The implementation phase of the DROP’IN activities can be summarized as successful both for the teachers and the students involved in the activities. During the experimentation phase of DROP’IN, 25 teachers from France (5), Bulgaria (6), Latvia (7) and Italy (7) participated in the evaluation of the activities.
During their involvement, a structured system of monitoring and evaluation has been created: 1) a pre-evaluation phase, in which it has been analyzed in details their situation as teachers in their country and their classroom (deepening how they see the implementation of non-formal education in their educational setting); 2) after the conclusion of the experimentation period, a “Teachers Monitoring and Evaluation questionnaire” has been administered, evaluating the results of the activities carried out in classroom, together with their reactions and feedbacks.
The main results which came out from the evaluation are the following:
- Subjects: the teachers involved in the monitoring phase were teaching all types of subjects, confirming the flexibility and adaptability of the activities and approaches used during the implementation phase.
- Activities: a total of 25 activities were implemented at least once among all the countries, allowing to be adapted both at cultural and national level. Together with the cultural adaptation, the time constraints, the number of students, their learning needs and the pandemic situation were the main reasons behind some specific adaptations.
- Their experience: the reason behind the choice of specific techniques were mainly because teachers wanted to teach their discipline in a non-formal way (Latvia, France, Bulgaria) and to create socialization dynamics as well as strengthen the class group (Italy). Moreover, by participating into the activities, teachers confirmed they have improved the following skills the most : creativity (Bulgaria), flexibility (Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia), verbal communication (Bulgaria), listening (Bulgaria, France), teamwork (France, Italy, Latvia), Learnability (France), adaptability (Italy, Latvia), open mindness (Italy, Latvia).
Regarding the whole experimentation, the teachers’ opinions from all the countries involved provide a similar overview: as some Bulgarian teachers have stated, since the main task of teachers nowadays is to show their adaptability and flexibility to the dynamically changing environment, DROP’IN has been a wonderful chance with its learning offer of activities: the more diverse the lessons, the more active the students are, and this leads to greater success in learning. For Latvian teachers, the experimentation was useful enough for their profession, for several factors: the new chance to change pedagogical methods and their teaching approach (expressed by the majority of them); the active involvement of students; the promotion of cooperation; the self-directed learning of many activities implemented. Italian teachers confirmed that thanks to the implemented activities, they created a greater bond between them and pupils as well as a mutual trust. Students appreciated non formal way of learning: moreover, they learned how to express themselves as well as how to analyze and evaluate their knowledge, and focus on their future professions. Finally, in France, as it has happened in other countries, teachers confirmed that the activities have allowed the pupils to acquire new skills, and the teachers to have a useful and crucial experience for their profession.
As far as regarding the students, 667 answers were collected from the experimentation of the 25 activities in Bulgaria, France, Italy and Latvia, from students from the range of age of 12 - 18. As it has been done with the teachers’ implementation, a feedback questionnaire after each activity has been administered, in order to understand the general feedback for the activities’ implementation. Generally, the feedbacks of the students for each activity were pretty positive, with students appreciating the comfortable atmosphere created by the activities and the chance this activity has provided to listen to the others or understanding their point of view. Moreover, the majority of them appreciated the alternative way the subject has been proposed compared to the “formal approach”, making the topic of the lesson more interesting and enjoyable.