In recent years, the degree of complexity within our classes has increased greatly. Different levels of learning abilities, different inclinations and interests, different emotional and affective states, different multicultural and linguistic complexities coexist within the same class, together with the presence of students with a varied spectrum of specific learning disorders or severe disability. This context requires, by contrast, a new school which will configure itself as a humanized, highly inclusive and integral space, built on the importance of the single human being as a person, his peculiarity and potential, empathy, solidarity and collaboration. School must be able to become a training place for democracy, implementing mutual acceptance and enhancement. It is therefore an essential priority to direct the educational practice towards full effectiveness, activating concrete operational mechanisms, improving the quality of the daily process of teaching - learning and creating conditions of effective equality and opportunities. Diversity (linguistic, of cultural models, intelligence or skill) is often perceived and evaluated in negative terms, as a weakness. The risk is that such diversity can be transformed into inequality of opportunity and results. Recognizing and giving value to diversity in the class becomes a matter of social justice and a way to ensure that every student has the right to study and the right to have access to effective opportunities in order to be able to choose and design their own future. It is therefore important to create the conditions for the realization of fair educational contexts, in which all students will have access to diverse learning environments, multiple resources, different points of view built on stimulating, flexible and innovative curriculum. Learning, understanding and problem solving are processes that need to take place in an environment of equality, in which each student will have the real chance to attain the best possible results. The goal of the project is to create an innovative and sustainable MODULE OF INCLUSION that will overcome the barriers and constraints of a static and traditional school system. This will result in building an innovative, multi-dimensional, multi-level and inclusive educational world that will be responsive to the needs of all and of each student, a reality without limits and with no spatial and pedagogical barriers. Students will be the protagonists of the project, assisted by the whole school community, teachers and school helpers, families and local communities, in order to involve all stakeholders in a shared process of change. The diverse situation within our schools makes it necessary to focus on the students as a fundamental resource for the teacher in terms of learning potentials and cohesion of the group. The methodological choice, therefore, that best responds to the idea of an inclusive and inter-cultural school is "social mediation". The methodologies in social mediation, while providing moments of transmission, involve a change of perspective: from the traditional vertical teacher-student interaction to the horizontal student-student, where skills are actively built by the same students, rather than passive reception of information. In this context, the use of methods of social mediation such as Cooperative Learning (Cooperative learning) or Peer Tutoring (peer mentoring) are particularly effective strategies to build on the relational, cognitive, intra-personal (strengthening of self-awareness and self-confidence) and interpersonal levels (development of trust in others, the ability to negotiate the information, to build an empathic relationship). It is understood that these positive trends are not "spontaneous" in students, but represent a goal where the mediation of the teacher is fundamental. Teachers must, therefore, build a strategy through their daily work that creates habits for effective cooperation, and explicitly, through feedback that induces in students a progressive degree of awareness of the progress that is made.
The aim of our project ‘Breaking Down School Barriers’ is to assist schools in the European Union in their work regarding inclusion in the classroom. It became evident that there was a need for action in all of the participating schools. We want to initiate bringing lesson design up to date in this context. At the first preparation meeting between the coordinators, the project was defined and laid out more clearly. Key issues that we wanted to pursue during the course of the project were also identified. The coordinators also discussed the latest developments and research on inclusion in schools with professors from the University of Bolzano. At the first international meeting with students at Gymnasium Wentorf the project focused on music. In mixed groups, each group learnt a folk song from one of the partner countries. These were performed for the parents at the closing event. This gave the students the opportunity to make music together and learn about other countries. The students also wrote their own words to the song ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams and practised it together with Mr Fischer, a music teacher at Gymnasium Wentorf. The words they wrote were relevant to our project. Each student contributed to the creation of the song and video, regardless of their previous knowledge of music. The result of this work between the countries is our Erasmus song which has been sung at each of the meetings. Our Erasmus partners in Spain led a project focused on theatre during the second international meeting. In preparation for this, the students wrote their own skits on the topic of inclusion (for example about bullying). Our Erasmus partners in England worked on a project focused on science during the third international meeting. Students took part in a Forensic Science ‘Whodunnit’ event, using procedures and chemicals employed in real forensic investigation work. Our Erasmus partners in France worked on a project focused on games during the fourth international meeting. In preparation for this, the students had prepared a typical game from their home country. At the meeting in France there were workshops, where students tried all the games from each partner country. Our next international meeting was in Italy, where the theme was different types of learning styles. As a homework for the meeting, students made videos about the different learning styles – auditory, visual and kinesthetic. The sixth meeting was in Denmark, and the theme was inclusion through sport. Each country had to show a typical sport from their home country, and all students tried playing the sports. During the meeting students also took part in group work on how sport can help inclusion. The final meeting was in Finland, and the theme was inclusion through technology. For preparation students had to tell/discuss how each partner school worked with technology. Objectives The goal of this project was to create an innovative and sustainable model of inclusion that will overcome the barriers of a static and traditional school system. This will result in building an innovative and inclusive educational world that will be responsive to the needs of all students regardless of their physical and mental background. Number and profile of participating organisations. There are seven countries in the project (Germany, France, Spain, UK, Italy, Finland and Denmark). All participating schools are public schools, and some of the schools also cater for integration for special education students. Participating students in our project were between 11 - 15 years old. - The Italian school (Instituto Comp. Savignano sul Rubicone) also welcomes students with physical and mental conditions with the support of specialised staff. - The English school, Thomas More Catholic School, near London, has a large number of pupils with special needs, and more than 50 different languages are spoken here. - The Spanish school in Aranjuez near Madrid, also has many students with special needs. The school has around 1000 students. The school also trains students to work in restaurants etc. - The French school, College Aristide Briand, is situated in Domont, north of Paris. The school has a large number of immigrants from Africa. The school has ULIS (units located for inclusive education) for students with impaired cognitive or mental functions. - The Danish school, Hedegaardsskolen in Broenderslev, has 800 students. It is a normal primary and secondary school and also includes some students with special needs. - The school in Finland is situated in Vantaa near Helsinki and has 650 students. The school has a specialised programme for students with special needs. - The German school, Gymnasium Wentorf near Hamburg, has around 1200 students. The school has an advanced programme for inclusion for students with special needs.