Key activities and initiatives

Key activities and initiatives

Knowledge of the EU policy and strategic framework in E&T

As the National Agency of the Erasmus+ (earlier: LLP) programme and through the projects and activities of the Knowledge Centre, TPF could acquire broad theoretical knowledge about the EU policies of all levels of education and also the educational aspects of the concerning fields, like social policy, economy, etc. Besides this, through the core activities mentioned above, TPF has the duty, network, capacity and motivation to get updated knowledge and information of the current EU recommendations on policy level and also their possible implementation to local level, synchronized with the national educational policies.

The organization’s core activities and functions include and require an extensive knowledge of EU educational policies, policy priorities, promoting the concept of the knowledge-based society, improving the communication and cooperation between educational institutions and labour market, creating fora and facilitate discussion between the parties involved on national, regional and local level in the field of making transparent, permeable and accessible the qualifications system.

The Knowledge Centre has a wide experience in executing policy experiments and local/international projects. Based on all those experiments, the Knowledge Centre also participates in the drafting of policy recommendations on both regional and international levels.

Training organization and development

Over the past 20 years, Tempus Public Foundation gathered wide experience in development, coordination and execution of different trainings and courses. Based on these, TPF has a special know-how on this field, including the execution of massive open online courses, unique to Hungary and the Carpathian Basing. The training courses developed by the Knowledge Centre offer a Europe-wide review, practical knowledge, professional connections and mental charging for government associates, representatives of small- and middle-sized enterprises and teachers. By that participants can be more successful in their work and they can reach their personal goals much effectively. Throughout the years, our offline, online and blended courses gained more than 20.000 satisfied costumers. The Knowledge Centre offers courses based on internationally used terminology as well.

The trainings offered by the Knowledge Centre:

  • EU English – Using English in EU Contexts: This course is based on the special needs of ministry associates. The main goal of it is to develop EU and citizen competences. The participants get to know the EU institutions, processes, politics and other key concepts. It also focuses on the usage of the EU terminology in both written and spoken form, the socio-cultural skills development, the language competences, the linguistic and technical hurdles and the development of IT skills as well.
  • Policy-making and parley-techniques in the EU: The goal of this course is to give the participants an overall view about the actual priorities of the European Union besides the most important strategic documents, institutions, their collaborations with the member states and the mechanisms of the parley situations. It also develops the language skills of the participants in terms of the terminology used in the EU institutions.
  • The English teacher of the 21. century: This is a course dedicated to language teaching for 12-18 year olds. It highlights concrete techniques and practices. The goal of the training is to give alternatives for the teachers in the class and to make them capable of self-examination and adaptation to the 21. century standards.
  • Teaching foreign language for young children: This course is dedicated to early language teaching. It makes the participants familiar with different methods and techniques connected to language teaching for young children, and it also help them try and build those techniques into their work.
  • Effective communication and representation: This course is dedicated to the essential presentational and performing techniques, the elements and usage of good communication and the perfection of these instruments. 
  • Project management: This course is recommended to those who are involved in application processes and to leaders who are interested in the process of the whole project management.
  • The Knowledge Centre also organizes inner trainings for the colleagues of Tempus Public Foundation. These include:
  • Onboarding course: In every two months there is an onboarding course, in which all the units of TPF make a short presentation dedicated to their own activities, so the new associates can get a full picture about the organization.
  • Group introductions: Each year at least two of the units of Tempus Public Foundation make an extended introduction to the whole organization. In these events, participants get a deeper dive into the structure and the functions of the given unit.
  • Knowledge-bar: Knowledge-bar is a workshop where colleagues can learn from each other, they can share their knowledge and work together. Each occasion has a unique theme and topic, based on what the participants are interested in. There are 4-5 Knowledge-bar events every year. 
  • Online education systems: From 2021, colleagues can participate in a course dedicated specifically to online teaching and the use of the Canvas system, which became very important since most occasions occur digitally since the COVID-19 breakout.
  • Requested trainings: At the end of the year, everyone can declare what trainings and courses they prefer to participate in the next year. Based on these feedbacks, the Knowledge Centre sets up the most requested courses. Usually, a time-management training is demanded each year. Besides that, conflict-management, assertive communication and communication skills-development are also very popular. It is the Knowledge Centres responsibility to organize these events and to find the right coach for them. 
  • Mandatory trainings: There are some other, mandatory trainings in TPF, including the yearly ISO training and the Fire protection training. The Centre also contributes to the organization of these events. 

Knowledge brokerage functions

One of the main missions of the Knowledge Centre of the TPF is to strengthen the link between policy, research and practice and to foster the implementation of relevant EU objectives (social, employment and educational issues) into Hungarian educational policy. This is realised in various forms: on one hand, by regularly providing structured information to different stakeholder groups tailor-made for their needs, such as evidence-based policy recommendations for policy-makers, books and publications addressed to practitioners that facilitate the understanding of policy priorities and research results into the world of practice using an accessible language. On the other hand, by creating various platforms that bring different stakeholders together: workshops, peer-learning activities, conferences, webinars, online forums, etc. both at national and international levels.

