Wigan teachers sent abroad on once-in-a-lifetime work experience trip

Five staff members from Lowton CE High attended Italo Calvino School in Milan during as part of the Erasmus Plus project.

The programme, headed by the European Union, focuses on education, training and sport with the aim of modernising youth work across Europe.

Erasmus Plus provides funding for organisations to offer opportunities to students, teachers, apprentices, volunteers, youth leaders and people working in grassroots’ sport.

They viisted a pre-school, primary school and a lower secondary school (pupils aged 12 to 14) to look at the teaching methodologies. By doing so they hope to bring new ideas into their own classrooms.

The Italian education system is famously very inclusive with classes consisting of mixed ability and include children with some very severe and complex needs.

Laura Cooper, leadership director (Inclusion and SEND) at Lowton High, said: “The visit was a wonderful opportunity to learn about different approaches to inclusion and to share good practice with colleagues in Italy.”

During their drop-in, the teachers gave a detailed presentation to a group of teachers from the cluster of schools and had the opportunity to complete some job shadowing in Spanish, English, French and Italian classes.

The UK teachers also ran a drama workshop in which they demonstrated a number of adaptive teaching methods which are commonly used in their classrooms to help meet the needs of all pupils.

Modern languages teacher Katie Thorpe said: “The Erasmus Plus visit was a fabulous opportunity to meet the staff and pupils from the Italian schools and share teaching methodologies with one another. The Italian and UK education systems are so very different and we discovered a lot about the culture. We are looking forward to linking our own classes up with the classes in the Italo Calvino School.

This is just the beginning of a great partnership between the cluster of schools. The British Council and Erasmus Plus have provided an excellent opportunity for continued professional development. It is hoped that this cultural and professional partnership will continue for our future generations”.