The 13th Science Projects Workshop in the Future Classroom Lab, organised by Scientix, in collaboration with the STEM Alliance and OPENSKIMR took place in Brussels in October 2016, from Friday 14 (starting time: 19:30) to Sunday 16 (end ~14h).
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#SPW13 - School events: industry - education collaboration - workshop by the STEM Alliance
5. www.europeanschoolnet.org
Guidelines for visits to schools
The industry ambassador as a role model
Avoid personal relationships
Never alone with kids
Limit contact with children to the planned activity
No drugs or alcohol
Never seek financial gain
No personal data beyond the minimum
Report any conflict of interest
Benefits for schools:
6. www.europeanschoolnet.org
Why are you visiting?
Are you all fully prepared?
What is the role of the organisation
youre visiting?
Questions for teachers to ask before you start:
Guidelines for visits to industry
9. Thank you for your attention
Enrique Martin
enrique.martin@eun.org
Editor's Notes
#2: Coordinated jointly by European Schoolnet and CSR Europe
#5: Marketing and branding
Its important that any marketing and branding practices are in line with the normally accepted industry standards or codes for the type of collaboration activity your organisation is participating in. Nothing should undermine parents or guardians guidance, or the pedagogical objectives of the activity or collaboration. Be aware, too, of the age of participants and take into account the fact that children often do not understand properly the purpose of commercial advertising.
Respect for property and confidential information
All necessary measures should be put in place to protect confidential information that visitors to a site or school may get access to either as part of the activity, or by accident or deliberate action; staff and visitors should be properly informed of these measures and trained where necessary.
Data protection and privacy
The following points should be carefully considered and documented in a way which is easily understood by anyone involved:
- Specifying the purpose of the data collection
- Information on who the data controller is, where the file is located, what rights the data subject has, where and how he/she can exercise them
- Data should be up to date and exact. Obsolete and/or inaccurate data is useless
- Data minimisation in other words, collecting only data that is necessary
- Retention period the length of time the data will be kept for
- Consent policy who consents to what and how, and the consequences, if any, of not consenting
- Data transfer will the data be moved? To where and under what conditions?
- Security measures how will the data be safeguarded?
- Data disposal how will data be permanently erased or destroyed?
- Data protection, confidentiality agreements and contracts
Ensuring a safe environment
Activities must take place in a safe and healthy environment. This requires thorough preparation and effective communication between the school and the industrial partner. A safety briefing (along with appropriate documentation) needs to be provided beforehand and enforced throughout the activity.
Dealing with "breaches" of the code
It's the responsibility of each side in a collaboration to make sure that all participants respect the code. If things don't go to plan, however, mechanisms to provide feedback about the activity and to report any problem should be defined and be known to everyone.
#6: The ambassador is a role model
Any ambassadors to a school should always be aware that they are role models for the children and young people. As a result, they must always behave appropriately. This includes avoiding any attitude that might be perceived as offensive or outrageous, such as provocative dress. They should also remember to be punctual.
Avoid personal relationships
The ambassador should not develop a personal relationship with a child or young person. If a prior relationship exists before the activity, this should be reported to the school authority.
Never be alone with a child
The ambassador should avoid being alone with a child or young person and should always deal with groups, preferably in the presence of other adults.
Limit contact with children to the planned activity
Contact between the ambassador and a child or young person should be limited to what has been agreed for the activity. Attempts to get in touch with a child or young person outside of the activity are not permitted (for example, offering to give the child or young person a lift home).
No drugs or alcohol
It goes without saying that inappropriate drugs and alcohol should not be brought to schools, and that an ambassador should never enter a school under their influence. Neither should the use of drugs or alcohol be promoted to children and young people.
Never seek financial gain
During the activity, its preparation or its follow-up, the ambassador should not seek to gain any kind of financial advantage for themselves or their organisation. They should not, for example, actively promote their companys products or services, or give out samples.
No personal data beyond the minimum
Data protection for minors requires careful consideration. Because of this, the ambassador must not access personal data beyond what is absolutely required for the activity. In addition, they should never disclose confidential information acquired during the course of the activity to a third party, whether it is about the children or any other subject. If the activity requires collecting personal information, compliance with legislation is mandatory at all times; in particular, consent and data protection issues must be properly addressed (see Protecting data and the checklist).
Report any conflict of interest
If, for any reason, potential conflicts of interest are identified, these have to be reported as soon as possible to both the school authority and the visiting organisation. Participants in any collaboration need to specify who any conflict of interest should be reported to.
#7: If you really want a school visit to industry to be a success, its a good idea to ask yourself and your colleagues a few tough questions before you even think about contacting an organisation. The most important of these is why?
Why are you visiting?
What do you, your school and its pupils want to achieve from the visit? Is it simply a tour to introduce students to the world of work, or does it form part of a wider study project? Addressing this question will help ensure that both school and business have a good starting point for their preparations for the visit.
Are you all fully prepared?
Once the type of visit has been decided on, the school needs to ensure that the participating pupils are well prepared, briefed and know what they are doing. If the site visit is part of wider project, the school needs to check that the preparatory work has been done by the pupils before the visit, of course. We suggest your planning covers these three stages:
Ensure the entire activity is planned. Ask yourself: what are the objectives for the pupils and what do they need to learn, do and prepare before they meet the organisation, either in the school or at their premises?
What happens at the company and how does it relate in the best way to the preparations and the learning objectives. In other words, what are the objectives of the actual day with the company?
How do you and the students use the visit after it is over? What will they gain from it and how can you set up school activities that transfer the experience into learning? How do you evaluate the success of the experience?
What is the role of the organisation youre visiting?
You also need to agree the role of the organisation you plan to visit in the learning process. Failing to be clear on this point can sometimes lead to companies being highly reticent about allowing a visit. If you have done your homework, you should be able to explain clearly:
What the role of the organisation could be in the visit
How the visit would positively influence teaching the curriculum
Its also a good idea to communicate what pedagogical expertise your school brings to the learning process and what extra expertise the organisation brings. Making the distinction between the two can be a key factor in securing a successful visit.
#8: 15 min
3 groups
Design your own school-industry event
#9: Whether you are a teacher, education administrator, involved in industry or a policy maker anyone engaged in collaboration between industry and schools can benefit from the information in this code.
The content addresses a wide range of issues and, as a result, different sections will be relevant to different people with varying roles and responsibilities.
You can download the document below, or browse its main content areas through the menu on the left.More background information available in the press release here
#10: Coordinated jointly by European Schoolnet and CSR Europe