Based on the experience on the field of training, Tempus Public Foundation creates panels for inner and outside knowledge-distribution, develops the concept of a learning institution, and implements and integrates all events and brands connected to them into the organization. The portfolio of the Knowledge Centre also includes the adaptation of international practices, the creation and development of an archive for good practices and the ESL portal, which contains international good practices and databases. The knowledge brokerage function of the Centre takes shape in the following projects:

  • Future of Learning Initiative: Over the years, the Knowledge Centre founded a full-fledged school dedicated to the cooperation between teachers. It includes the Future of Learning MOOC (massive open online course), which is the biggest advanced study program for teachers in the Carpathian Basing. The main goal of it is to make teachers help other teachers and to build knowledge together. At the end of the course, participants get their own certificates. The course occurs in spring every year. The program is based on the needs of the participants.
  • Digital Methodology Repository and Digital Space Conference: It is also worth to mention the Archive for Digital Methods and the Digital Square Conference initiatives and the webinarium-serieses connected to them. Archive for Digital Methods is an online database where teachers and other experts of education can upload any good practices and ideas that could be useful to their colleagues. The best contents are rewarded. Meanwhile, Digital Square Conference is a multiple day-long conference dedicated to the traits and challenges of education in the online space. These programmes reach approximately 2,000 teachers and education experts every year.
  • Apple on a tree: The Apple on a tree series is also a very popular project of the Knowledge Centre. It is a combination of workshops and interview-books dedicated to the current questions of education. There are 3-5 occasions a year. The brand have reached and educated thousands of teachers, facilitators, conservatory representatives and experts so far.
  • Policy newsletter: The Knowledge Centre is responsible for the construction and the distribution of the policy newsletter, which contains all the important information about education and training in Europe for the Hungarian decision-makers and education experts. The letter, which is published 5-6 times a year, offers short news and longer, opinion-shaper articles as well. These contents provide a relevant professional and practical backup for the interpretation of the policy subjects.

Network building; leading and managing international cooperations

TPF has extensive experience in participating in national and international networks as well as coordinating and facilitating network building and networking activities. This experience incorporates in all the core activities of the organization, but especially in the project activities which were realized on both national and international level.

National level

  • TPF has contact with educational institutions on every level: preschools, primary, secondary and vocational schools, adult training institutions, universities (teachers, trainers and learners, school leaders) –  strong personal contact with some of them through project activities, web portal viewed 40.000/months, newsletter with 14.000 readers of this target groups, 60 events in a year where they are participants
  •  Decision makers (in the ministries responsible for education and labour) and experts – fostering cross-cutting policies by e.g. regular review of policy documents, strong personal contact
  • Educational background and research institutions and teams – cooperation in research activities, strong personal contact
  • Stakeholders and practitioners from cross-sectoral areas (e.g. child-care and health-care services, ministerial human resource development agencies) – strong personal contact through research and project activities
  • Educational and professional associations and chambers – formal and informal contact
  • International level
  • Erasmus+ agencies in Europe
  • through the agencies the granted E+ project owners
  • network partners: implementing 1-3 year long international projects in the field of lifelong learning and ET2020
  • international experts from all fields connected to education policies

International projects

Knowledge Centre of Tempus Public Foundation successfully applied many large-scale projects. These projects allow us to continue the international knowledge exchanging activities together with some of the EPNoSL partners on specific areas as well as to focus on the national objectives.

Ongoing projects:

STAIRS: Stakeholders Together Adapting Ideas to Readjust Local Systems to Promote Inclusive Education

The STAIRS project was launched on 31 January 2019 and lasts for about 3 years. The project focusses on the adaptation of good practices in the field of social inclusion across Europe and on the adaptation process itself. The consortium consists of 7 partners from 6 different countries: Hungary, Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Portugal. 

The project contributes to the enhancement of acquiring knowledge, understanding and ownership of fundamental values of professionals dealing with disadvantaged youngsters by promoting mutual respect and intercultural dialogue, combatting discrimination on all grounds. The consortium - led by the Tempus Public Foundation - intends to identify and synthesise innovative approaches from high-performing countries in the field of professional protocols that help to foster equity and inclusion.

Activities planned in the project:

  • country reports written by experts from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia
  • good practices collected and published by Ireland and Portugal
  • study visits to Ireland and Portugal
  • a MOOC regarding social inclusion
  • Change Management Toolkit
  • national adaptation plans written by experts from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia
  • European Adaptation Guidelines written by experts from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia

In the STAIRS project, the primary role of sharing counties such as Ireland and Portugal is to introduce their system through Good Practices selected by them based on a common set of criteria designed together with the whole partnership. Good practices were presented in case studies carried out to respond to social, economic, cultural and demographic changes that have taken place in Europe through a commitment to upholding principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Finished projects:

CroCooS: Cross-sectoral cooperation focused solutions for preventing early school leaving (2014-2017)

The aim of the CroCooS – Prevent dropout! project was to develop an institutional level early warning system (EWS) for combating early leaving from education and training based on collecting and analysing interventions having been successful in the partner countries.

