The segregation has long traditions in Hungary and in the partner countries, the early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school inclusion are not spread, the education system lacks the concept of inclusive school directly linked with early childhood intervention (ECI). One of the main objectives of our project is the geographical expansion of the programme School4All, 2nd prize winner of the European Investment Bank’s social innovation tournament in 2014, to Hungary’s other regions, as well as to the partner countries. Our project’s other objective is the mapping of ECI methods allowing the inclusion of significantly more children of Special Educational Needs (SEN) into the ECI system, and the transfer of ECEC practices between the partners. Our 3rd objective is to join the School4All protocol with ECI methodology by creating an integrated complex protocol of early childhood and early school age education and care. Our longer term objective is the kindergarten and school integration of SEN children who have previously benefited from ECI. The project coordinator is Down Association, its partners are Satu Mare Caritas Association from Romania and Centrum Liberta non-profit organisation from Slovakia. The Down Association has been active for 17 years in the area of long term assistance to disabled children and youth through many its projects (Castle of Miracles, Down Baby). The Caritas Association has an experience of 25 years in the field of ECI and is actively involved in kindergarten and school inclusion of SEN children. Centrum Liberta has been dealing with child care methods since 2012, using a wide range of innovative therapies applied by certified teachers of special education. The final intellectual output of the project is a protocol integrating ECI and school inclusion methodologies, developed through several steps of quality assurance processes and practical testing. The final content of the protocol will be reached through a number of activities that will result immediate effects on several target groups. As a first step the partners will transfer their know-how to each other, will define which specific methods will be included in the protocol, will carry out quality checks, and adapt it to their countries’ legal and institutional environment. Specific programmes will be implemented too: in Hungary, programmes according to the present School4All protocol will be carried out, and all the partners will implement pilot programmes of the newly developed integrated protocol. By incorporating the lessons learned and the good practices the partners will finalise the integrated protocol’s content by the end of the project. An impact assessment is also part of our project that will carry out a comparative analysis of the programmes implemented according to the present and the new integrated protocol, will assess the SEN children’s development and the change in the majority teachers’ and children’s attitude towards ECEC of SEN children. The most direct impact will be observed with the SEN children: we expect their social, physical and cognitive skills to be improved, as well as the strengthening of their self-confidence and capacity to accept their disability. The experience of participating in common school activities with healthy children will bring them closer to the perspective of an active life they can live as integral part of the society. We also expect the development of majority teachers’ competences in the area of competence based, inclusive education. Furthermore, we forecast additional programmes initiated by teachers to face situations related to education of SEN children with increased openness and improved skills in the areas of school inclusion The teachers will benefit from trainings carried out by teachers of special education in the framework of specific School4All programmes, thus the interaction and level of cooperation between the two professions will increase. Finally, the healthy children’s participation in the programmes, the common activities with SEN children will result a life-long experience to them that will contribute to evolve tolerant adults capable to accept differences and help the disabled. Finally, as a result of our dissemination activities we forecast a multiplier effect, the joining of further civil organisations, health, social and public education institutions to the implementation of the integrated protocol, as we believe that the more such programmes will be carried out higher the impact will be on social, legal and institutional changes necessary to achieve real and wide spread inclusion.
Segregation in education has long traditions in Hungary and in partner countries. Early childhood intervention (ECI) is not widely available, school integration is scarce, and the education system basically lacks the concept of inclusion, especially as linked with early childhood intervention. One of the main objectives of our project was the geographical expansion of the programme School4All, 2nd prize winner of the social innovation tournament of the European Investment Bank in 2014, to other regions in Hungary, as well as in partner countries. Another objective was to explore ECI methods which allow the inclusion of significantly more children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) into the ECI system, and to transfer ECI practices between the partners. Our 3rd objective was to join our School4All protocol and ECI methodology by the means of an integrated complex protocol, encompassing intervention for and education of children with SEN from early childhood to school age. Our longer term objective is the inclusion of children with SEN participating in ECI, in mainstream kindergartens and schools. The project was coordinated by Down Association, in partnership with Satu Mare Caritas Association from Romania and Centrum Liberta non-profit organisation from Slovakia. During the project, we cooperated with 7 educational institutes for children with SEN, 2 county organizations in the Hungarian public school system, 40 kindergarten and school classes of typically developing children, a number of non-governmental organizations representing people with disabilities, the network of Hungarian visiting nurses and local authorities at the locations of "School4All" programmes. The final output of the project was an intellectual property: a protocol integrating ECI and school inclusion methodologies, quality assured multiple times and tested in practice. The final form of the protocol was reached through activities which resulted in immediate positive effects on several target groups. Partners transferred know-how to each other and defined the areas which needed to be included in the new protocol. The new protocol was quality assured multiple times, and adapted to the legal and institutional environment of the specific countries. In Hungary, the programme was carried out according to the pre-existing School4All protocol, while all three partners implemented pilot programmes according to the newly developed, integrated protocol. The content of the protocol was finalised after incorporating the lessons learned and good practices developed. The project contained an impact assessment comparing programmes implemented according to the pre-existing and the new, integrated protocol, analysing the development of children with SEN participating in the programmes and changes in teachers' and students' attitudes. The project most directly impacted children with SEN. Learning together with their typically developing peers resulted in improving social, physical and cognitive skills, strengthening self-confidence, accepting their differences, and bringing them closer to the perspective of an active and productive life integrated in society. Teachers of mainstream schools gained experience in competence based, inclusive education. They were trained by special education teachers in workshops, which strengthened interprofessional cooperation. Last, but not least, typically developing children gained life-long experiences, which help them become tolerant adults who accept differences and cooperate with people with disabilities. A previously unplanned result has been the compilation of a "Guidebook for parents of children with SEN", as an appendix to the protocol. The publication is also suitable for independent use, reinforcing communication within the programme and outside of it. Long term effects of the project are strengthened by the fact that the intellectual property created, that is the protocol and the joined Guidebook for parents, are distributed for free on our webpages. After closing the project, the publications and the programme were introduced and well received at workshops and conferences. The publications were distributed through the full network of Hungarian visiting nurses, receiving positive feedback. Finally, as a result of our dissemination activities, we expect a multiplier effect, that is further non-government organisations, health care, social care and public education institutes joining in the implementation of the integrated protocol. We believe that the more these programmes are carried out, the closer we get to the social, legal and institutional changes necessary to achieve inclusion in education.