Final Report Summary - SINCERE (Supporting International Networking and Cooperation in Educational REsearch)
It is widely accepted that human resources are becoming the determining factor for the drive towards competitiveness and growth in the knowledge-based economy and is critical to the foundation of inclusiveness, social cohesion and equity. In parallel, globalisation, suggesting mobility for goods, services, labour, ideas and societal practices, coupled with the pervasive effect of the proliferation of information and communication technologies, is exercising a strong pressure on education and training systems, which run the risk of lacking relevance and effectiveness. Even though education and training is an exemplar policy area for subsidiarity to play its full role in Europe, also according to the treaty establishing the European Communities, the increase of the quality and the scope of EU initiatives aimed at fostering E&T quality, access and openness to the external world has been spectacular (let's think for instance at the contributions brought about by the Lisbon strategy, the European Employment Strategy, the commitment of the EU vis-a-vis lifelong learning, the actions aimed at increasing mobility of learners, trainees and workers, the Copenhagen Process of enhanced cooperation in the field of vocational education and training and the European Social Agenda). In spite of the fact that EU policies political strands as exemplified, the above list recognises the priority of human resources development and citizens' empowerment, research on education and training in Europe is presenting a number of critical issues, which might jeopardise the effective transformation of Europe in 'the most competitive knowledge society in the world'.
Starting from this background, the SINCERE project aimed at fostering the relevance and at maximising the dissemination, the use of results and the impact of Priority 7 of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and projects under the Research Area of Social Sciences and Humanities with a special focus on research on education, training and lifelong learning by designing and running a set of services and support activities targeted to the whole European and the international educational research community (involving INCO countries in Latin America and South East Asia).
The SINCERE action was conceived as a support action to guide the educational research community of three geographical areas through a reflection on how to restructure educational research in an international and future oriented perspective. In this framework, the impact on the educational research community can be summarised as follows: the project created a community of educational researchers coming from three very different geographical areas of the world thereby contributing to a multicultural reflection on the current and future challenges of educational research in scientific and policy terms.
The project managed to involve in the reflection representatives of the main educational research networks (EERA and EARLI in Europe; RECLA in Latin America and national networks in SE Asia under the coordination of the Asia Europe Institute) that recognised the role of SINCERE as an engine with high potential for supporting integration and internationalisation.
The project proposed a restructuring on educational research areas based which was discussed, changed and validated by the participants of the two regional conferences.
The project led the scientific community throughout a foresight exercise aimed at envisioning scenarios of evolution of education and lifelong learning. Based on the results of the above consultation, the SINCERE Roadmap and White Paper for the internationalisation of educational research were produced, discussed and published.
The above documents constitute the main outputs of SINCERE and are believed to have a serious potential impact on: Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) international cooperation and educational research related funding. The design, orientation, implementation and evaluation of EU Member States ministries of education (and agencies thereof dealing with educational research planning and funding). The process of internationalisation of educational research itself, in that the project will promote, after its contractual end - the establishment of a global stakeholders roundtable on educational research internationalisation and innovation aimed at animating a worldwide consensus building exercise on the challenges, needs and concerned to be addressed by educational research so to be more relevant to the needs of our globalised society.
Conceived and developed as a Specific Support Action, the core of the SINCERE activities consisted in dissemination and promotional events and activities enhancing dialogue, exchange and cooperation in the field of educational research in Europe and at international level. Target groups of SINCERE results can be classified according to three main categories:
- the research community, in Europe, Latin America and South East Asia dealing with educational research developed within national programmes, projects and project clusters (with specific emphasis on FP6 and FP7 as concerns Europe);
- policy makers engaged in policy design, orientation, implementation and evaluation in the field of education, training and lifelong learning in the three regions;
- stakeholders: civil society, trade unions, students representatives, teachers and trainers representatives and all other stakeholders involved and benefiting directly or indirectly from educational research.
The project events, some of which targeted to all stakeholders and some others specifically targeted to one or more of them. In particular, two scientific seminars organised during the first year of project development (one restricted and one public in the framework of the EERA conference of 2006) to validate the SINCERE educational research clusters. Two regional conferences (one in SE Asia in July 2007 and one in Latin America in November 2006) to disseminate and promote the results and ongoing European research in the field of education, training and lifelong learning to the extra-European research community and to allow face-to-face dialogue and contacts among the stakeholders involved in the networking and cooperation activities of SINCERE. Invitees to these events were identified thanks to the support of partners active in Latin America (RECLA and Istituto Paulo Freire) and South East Asia (Asia Europe Institute) and also selected from the database resulting from the mapping exercise conducted in the first months of the project.
