School peer learning visits have been carried out in the practice strands of the P2P project. The aim of the strand is to pilot and analyse the conditions for peer exchanges of educational and ICT practices in the classroom and in the management of schools. A number of researchers from the University of Helsinki and University of Nottingham observed the process.

In preparation for the visit schools presented their general profile and indicated their main areas of interest as well as what they can offer to other schools. The P2P ministries suggested potential pairings to schools at a face to face meeting in Brussels after which schools decided if the match is worth taking further. Each school then provides the other with a portrait of itself prior to the visit and the host school sets up a programme.

The practice strand (University of Helsinki) developed a model for peer reviewing schools, a guidance paper for school visits and analysed the school reports. National coordinators helped the schools in carrying out the visits and with the consecutive reporting.

During the visit there was so much that stroke the observing peer that several methods of examination were used to get information from various viewpoints, such as a guided tour with a host, lesson observations, organised and discussions with selected teachers, students and other staff as well as informal discussions, examinations of papers and documents of the school. The emphasis was on enabling the visitors to see the school operating as it does day-to-day.

Visitors were mainly struck by contextual characteristics: school organisation, status of teachers, and more generally by all the aspects that make up the national culture of Northern Ireland, Finland, France and The Netherlands as exemplified in the schooling system in general and the schools visited in particular. These contextual elements formed the key to understanding the differences noted.

The results of the school visit reports are summarised in a consolidated practice review report. The Open University, UK carried out an evaluation of the practice peer review process which are likewise included in the practice report. P2P schools also present themselves and their practices in the P2P gallery.

Tikkakosken koulu Finland		Sintermeerten College The Netherlands
Mäntymäen koulu Finland		Dundonald North. Ireland
Kilterin Koulu Finland		Lycée le Grand Chenois France
Jakomäen Yläaste Finland		Lycée Emile Mathis France
Lycée l’Oiselet France		Ashfield Boys Highschool North. Ireland
Lycée Molière France		St Patrick’s College North. Ireland
Northgo College The Netherlands		St Cecilia’s College North. Ireland