Request

Could the Department provide all correspondence (including emails) with the European Union's Educational, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA ) which specifically relates to the teaching of history in UK primary and or secondary schools. This correspondence will include but will not be limited to ideas about what topics and issues are studied and the way in which they are studied.

Can the department please provide a list of UK schools who during the aforementioned period have participated in or are participating in any event/study/projects/partnership organised as part of the Educational, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency's Comenius programme? As far as each individual school is concerned can the department please provide a brief explanation of what the event/study/projects/partnership is or was. Could it provide the start date and details about the duration of each project? Please note that I am interested in receiving details of all schemes, irrespective of the subject matter or issue being considered.

Has the department carried out any research or has it commissioned any research into the effectiveness of any of the aforementioned projects? If so can it please provide copies of this research.
 

Release

The Department has no record of correspondence with the EACEA. And that the British Council is the National Agency responsible for administering the Comenius programme in the UK.

Details of all grants awarded under Comenius are in the public domain and can be found on the British Council website.

The website currently shows results for 2007 and 2008. Not all 2009 results have been confirmed e.g. Comenius Partnerships, Assistant Hosts (and Regio) and some IST deadlines have not yet taken place (there are three deadlines for IST). The results will be put onto the website as and when known, some of which will be in the next two weeks; the lists can be sorted by English region or devolved country.

Apart from the schools who received grants, the information also includes those who receive the “award” of Comenius Assistant from another country.

School Partnerships

The start and end date for school partnerships shows the real start and end date (all partnerships are one or two years).

In-Service-Training (IST)

The start and end date for IST shows the different periods within which the training activity may take place. The grants can be for activity of between one and six weeks in length – the vast majority are for one or two weeks.

Assistant Hosts

The start and end date for assistant host schools shows the maximum period during which a school may have an assistant. The minimum period to have an assistant is around three months, the maximum around ten.

Information about each type of activity can be found on the British Council's website.

Please note that the Department has not carried out nor commissioned any research into the effectiveness of the aforementioned projects.