different

fields of study

• 3 local communities: Træna, Beiarn and Lovund

The students are formally administered by the two main schools

• 4 small cooperating local secondary Schools introduced in 2003

The students are administered by the local schools and receive ICT-education in the subjects which the

local schools cannot offer

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Main schools :

Saltdal uss and Nordland uss:

Responsible for the educational organization and providing ICT- teachers

3 local Municipalities : With one local adviser and local companies with skilled vocational instructors

4 small local secondary schools:

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Organizing the school year

2 week terms:

• Week 1: Vocational training in local firms.

• Week 2: Theory - Working with ICT in their classrooms.

• Every week 2 lessons of physical education.

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1 student1 local adviser 2 local firms

4 students 1 local adviser 7 local firms

2 students 1 local adviser 4 local firms

2 students1 local advsier7 local firms

4 students1 local instructor4 local firms

3 students1 local adviser6 local firms

Map over Participants

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Its Learning, our digital classroom

All theory is connected to different subjects

Theoretical and practical tasks

Communication: - e-mail - chat - forum

- Web-camera

Participants

Links

Status for each student

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Weeks of theory Students are working on there own using ICT, Its learning, textbooks and other sources.

Both theoretical and practical tasks

Communication with the teacher

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Weeks of practice in lokal firms and with practical instructors

This can be…

Florists

Photographers

Hairdressers

Colour shops

Craftsmen

Doudjier ( lappish craftsmen)

Designers

Artists

People with knowledge of special techniques and art-materials

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Pedagogical challenges

• The subjects` distinctive character.• Working on their own and structuring their own school

day.• The triangle of using ICT, ordinary classrooms and local

firms.

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Experiences

• LOSA has given new possibilities to young students in rural areas.

• Beiarn community: 1 out of 50 students dropped out in the period 2001 -2007.

• 93,2% of the students continued their second year of secondary school

• No major differences in the students performances

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• The students have a better understanding of and knowledge about their local field of work

• Taking responsibility for their own learning

• The students return to their local communities after finishing their education

• It is easier for the local employers to get skilled personell