The purpose of school administrator training is to prepare the English language and preschool Coordinators of Education to undertake the support of teachers regarding the introduction of the English language in preschools. More specifically, as indicated in the relevant issue of the Official Government Gazette (Issue Β’3311 / 26.07.2021, article 4, pp. 45058-59), the Coordinators of Education training aims at:

• providing understanding of the educational parameters and the importance of the introduction of English in preschools,
• providing understanding of the basic elements of the philosophy and operation of preschools as a basis for the development of a collaborative framework for the design and implementation of creative activities in English,
• developing appropriate methodology that connects the developmental characteristics of children of this age with the learning processes in the framework of the preschool Curriculum and the methodology of English language learning for young children,
• cultivating a culture of collaboration for the planning and implementation of activities that adopt the principles of differentiated and inclusive education, contributing to the formation of a positive attitude towards plurilingualism and an intercultural approach by all participants in the educational process (children, parents, educators, etc.) utilising digital and other tools to achieve collaboration.

More specifically, through the training of English language and preschool Coordinators of Education it is expected that trainees will:

• develop specialised knowledge in relation to the philosophy, principles and methodology of the introduction of English in preschool contexts and skills related to the planning and implementation of relevant activities,
• understand their role as mentors and constructive critics in relation to the supervision of teachers during the implementation of the programme and to strengthen their competence regarding the training materials,
• develop networks of practice through the use of the programme’s digital training platform and other programme activities.

The training of Coordinators of Education will be carried out entirely online and consists of asynchronous and synchronous sessions.

• The synchronous sessions will take place through an online platform.
• Asynchronous sessions refer to the time that each trainee will spend on preparation, personal study, and collaboration with other trainees to carry out educational activities. The e-class forum will be used to post answers to the activities. The asynchronous sessions will use the e-class distance learning platform, which will also be the main digital space where all the educational material will be posted.

Coordinators of Education training conducted by EKPA lasts 48 hours and will take place in two phases:

• Phase A (duration: 24 hours): September-October 2021 (12 hours of synchronous training and 12 hours of asynchronous)
• Phase B (duration: 24 hours): February-March 2022 (12 hours of synchronous training and 12 hours of asynchronous)

in order to provide ongoing support to Coordinators of Education.

It should be noted that the asynchronous training of Coordinators of Education will be based on training activities that will be planned by the project team. The Coordinators of Education will be divided into groups and will complete the training activities remotely and then present the results of their collective work during the synchronous sessions.

Each Training Phase consists of four thematic units, while each unit requires 6 hours of training: 3 hours of asynchronous and 3 hours of synchronous training.

English language and preschool teachers’ synchronous training will take place in two online seminars organised by EKPA. The first workshop was held on Wednesday, December 15, entitled “Working together, learning together.” For more information click here.

The second workshop is scheduled for April 2022.