A website for better communication

A website to better communicate with the teaching team

A website can help communicate information about newly arrived pupils.
It gives visibility of the work being done in the reception classes to other members of the educational team, in particular to teachers in ordinary classes who do not always know the pupils well, their educational background, etc. It can also give visibility of the work being done on the different subjects in order to facilitate bridges between them. It can also give visibility to the work being done in the different subjects in order to facilitate bridges between them, in the form of a shared class journal, for example. Colleagues can exchange practices and interesting tools.

Thanks to this kind of sharing tool, teachers also get to know each other better, to know who to contact and what the role of each member of the team is. All the information is centralised in one place, so it is easier to find.
It is easier to follow up on pupils.

Here is an example of site created for a team of secondary school teachers in Verviers, Belgium (Leloux, Léonard & Van As, 2021). The site was designed to facilitate communication and networking between teachers in a DASPA (reception and schooling device for newcomer pupils). The teachers had difficulties in sharing information about the students, and in communicating about the follow-up after the pupils left the reception class when they returned to their age group.
The tool chosen was “Google Sites”. It allows information to be centralised in one place but can host several types of material.
Here is its structure, which can be reproduced on another site offering the same options:

“Team” page: presentation of teachers, their role and their skills/experience in collaboration; timetable and how to get in touch.
“Scheme” page: presentation of the functioning of DASPA and its objectives.
“DASPA accueil”: a weekly planner which includes the subjects worked on in the different disciplines.
Follow-up of students (projects, orientation, progress in the different courses) with access only for the team members concerned.
Follow-up of immersions in ordinary classes.
A diary of scheduled meetings with space to indicate topics that might be discussed.
A storage space for team reports.
A file of ongoing collaborative projects.
A drive of documentary and possibly didactic resources.
A discussion forum.

Teachers have had the opportunity to use the tool. Here is what they have to say.

Testimonies

“I find this tool very interesting and complete. As a new teacher at DASPA, I have not always had access to essential information and I believe that this centralised information platform will help me in my daily work. In short, I am looking forward to testing this new tool. Thank you for this excellent work which should simplify our life in DASPA.”

“At the beginning, when I arrived at DASPA, as a language teacher, I was motivated to work in this team and then the motivation decreased little by little. This site, for me, is the possibility to get motivated again, to feel more efficient and useful. With this site, we could put all the courses in parallel with the DASPA and give them more meaning. We could make links. The only thing I would like to improve is access to the site with a code or an email address and a password to ensure confidentiality. One condition for this to work would be that the whole team should adhere to it. We also need to find a person who would be responsible for it and who could manage it. I’m going to take this on and keep at it! I’m going to contact the school’s digital manager to see how we can use it. I’m attending the logbook meeting and I’m going to use it to introduce the tool to others. We could create small working groups to reflect on our objectives and paralleling lessons.”