One of the main purposes of the Erasmus+ projects is the exchange of teaching methods and teaching experiences with different countries. During our mobility to Stryn we achieved this and much more. We created connections that will last a lifetime.
We started our journey by flying from Cork to Bergen, Norway and meeting our hosts that night. To say that I was overwhelmed by the access we would have to the school and the welcome we received would be an understatement. I found out that I would be able to go into any class that I wished and that all teachers had no issue with us being there. Stryn Skule had taken part in many of these programmes before and the staff had been made aware of over presence long before our arrival. This made the experience far more enjoyable and comfortable.
Day One began with a welcome and a tour of the school. We were then allowed to watch the organisation of final year students being broken up for their final exams. This was a very interesting experience as it was extremely different from the organisation of Irelands Leaving Certificate. Students do not sit an exam in all the seven subjects which they do. On this day they were told about three exams which they would sit, a written paper, an oral exam, another in which the teacher would do a one on one interview style exam. The students had no idea which exam they would have from day to day. The reason for this system was explained so that the students would have to work on all subjects equally until the last possible moment. It emphasised some of the flaws in our own system, where pupils calculate points they need and figure out how much work they have to put into each subject.
The rest of the week was spent in classes watching teachers in both Maths and Science subjects. As Stryn Skule is a high school, the science classes were either Chemistry, Physics or Biology. I found that teachers and students face many of the same challenges we do in Ireland and that they try to solve them in similar ways to us. One of the main differences I took note of was the proliferation of IT in the classrooms in Stryn. All students had high standard laptops or touch pads which they used for most subjects. The teachers made use of this by sharing notes with them online or allowing them to do class quizzes where they got immediate feedback.
As far as I was concerned, this had some positive and negative effects on the classroom. On the positive side, pupils were getting immediate feedback and it allowed the teacher to try an engage pupils in some interesting ways; one teacher shared video clips while another had students do an online course. The negative aspects of it was that not all students stayed on topic. The internet speed also needs to be fast. This school had recently been update to 4G broadband and therefore usually did not have any issue with it. Although I was in one class were a teacher was unable to start their class for 10 minutes while IT issue were being sorted out.
Overall, my experience in Stryn Skule was incredibly positive and inspired me to take home lots of ideas, which I use in my teaching and also shared with other teachers in my school.