Early school leaving is a hot topic in all European countries. A high percentage of students show a low motivation towards school and sometimes difficulties in staying inside it. Very often this negative reaction is due toA BAD QUALITY OF THE SCHOOL INCLUSIVE PLAN. This transnational strategic partnership is aimed at developing initiatives to promote young peoples’ social inclusion and well-being through the improvement of their key-competences and skills at school and a revision and strengtheness of the teaching professions ( referred to annex 5 and annex 6 Guide for Experts ) We would like to elaborate an ORGANIC PROTOCOL FOR THE INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS in the schools involved (France, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania,Latvia and Turkey ) with the aim to change attitudes, approaches and methodologies inside our schools. The project implies a detailed examination of how the obstacles to learning and to each student’s participation can be overcome. The inclusive development of schools is based on a research procedure which has the purpose of promoting a serious school self-assessment and self-development. The partnership will work having as a scientific framework the proposal for the school inclusive development defined in the INDEX FOR INCLUSION by Booth and Ainscow, published in 2000 and in few years become a pillar in the international sphere for the development of the inclusive planning in school contexts. The Index is a supportive resource to the inclusive school development. It is a full document which can help find the different steps towards the school inclusion. It offer a plan which supports the self analysis and development and it is based on the ideas teachers, principals, school community, parents and students have got about their school. It will be a three year-long project and it will go on through the 5 phases of the developmental process inside "Index for Inclusion". 1. starting using Index, 2. analysis of school, 3. elaboration of an inclusive developmental project 4. realization of priorities 5. revision of the process with the Index The European Teachers will work together in order to build European Inclusive Schools. All the school involved share all the problems described, but each one of them has developed a special ability in some peculiar aspects of the Special Educative Needs, not only because of the everyday labour in facing them, but even why National Governments have spent money in assuring local training aimed at offering tools to help schools to prevent and to get better and better. In this way we can "exploit" other European competences, but also other European training sessions previously paid by National Governments in order to meliorate teaching profession. For this reason we have decided that teachers and principals will meet for having learning, teaching and training activities altogether in the field on which the host Country is more specialized: The learning, teaching and training activities will be carried out by specialized teachers working in the schools of the partnership . The host school coordinator will tutor the training session so that the activities can be interactive and learner-centred. Video and audio materials will be provided and produced so that the learning, teaching and training sessions can be shared in the schools of the partnership among all the teacher community. It will be an INCLUSIVE way of teaching and learning. The partnership will produce an intellectual output which will be disseminated in the European context thanks to a clear dissemination plan. As regards the organigramm of the project, we have individualized different roles and professionalities. All of them are necessary to develop the strategic project: Management Group: made up by all the school headmasters of the partnership ( 9 people ) Scientific Committeee: made up by the coordinators of the project, that sometimes coincide with the headmasters ( 9 people ) Teacher Trainers Group: made up by local teachers who have developed experiences in Inclusive lessons for peculiar special needs Trainees: made up by groups of teachers who will attend the Learning, Teaching and Training sessions School Keepers: to do the cleaning and open the schools during the partners' visits. Administative staff for carrying out all the financial activities Students to take part into the activities and mobilities
By implementing the Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnership project "Europe for Inclusion” eight partner institutions ( Istituto Comprensivo San Donato Italy, GAP Kiz Anadolu Lisesi Turkey, Jieznas gymnasium Lithuania, Scoala Gimnaziala "I.I. Mironescu" Romania, Szkola Podstawowa nr 7 im. Wojska Polskiego w Lesznie Poland, Agrupamento de Escolas Coimbra Sul Portugal, College Jean Jaures France and "Tautskola 99 Baltie zirgi" Latvia ) tried to answer this question: what can we do to make our schools more inclusive? In the name of the partnership (made up of schools managing different peculiar special needs ) project partners focused on the general purpose of elaborating an organic protocol for the inclusion of children with special needs in the schools involved, with the aim to change attitudes, approaches and methodologies inside our schools. During the process, we noticed that different educational and cultural context would help to discover new aspects for solving problems linked with this huge topic. We ascertained that the schools seen as educational community’ members able to generate learning and training for themselves (searching for the newest knowledge, applying it into practice and reflection on such practice in pursuance of transforming theoretical knowledge into ability to act) realistically strengthen their motivation to change and change welcoming modalities and teaching (learning) process. We discovered that a detailed examination of how the obstacles to learning and to each student’s participation can be overcome through a research procedure which promotes a serious school self-assessment and self-development. With the scientific framework proposed by INDEX FOR INCLUSION by Booth and Ainscow, the partnership has been able not only to work on inclusive development but also to offer a plan which supports the self-analysis and school development based on the idea that teachers, principals, school community, parents and students can work together to solve social problems. We tried out that we must revise organizative and managerial aspects involved in the inclusive development, evaluate strategies coherent with inclusive praxis, exploit the role of students, family and community to give support and taking part into decisions, structuring specific practical training course for teachers and develop a curriculum attentive to diversity and to promotion of inclusive formative paths The preparation and testing of the protocol covered the organizations of all school level project teams, strengthening competencies of their members, analysing and discussing theoretical knowledge, applying it practically and learning from personal experience. In order to measure changes conditioned by project activities, constant self-reflection of teachers was implemented with reference to the theoretical sources taken as scientific framework and to the 6 practical LTT carried out and in the end the project participants developed the Recommendations for teachers who want to experiment our own process. The implementation of the project has helped partners from different regions to bring into effect desirable changes in education, to broaden possibilities for professional development of schools, teachers and even educational stakeholders . With the help of the project, we have been able to realize at least a part of obligations of school teachers and school managers to improve the quality of education in schools. We believe that the activities and results of the project could be one of the examples of how changes can be encouraged in European schools in order to cope with such a complex problem. They require multi-level and multi-faceted methods and we can say that our project ( by analysing which the features of an inclusive school were, how much inclusive our schools were, if the features of an inclusive school were present in our school plan, if we were really working at creating an inclusive school, if we were using the right strategies and didactic approaches, if we were planning, organizing, experimenting and telling our experience - best practices - to other schools ) is really innovative. Project activities will be continued by developing the good working practices ( management of schools and inclusive methodologies ) which were discovered and tested during the project, and inserting them into the Annual Inclusive Plans and curriculums of the schools involved in the project .