The conferences were focused on presenting the aims and activities of SINCERE, presenting the features and orientations of EU educational research and the opportunities for funding offered by the EC in the area of educational research. Also, specific sessions were devoted to the discussion of the most relevant themes to be addressed in educational research by the international community. An audience of at around 70 to 100 participants attended each event with representatives of all the SINCERE target groups. The regional events were organised by local partners in the respective region in collaboration with institutional actors in order to get participation from high-level policy actors.
Two policy oriented seminars were organised, specifically targeted to policy makers, involving the educational research representatives and policy makers active in the design, orientation and implementation of education, training and lifelong learning policies. During the first seminar held in Brussels in December 2007, the SINCERE Green Paper was presented and discussed with an audience composed of education research experts from Europe, Latin America and South-East Asia, representatives of European networks in this field, active researchers from the research networks that the European Commission is currently working with, and European-level policy makers from various departments of the European Commission. Other important actors and international organisations such as the OECD, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, CEDEFOP, Eurydice, the Council of Europe, and the European Training Foundation were invited.
The second policy seminar was held in Valencia in May 2008 with the aim to conduct a foresight exercise with participants on the expected scenarios of evolution of educational research and to discuss with them the draft roadmap for the internationalisation of educational research elaborated by SINCERE. Representatives of EU educational research networks, policy and decision makers and educational research experts and practitioners took part to the events. These events gathered around 20 to 30 participants each. The final conference was organised in Lisbon in June 2008 kindly hosted by the EDEN conference with the aim to present the results of SINCERE. The first session was aimed at presenting the results of the project and at conducting a vision-building exercise involving participants in the definition of the future of educational research in an international perspective; the second session was aimed at discussing the results of the vision building exercise and at discussing the action lines proposed by the SINCERE Roadmap.
The project continuous dissemination tools: the project web environment represents the 'meeting point' for all the interested stakeholders. It contains comprehensive information on the project results and on the related events. It has acted as an important tool for information, participation, brokerage, follow-up, management and evaluation related activities throughout all the stages of the project. The website contains general information about the national and European (with special focus on FP6 and FP7) educational research projects, clusters and programmes, a database of projects, outputs and events. The website will provide access to the context analysis report and all the reports made within the framework of the SINCERE activities, including proceedings of the events. Additionally, it includes a number of research and collaboration tools such as direct links to educational research organisations, foundations, institutions, universities, laboratories, and major IST related companies. Last but not least, it includes the collaborative working environment allowing virtual dialogue and collaboration among researchers, policy makers and stakeholders.
Starting from this background, the SINCERE project aimed at fostering the relevance and at maximising the dissemination, the use of results and the impact of Priority 7 of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and projects under the Research Area of Social Sciences and Humanities with a special focus on research on education, training and lifelong learning by designing and running a set of services and support activities targeted to the whole European and the international educational research community (involving INCO countries in Latin America and South East Asia).
The SINCERE action was conceived as a support action to guide the educational research community of three geographical areas through a reflection on how to restructure educational research in an international and future oriented perspective. In this framework, the impact on the educational research community can be summarised as follows: the project created a community of educational researchers coming from three very different geographical areas of the world thereby contributing to a multicultural reflection on the current and future challenges of educational research in scientific and policy terms.
The project managed to involve in the reflection representatives of the main educational research networks (EERA and EARLI in Europe; RECLA in Latin America and national networks in SE Asia under the coordination of the Asia Europe Institute) that recognised the role of SINCERE as an engine with high potential for supporting integration and internationalisation.
The project proposed a restructuring on educational research areas based which was discussed, changed and validated by the participants of the two regional conferences.
The project led the scientific community throughout a foresight exercise aimed at envisioning scenarios of evolution of education and lifelong learning. Based on the results of the above consultation, the SINCERE Roadmap and White Paper for the internationalisation of educational research were produced, discussed and published.
