Progetto Erasmus Teachers’ Training
EUTeach – Teaching the Economics of European and Global Interdependence
01.10.2022-30.09.2025
Summary
The teaching of economics suffers from what Ulrich Beck called methodological nationalism. Macroeconomics takes the nation state as the unit of enquiry, while microeconomics focuses on the individuals in the market. However, in Europe, we live and act within a multi-level polity with a single market and a single currency. Hence the need to deepen the knowledge of teachers concerning the European economic system, multilayered governance, and institutions.
The aim of the project is to build, thanks to the link between academic research, teachers and feedbacks from students, a community to debate and work out a set of educational materials and courses to make the teaching of economics and social-related subjects in secondary schools (in general, technical and vocational paths) more effective and updated tools, and at the same time easily understandable; and to grasp the complex and interdependent system of the European and global economy.
To this end Roma Tre University will also build on the results of its previous Jean Monnet projects EU2 – You Too! and EURef – Reforming the European Economic Governance and the Jean Monnet Chair on Theories and History of European Economic Governance and with the upscaling of the seminar on European Project Management.
The project targets potential and current teachers of economics and socio-related subjects (e.g. Italian language and literature; foreign language and culture, history, philosophy, law and economics; civic education).
The project main activities will be the following:
- Nine on-line short teachers training courses addressed to all schoolteachers, regardless of their educational qualification level. These short-online courses will be focused on the main intellectual influences which shaped past debates on the European economic integration. They will be made freely available both on the Roma Tre University Moodle platform (upon preliminary registration) and on the SOFIA Platform (the tool of the Ministry of education for teachers training courses).
- A 2nd level degree course on Theories and History of European Economic Governance (6 credits). The course aims at providing a general overview of the main cultural and intellectual influences that impacted on the evolution of the European economic governance. The course will be provided in presence (36 hours) and to be admitted teachers must hold a bachelor’s in Political Science or Economics and follow the Roma Tre University registration procedures. The course is thus mainly addressed to secondary school teachers with a preliminary socio-economic background and to Political Science/Economics university students willing to become schoolteachers. However, to facilitate the involvement of teachers with both a fixed-term and a permanent contract, the recordings of the lessons will be available for them. Moreover, a specific module of 4 hours will be specifically focused on the most effective methodologies to convey the content of the course to secondary school students.
- A first level Specializing Master on Teaching Economics and Social Sciences (TESS) will be focused on the evolving framework of the most relevant features of the European economic governance since its early stages until the pandemic. To be admitted to this 1st-Level master’s degree (60 credits and 360 hours), schoolteachers must hold a Bachelor in any linguistic or socio-economic related areas (included Historical, philosophical, pedagogical and psychological sciences, Legal Science, Economic and statistical sciences, Political and social sciences) regardless of a specific economics background. The Master is mainly addressed both to potential schoolteachers and those who are already teaching in secondary schools but not on a permanent basis. The Italian recruitment system is based on points that teachers obtain through years of teaching and from specific training, such as a 60 credit Master. Therefore, such a Master, offered on-line and without fees, shall be able to involve a large number of teachers employed on a fixed-term contract, hoping to get a permanent position.
All these activities will include weekly online surveys to collect feedbacks on the courses and teaching materials proposed from all participants. Moreover, to assess the evolution of the teachers’ knowledge and skills during both the course and the Master, initial and final tests will be scheduled.
An experimentation within at least 1 class of co-teaching between schoolteachers and a University professor will be organized to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the teaching materials produced and to further improve/adapt them.
These activities will be complemented with Roma Tre online Moodle platform, where teaching materials will also be made available, offering the possibility for teachers to exchange ideas, experiences, and materials. This will be important also to update and improve the various editions of the courses and the Master.
The aim is to build an educational community, raising awareness among both teachers and students on the critical issues and steps of the European economic theoretical background and history, highlighting the role of contrasting intellectual influences, until the current structure, to underline how the European economic structure and governance is a project still in the making.
The Roma Tre Moodle platform will also serve as a communication and dissemination tool. It will have a Newsletter to keep contact and update participants on the various project activities concerning the European Union.
The communication and dissemination strategy will be further strengthened by the Media Partnership with Euractiv Italy, thanks to its relationship with RCS Group of Corriere della Sera, hosted as the section ‘In Europe’ of Corriere Economia.
Such ‘community’, under the coordination of a Steering Committee, shall design and implement new academic courses and tools for changing and updating the teaching of economics in high schools. It will be based on three major actions. First, it will further agree on simplified contents and tools to disseminate this approach to socioeconomics related subjects, making them more accessible to students, thanks also to feedback from them.
Second, thanks to feedback from all the participants, the community shall co-write the syllabus of the above-mentioned courses from the perspective of the central role of Europe and the economics of interdependence, to be available for teachers; and it shall implement them. Third, it will provide a venue for future talks and exchange of experiences concerning the teaching of economics in high schools.
On this basis the project is divided in three Work Packages:
WP1 concerns the coordination, management, and monitoring of the project, and it aims at designing and fine tuning the activities throughout the whole duration of its activities.
WP2 concerns the core of the project, namely the adaptation of the current teaching of socio-economic related subjects to the new, evolving needs imposed by interdependence, externalities, multi-layered markets, etc. It will aim at implementing short teachers training courses, the 2nd-Level Degree course (6 credits) and the first level Specializing Master (60 credits), through Roma Tre Moodle Platform the Sofia platform.
WP3 is related to the dissemination and communication strategy, that includes organizing public events with relevant stakeholders
General Planning: Link identifier #identifier__129569-1Scarica il file
Communication Plan: Link identifier #identifier__86202-2Scarica il file
La comunicazione esterna in italiano è ospitata dal sito euractiv.it: https://euractiv.it/sections/eu-teach/
For further details, please get in touch with the Academic Coordinator of the project, Prof. Fabio Masini (fabio.masini@uniroma3.it) or with the Project Officer, Dr. Veronica Sacco (euteach@uniroma3.it)
News feed: attività e deliverables
31.01.2023: predisposta la domanda di accreditamento per il Master di I livello in Economia dell’interdipendenza: metodologie di analisi, governo e insegnamento. Domanda accettata nel luglio 2023.
Serie di videopillole Europe behind the Curtains sui bivi non presi dell’integrazione economica europea. Link identifier #identifier__131635-3Link
Corso di secondo livello (magistrale) in Storia e teorie della governance economica europea. Link identifier #identifier__162208-4Link