On behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers LEARN|RIGHT conducted an evaluation of the Nordic Pilot: Teaching Controversial Issues & Managing Controversy. The evaluation report contained:
· Documentation of participants learning outcomes and use of the manuals
· Documentation of the roll-out of the manuals
· Recommendations on future work with and roll-out of the manuals
Read the full evaluation report here
LEARN|RIGHT assisted The Nordic Council of Ministers in evaluating the Nordic Pilot Project: Teaching Controversial Issues & Managing Controversy
Our main task was to evaluate whether the two manuals, developed by the Council of Europe, which the pilot project tested, contributed to the strengthening of personal and professional abilities among the participating school leaders and teachers in regard to handling controversial issues and thereby their ability to create safe learning spaces and school environments.
The Pilot Project was carried out by the European Wergelandscentre (EWC) in Norway, who selected and made the coordination amongst the five Nordic countries 13 test schools and experts, and carried out an introduction workshop in Oslo and Utøya and a final evaluation workshop.
Prior to the introduction workshop LEARN|RIGHT made a survey based on an online questionnaire amongst the participants from the 13 test schools, to clarify their experiences and learning needs.
We participated in the workshop to observe and interview the participants. Afterwards we collected the participants learning outcomes in a questionnarie
Finally we collected the participants experiences with testing the materials in their ownd practices through a final questionnaire and the end of project evaluation workshop in Oslo.
The results from the evaluation was gathered in a written report, which was presented in a meeting with the Nordic Council of Ministers DIS-network in Copenhagen by LEARN|RIGHTs director Maria Løkke Rasmussen. The evaluation report synthesized the participants learnings from the pilot project and manuals including which activities they had tested at their schools and how many people they had presented the manuals to. Moreover, the report included a number of recommendations to a future further roll-out og the manuals in the five nordic countries.
About the Nordic Pilot: ’Teaching controversial Issues & Managing Controversy
LEARN|RIGHT assisted the Nordic Council of Ministers in evaluating their Nordic Pilot Project in five nordic countries, where teachers and school leaders tested the Council of Europes manuals Teaching Controversial Issues and Managing Controversy in a Nordic context. The Pilot Project was implemented by the European Wergeland Centre under the Nordic Council of Ministers programme ‘Democracy, Inclusion and Security’. The purpose of the Pilot Project was to strengthen school leaders and teachers in engaging young people in a democratic dialogue on controversial issues as a part of their everyday school activities. School leaders and teachers from 13 schools in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden participated in a three-day workshop in Utøya and subsequently tested the manual activities at their respective schools. The Pilot Project was finalised with an evaluation day in Oslo. LEARN|RIGHT took part as evaluator in all of the projects activiies from start to end and documented experiences and results along the way through questionnaires, interviews and particiipatory observations, which was presented in an evaluation report along with recommendations to further roll out