Background
The FEDORAS Academy includes teachers and teacher students in aiming to further develop interdisciplinary STEAM education and contribute to creative and future-thinking and problem-solving skills to better equip schools and teacher education to address the societal challenges of our time. At the core of the FEDORAS Academy are five open schooling networks modeled after the SEAS project (Science Education for Action and Engagement towards Sustainability).
Open schooling emphasizes co-creation, exploratory work methods, and the application of knowledge through collaboration between schools, teacher education, and community stakeholders, where students participate in local real-life settings addressing challenges related to sustainable development.
Collaboration
The project establishes change laboratories as meeting places to share experiences and develop practice-based knowledge. Teachers and teacher educators participating in the FEDORAS Academy will have the opportunity to engage in activities with other networks in Finland, Greece, Italy, and Spain, both digitally and physically.
The FEDORAS Academy aims to further develop schools and teacher education by creating resources and tools that support students in exploration and practical action, as well as supporting teachers and teacher educators in participatory co-creation and interdisciplinary collaboration.
In addition to SEAS, the project builds on several related European collaborative projects, particularly FEDORA (Future-oriented Education and Democratic Resilience) and CLIMADEMY (Climate Change, Education, and Democracy).
Change Laboratories
The work will evolve through cycles of change laboratories (ChangeLabs) designed to support reflection and gather insights from the school networks. Some are local associated with the Norwegian network and others are international, opening for the co-design processes that include participants from all countries. Both the Norwegian and international change laboratories aim to test and develop resources for real-life, interdisciplinary teaching related to sustainability.
In particular, the change laboratories will provide a basis for the theoretical development of a comprehensive assessment framework for open schooling collaboration, covering content, objectives and values, practices, learning environments, and supporting cross-collaboration.