The above documents constitute the main outputs of SINCERE and are believed to have a serious potential impact on: Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) international cooperation and educational research related funding. The design, orientation, implementation and evaluation of EU Member States ministries of education (and agencies thereof dealing with educational research planning and funding). The process of internationalisation of educational research itself, in that the project will promote, after its contractual end - the establishment of a global stakeholders roundtable on educational research internationalisation and innovation aimed at animating a worldwide consensus building exercise on the challenges, needs and concerned to be addressed by educational research so to be more relevant to the needs of our globalised society.
Conceived and developed as a Specific Support Action, the core of the SINCERE activities consisted in dissemination and promotional events and activities enhancing dialogue, exchange and cooperation in the field of educational research in Europe and at international level. Target groups of SINCERE results can be classified according to three main categories:
- the research community, in Europe, Latin America and South East Asia dealing with educational research developed within national programmes, projects and project clusters (with specific emphasis on FP6 and FP7 as concerns Europe);
- policy makers engaged in policy design, orientation, implementation and evaluation in the field of education, training and lifelong learning in the three regions;
- stakeholders: civil society, trade unions, students representatives, teachers and trainers representatives and all other stakeholders involved and benefiting directly or indirectly from educational research.
The project events, some of which targeted to all stakeholders and some others specifically targeted to one or more of them. In particular, two scientific seminars organised during the first year of project development (one restricted and one public in the framework of the EERA conference of 2006) to validate the SINCERE educational research clusters. Two regional conferences (one in SE Asia in July 2007 and one in Latin America in November 2006) to disseminate and promote the results and ongoing European research in the field of education, training and lifelong learning to the extra-European research community and to allow face-to-face dialogue and contacts among the stakeholders involved in the networking and cooperation activities of SINCERE. Invitees to these events were identified thanks to the support of partners active in Latin America (RECLA and Istituto Paulo Freire) and South East Asia (Asia Europe Institute) and also selected from the database resulting from the mapping exercise conducted in the first months of the project.
The conferences were focused on presenting the aims and activities of SINCERE, presenting the features and orientations of EU educational research and the opportunities for funding offered by the EC in the area of educational research. Also, specific sessions were devoted to the discussion of the most relevant themes to be addressed in educational research by the international community. An audience of at around 70 to 100 participants attended each event with representatives of all the SINCERE target groups. The regional events were organised by local partners in the respective region in collaboration with institutional actors in order to get participation from high-level policy actors.
Two policy oriented seminars were organised, specifically targeted to policy makers, involving the educational research representatives and policy makers active in the design, orientation and implementation of education, training and lifelong learning policies. During the first seminar held in Brussels in December 2007, the SINCERE Green Paper was presented and discussed with an audience composed of education research experts from Europe, Latin America and South-East Asia, representatives of European networks in this field, active researchers from the research networks that the European Commission is currently working with, and European-level policy makers from various departments of the European Commission. Other important actors and international organisations such as the OECD, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, CEDEFOP, Eurydice, the Council of Europe, and the European Training Foundation were invited.
The second policy seminar was held in Valencia in May 2008 with the aim to conduct a foresight exercise with participants on the expected scenarios of evolution of educational research and to discuss with them the draft roadmap for the internationalisation of educational research elaborated by SINCERE. Representatives of EU educational research networks, policy and decision makers and educational research experts and practitioners took part to the events. These events gathered around 20 to 30 participants each. The final conference was organised in Lisbon in June 2008 kindly hosted by the EDEN conference with the aim to present the results of SINCERE. The first session was aimed at presenting the results of the project and at conducting a vision-building exercise involving participants in the definition of the future of educational research in an international perspective; the second session was aimed at discussing the results of the vision building exercise and at discussing the action lines proposed by the SINCERE Roadmap.
The project continuous dissemination tools: the project web environment represents the 'meeting point' for all the interested stakeholders. It contains comprehensive information on the project results and on the related events. It has acted as an important tool for information, participation, brokerage, follow-up, management and evaluation related activities throughout all the stages of the project. The website contains general information about the national and European (with special focus on FP6 and FP7) educational research projects, clusters and programmes, a database of projects, outputs and events. The website will provide access to the context analysis report and all the reports made within the framework of the SINCERE activities, including proceedings of the events. Additionally, it includes a number of research and collaboration tools such as direct links to educational research organisations, foundations, institutions, universities, laboratories, and major IST related companies. Last but not least, it includes the collaborative working environment allowing virtual dialogue and collaboration among researchers, policy makers and stakeholders.