In particular it aimed to contribute to reducing the number of early school leavers by providing emphasizing the importance of cross-sectorial cooperation through system level as well as practice-oriented solutions. The CroCooS project contributed to the specification and to the applicability of a comprehensive early warning system in the European countries. In this process we have had research on how effectively the involved schools can build their own institutional system to filter and support students at risk. The early warning system contained filtering criteria, methods for recognition of the problems in time and suggestions for intervention which can be used individually or in groups after the recognition of the problems.

In particular, a resource pool was compiled that contains comprehensive short summaries on the main issues of ESL based on international literature and their connections with early warning systems. Moreover, guidelines were provided for school leaders and team leaders responsible for ESL issues in their schools on developing an institutional Early Warning System (EWS) for preventing and reducing dropout from school. These guidelines for EWS were intended to support the work of schools in building an early warning system for preventing and reducing dropout in their institution. In particular, school leaders’ and teachers’ (mentors’) work were supported by a toolkit – a collection of tools that contain supplementary materials in modular form, practices, tools ready to be used in practice. The toolkit could have been used by the teachers (teams) of schools during the development process of the school’s own EWS.

15 pilot programmes were elaborated in 3 countries during the 1,5 years, which are similar with regard to their goals, but unique with regard to the way of the implementation. Also, there are similarities in the results, but all the pilot processes were influenced by local demands, school characteristics, organizational culture and the national education system, as the detailed evaluation report shows.

Project website: www.crocoos.tka.hu

ESLplus: European ESL-Platform and Support Services (2016-2018)

Early school leaving (ESL) has been recognized as a pressing concern all across Europe for many years, with its severe social and economic consequences. European countries have been discussing possible solutions at individual, institutional and policy levels. We’ve learned that there was a desperate need for immediate practical help in the frontline, and professionalization of the combat against ESL.

The European ESL-Platform and Support Services (ESLplus) project focused on two goals:

  • The main intension of the initiative is to pool knowledge and experience by a user friendly online portal (ESL Portal) for knowledge sharing which will enable policy makers, educational institutions, school leaders, teachers and parents to identify and reduce early school leaving in their surroundings.
  • Founding a Europe wide network called Association for Dropout Prevention in Europe (ADPE) by inviting practitioners, experts, relevant institutions, and professionals at policy levels.

Main products of the ESLplus project:

  • Good Practice Repository and European Prize
  • Professional Context
  • Country Profiles
  • Learning Space
  • ESL Library
  • My stories
  • Webinars
  • Training courses
  • Network Building Activities

Project website: www.eslplus.tka.hu

The most important outcome of the project is the realization that however, ESL is a common issue in Europe, the reasons and the necessary interventions have to be different according to contextual factors. Only providing structured and targeted information and continuous support for local actors can be effective. The ESLplus partnership believes that the results contribute to the European policy goals and wide range of dissemination activities and the involved professional partners (Sch.Ed.Gw, CEDEFOP, E2C…) deeply embedded in the European policy space, guarantee the utilization of the 3-year long work.

EFFeCT: European Methodological Framework for Facilitating Teachers’ Collaborative Learning (2015-2018)

Teachers in the 21st century need to respond to a rapidly changing environment characterized by fast technological progress, changing labour market needs and demographic changes. Evidence shows that fostering strong working relationships among teachers, as well as promoting professional collaboration between teachers and other educational stakeholders allow them to deepen their knowledge, keep their competences up-to-date, while professional collaboration improves student outcomes as well.

The main goal of the international collaboration was to develop a European Methodological Framework (MF) which aims at facilitating collaborative learning of teachers and other educational stakeholders, while seeking to provide guidelines for policymakers.

The Methodological Framework for Collaborative Teacher Learning (CTL) was developed on the basis of extensive research on good practices of collaborative learning, conducted in each participating country. Later during the project the MF for CTL was tested and further developed with the help of professional programs and workshops, to reach its final stage. Finally, in the synthesis phase partners assessed the whole MF development process and drawing the conclusions they finalised the methodological framework into a Guide for Collaborative Teacher Learning.

The final product incorporates a range of user friendly resources, guidelines and tools arranged in the Resource Pool, designed to be used as an effective tool to foster local collaborations between teachers within and across schools and between teachers and other school staffs, students and parents, on institutional, local, regional and national level.

Project website: www.effect.tka.hu

ESLplus - European Learning Space on Early School Leaving

On oktataskepzes.tka.hu we use cookies to give you the best possible experience. By using this website you accept cookies.