SIEC HELSINKI - JULY 2000

First meeting of the Network Committee - Monday 31 July 2000 at 15.30 hours

 

Present: England Janet Elliott, Chairperson

Sweden Mats Eliasson, Secretary

Austria Reingard Weilharter

Denmark Regitze Kristensen

Faroe Islands Katrin Zachariasen

Finland Helena Mansio

France Alain Louvel

Germany Hans Dietrich, Vice Chair

Italy Primo Gonzaga

Norway Arnfinn Lundem

Scotland Eileen Broughton

Switzerland Estella Liniger

USA Gregg Whyte

 

I . WELCOME, ETC

 

The Chairperson welcomed all representatives from the countries present and especially the new members, Gregg Whyte and Katrin Zachariasen. Members also thanked Helena Mansio and the Finnish Chapter for arranging refreshments for the meeting.

 

Apologies were received from John Thrane from Denmark, Andre Eckert from Switzerland and Vivien Reid from Scotland who are unable to come to this year's conference. Regitze Kristensen, Estelle Liniger and Eileen Broughton were welcomed as their alternatives.

 

2. AGENDA

 

The Agenda, which had been sent to members of the Committee in advance of the meeting by email and post, was accepted.

 

 

3 MINUTES OF THE TWO NETWORK COMMITTEE MEETINGS HELD IN ST ANDREWS.

 

The Minutes of the meetings held in St Andrews in July 1999 were accepted and signed by the Chairperson. Copies will be sent to the General Secretary for the official record of SIEC-ISBE.

 

 

4. ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE NETWORK DESK LATER IN THE CONFERENCE

 

It was agreed that we should have somebody in charge for the Network desk during most of the conference breaks. We agreed to the following schedule.

 

Tuesday, 1 August 09:00 - 10:00 Gregg Whyte

12:00 - 12:30 Mats Eliasson

12:30 - 13:00 Regitze Kristensen

13:00 - 13:30 Reingard Weilharter

15:30 - 16:00 Estella Liniger

 

Wednesday, 2 August 09:30 - 10:00 Arnfinn Lundem

11:30 - 12:00 Reingard Weilharter

12:00 - 12:30 Helena Mansio

12:30 - 13:00 Hans Dietrich

14:30 - 15:00 Alain Louvel

 

Friday, 3 August 10:45 - 11:00 Mats Eliasson

 

Saturday, 4 August 12:00 - 12:30 Helena Mansio

12:30 - 13:00 Katrin Zachariasen

15:00 - 15:30 Mats Eliasson

Janet Elliott

 

There would also be an opportunity, via the Network Desk, for members to post requests for Exchanges of any kind, on the Network Notice Board.

 

 

5 . MEET YOUR COLLEAGUES SESSIONS - TUESDAY AT 15.30

 

Invitations to the "Meet your colleagues sessions" had been included in the conference programme received by all delegates. The Chairperson will also take the opportunity to announce at the Assembly of Delegates on Tuesday, that we will offer two sessions one for Student and one for Teacher exchanges. Both would cover both exchanges of persons between countries and exchanges via the Internet.

 

It was agreed that the Network Committee would provide representatives for each meeting to meet those attending and report back to the Committee. These would be:

 

Session 1: GW and AL - Teacher Exchanges.

 

Session 2: AL and HD - Student Exchanges.

 

 

6. THE REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE IN MUNICH IN JANUARY 2000

 

The Chairperson informed members of the decisions made at the meeting of the Executive in Munich in January to work to a new Action Plan which included the setting up of a Database of SIEC-ISBE members under the control and general supervision of the General Secretary. Money was now available to pay for the work. This decision would be a helpful move towards achieving one of the principal aims of the Network Committee. However, success would still depend on individual Chapters providing the necessary data and keeping it up to date.

 

There were no current plans for a 'Chat Room' on the SIEC-ISBE website site. The Executive and Board were currently divided as to the practicalities of this given the current state of development of the website. However, a Chat Room had not been definitely ruled out for the future.

 

 

7. NETWORKING IN AND BETWEEN CHAPTERS AND CHAPTER'S WEBSITES.

 

7.1 It was announced that SIEC-ISBE International homepage shortly would change its web address. The new address will be www.siec-isbe.org. The following countries now have their own chapter website linked to the SIEC International homepage: Denmark, England, Finland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. Germany and Switzerland would shortly have their own chapter websites also linked to SIEC's homepage. The Swiss site would have all information about the conference in Zurich in 2001.

 

7.2 It was agreed that a significant amount of Networking, resulting in exchanges of various kinds, was taking place. Several chapters had produced a written report of exchanges and activities within their country and between their members and other chapters since last year's conference. This information had been used for an article in the SIEC-ISBE Review.

 

 

8. DISCUSSION ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATABASE

 

Peg Saragina, of the US Chapter, had been invited to the meeting by the Chairperson, so that there could be a discussion on possibilities for the way in which the development of the Database, on which she might be working with the General Secretary, might proceed. Members welcomed PS and an interesting exchange of information and suggestions took place. PS would use this in subsequent discussions with the General Secretary and International President.

 

 

9. DATE AND TIME OF SECOND MEETING

 

It was confirmed that the second meeting would be at 09.00 to I 1.00 hours on Friday 4 August 2000 in classroom 161 in the Helia Building.

 

ME/JE -4 September 2000