PERINE :: Pedagogical and Educational Research Information Network for Europe

PERINE activity at INDIRE has centred on:

Survey on the Internet in order to gather relevant web sites for the PERINE database;
Editing of new documentary records (30);
Input of new documentary records;
Creation of informative material to promote the project during events, conferences etc.
Focus on the ‘special needs’ area - besides the main four ones (as to the retrieval of web sites, resources etc.);
Distribution of the questionnaire 2004 to many target groups (educational evaluators, moderators, researchers, experts, designers, tutors etc.);
Tabling of the data resulting from the questionnaires;
Analysis of the data and creation of graphs representing the data;
Writing of a report illustrating the research design, the method and the results;
Participation in the last PERINE meeting in Crete and in the EERA Conference.

National and European activity has focussed on the following main areas:

In the period May-August 2004 - INDIRE has been active in the following European and national projects and activities:

NEW! A new portal has been designed for the Italian teachers of Catholic religion participating in the national competition. An e-learning platform has been conceived for them, with materials, documentation, etc.;
NEW! A monitoring process of the autonomous use of the 15% of the curriculum in schools is being carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Education, University and Research;
NEW! Indire fond, “Mostra internazionale del giornalino scolastico”, dealing with Italian and foreign schoolbooks dating back to period 1968-1971. The fond is being processed to be electronically archived;
NEW! A national survey on Italian historical archives dealing with school material and teaching aids was carried out to network institutes with similar missions and interests;
NEW! A project called R.I.So.R.S.E. was started in order to support the primary school reform by documenting relevant practices on the reform aspects. A new site was designed and published.
Indire fond, 'Ottavo Gigli' dealing with educational material dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century (public and private correspondence, original documents, documentary material etc.) is being implemented; “Alberto Simonetta” dealing with schoolbooks dating back to the 19^th and 20^th centuries; 'Ottavo Gigli', dealing with educational material dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century (public and private correspondence, original documents, documentary material etc.); “Fondo materiale scolastico”, dealing with school material dating back to various historical periods;
National Portal on Adult education, containing materials for lifelong learning and adult education, information on vocational courses and events;
Abitare la scuola (Living at school), a website presenting interesting examples of innovative educational buildings, spaces, playgrounds, commented by an architect who is expert in the field. This is a way of stressing the importance of the physical setting to educational researchers and administrators;
PuntoEdu, national project established by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) for the teacher in-service training on new technologies in the framework of the MIUR- ICT project. New e-courses have been designed for the school personnel on the school reform;
National project called 'POF' (Piani dell'Offerta Formativa) on the schools educational supply. A free authoring software has been acquired by Indire as to allow schools to edit their educational plans; Erasmus Caffè, an interactive environment for university students participating in the Erasmus programme (student exchange programme);
ENIS (European Network of Innovative Schools), a portal providing information on innovative school projects dealing with technologies;
CELEBRATE, a European project that seeks to create an innovative approach to teaching by using e-Learning technologies and learning objects (INDIRE role: partner);
Valnet, a European Validation Network (ValNet) aiming at building knowledge about innovation in schools and helping create the conditions for creating schools of tomorrow;

INDIRE has regularly updated the following databases during the period:

GOLD: documentary units relating to best practice in Italian schools at any level of education. The system is undergoing a process of revision. The new database will contained best practices selected by IRREs (Regional Institute for Educational Research) on the basis of common qualitative indicators. NEW! A software for helping teachers document their experiences is being designed by the INDIRE staff (technical and documentation staff). The tool is called ‘SCRIPT’.
Scuola, handicap, tecnologie, dealing with educational technologies for disabled pupils. The project is developing new contents and sections in the corresponding site;
BIBL : bibliographic references about Italian and foreign scientific literature in the field of education (+ 227 – Tot.:19,007 records);
Intersiti - Risorse Internet per la Didattica : directory of Internet sites classified by curriculum subjects, indexed and abstracted (701 resources);
RIVI : bibliographic references about periodical literature in the field of education (+ 770 – Tot.: 36,182);
EMER , directory of current Italian educational periodicals, with an index and content notation (tot.: 380);
DIA - Immagini per la didattica : images covering a number of curriculum areas, with indexes and content description. (+ 695 - Tot.: 10,003);
Portale per l’Educazione Interculturale , an educational portal on intercultural education, multilingual material and cultural-related initiatives;
Valutazione del software didattico: professionally certified educational software for any level of education. Assessed software: + 20 – Tot.: 242; selected: + 20 – Tot.: 208).
Two other information services were managed and updated during the period:
SET: scienza e tecnologia , about pilot projects on scientific and technological education promoted by MIUR within the 2001-2002 school year.
WINIRIDE - the software for school library documentation and cataloguing, produced and maintained by INDIRE - was improved by adding the functionality of derived cataloguing from the Italian National Bibliography.
INDIRE continues to operate as the Italian National Agency with responsibilities towards the Eurydice network NEW! Publications in the due period:

Le Cifre Chiave delle tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione nella scuola in Europa (see Documnent );
Integrating Immigrants Children into schools in Europe - Italy (see Document);
Focus sulle strutture dell’istruzione superiore in Europa (2003/2004) – Evoluzioni nazionali nell’ambito del processo di Bologna (IT);
Citizenship Education in schools in Europe (national monograph in Italian);
Investigation into the Needs of Eurydice Target Groups (national monograph in Italian);
Informative brochure on Eurydice database;
Eurydice publications catalogue (in progress);
Il portfolio delle competenze degli alunni negli altri paesi europei (grey material);
Il docente tutor negli altri paesi europei (in progress).

The institute is also responsible for the management of the European Socrates programme at a national level. It has also continued to conduct special work playing as a reference point for school libraries and documentation centres in Italy and as a documentation and support agency for the Istruzione Formazione Tecnica Superiore .