As a starting point we have chosen to approach inclusion and diversity from a common experience we all share, and we want to arrive at a destination of inclusion, where difference does not represent a barrier to individual fulfillment and social opportunity. There will be four partners representing different schools with experience on inclusion: a general secondary school from Latvia, special needs school from Belgium and vocational schools from Romania and Croatia.Our differences in terms of the inclusion will be the richness of our project.The target groups and participants of the Project are:• Teachers,staff active in education from special needs, mainstream and vocational schools• Students • Parents and school authoritiesThe Project will focus on: equity and inclusion, synergies between policy and practice, creativity, career guidance,innovation of good practices.The objectives of the project are:-to create professional skills to work as integrative schools and do active outreach to open up schools as institutions to our local communities gaining/developing new knowledge and skills in managing diversity. -to promote inclusive practices in school creating a learning community in which everyone – staff, students, parents are involved and valued for their input-to promote the inclusion,integration and career guidance of all students no matter what their origin, previous experience, abilities and social skills -to support teachers in dealing with diversified groups of learnersDuring the first year of the Project teachers will evaluate the process of inclusion. study materials and resources on inclusion and share good practices by producing materials,activities and games to stimulate inclusion of all students which will be tested and evaluated at every partnerschool and during the exchange of students in a completely new environment by connection between main stream students and special need students–differentiations, diversity and multicultural education in the classroom.During the second year teacher training will be organized to improve study materials for inclusive students and to maintain an effective learning environment, cooperative learning,implementation of inclusive practices and career guidance, key competences and attitudes of an inclusive teacher will be brought to a higher level. Non-formal activities will be organized to students at each institution by volunteers. The materials, games and activities produced by teachers of all partnerschools during the joint staff trainings in and during activities will be tested during the short term exchange of groups of pupils.All the participating schools :-will have shared their experience and good practices focusing on abilities rather than disabilities, -will have improved their individual support system introducing the good practice of other countries reducing the risk of failure and preventing students drop outs,- will have learned how to make effective and motivating study materials adapted to the individual needs of every student which will lead to a greater success,-will have used the project as a resource in long-term development of the school.All the teachers involved in the project :-will have raised their motivation to recognize and support individual needs of students,-will have developed new professional skills, competences and strategies. The project will have assisted institutions to have well-motivated students in their studies and career choice according to their specialization, helping them apply their new skills, enthusiasm and their interest in their local environment and future career. The key outcome of this project is the empowerment of participants in the sense of their capability to identify techniques and approaches that are suitable for them in everyday life and their work. All the schools will use the project as a resource in long-term development of the school.Resources and activities available for dissemination:• Recommendations on equity and quality • PowerPoint presentation about inclusion in partner countries• A collection of materials,worksheets and activities• Recommendations how to create effective and innovative study materials• Recommendations on competences and attitudes of inclusive teacher• Teacher training courses for European teachers• A collection of games and activities organised to special needs students by mainstream students and volunteers• Career start-up portfolio containing self-assessment, CV and letter of intend .Questionnaire to test students' interests, learning styles and attitudes.• Celebration of the Day of the Inclusion • Running internal training sessions for non-participating staff-Articles,leaflets and newsletters-A Wiki All prepared teaching materials and resources will be permanently accessible and used by partnerschools and other mainstream, vocational and special needs schools as they will be available on web sites, eTwinning and Facebook.
As a starting point we chose to approach inclusion and diversity from a common experience we all share, and we wanted to arrive at a destination of inclusion, where difference did not represent a barrier to individual fulfillment and social opportunity. There were four partners representing different schools with experience on inclusion: a general secondary school from Latvia, special needs school from Belgium and vocational schools from Romania and Croatia.Our differences in terms of the inclusion were the richness of our project as we could share our experience. The target groups and participants of the Project were: • Teachers,staff active in education from special needs, mainstream and vocational schools • Students • Parents and school authorities The Project focused on equity and inclusion, guidance, synergies between policy and practice, creativity, innovation and modernisation, successful transfer of experiences and good practices. The objectives of the project were: -to create professional skills to work as integrative schools and do active outreach to open up schools as institutions to our local communities gaining/developing new knowledge and skills in managing diversity. -to promote inclusive practices in school creating a learning community in which everyone – staff, students, parents are involved and valued for their input -to promote the inclusion,integration and career guidance of all students no matter what their origin, previous experience, abilities and social skills -to support teachers in dealing with diversified groups of learners During the first year of the Project teachers evaluated the process of inclusion. studied materials and resources on inclusion and shared good practices by producing materials,activities and games to stimulate inclusion of all students which were tested and evaluated at every partnerschool and during the exchange of students in a completely new environment by connection between main stream students and special need students–differentiation, diversity and multicultural education in the classroom. During the second year teacher joint staff trainings were organized to improve study materials for inclusive students and to maintain an effective learning environment, cooperative learning, implementation of inclusive practices and career guidance. Key competences and attitudes of an inclusive teacher were brought to a higher level during the trainings. Non-formal activities were organised to students at each institution by volunteers. The materials, games and activities produced by teachers of all partnerschools during the joint staff trainings and during activities were tested during the short term exchange of groups of pupils. All the participating schools : - shared their experience and good practices focusing on abilities rather than disabilities, -improved their individual support system introducing the good practice of other countries reducing the risk of failure and preventing students drop outs, - learned how to make effective and motivating study materials adapted to the individual needs of every student which will lead to a greater success, -used the project as a resource in long-term development of the school. All the teachers involved in the project : -raised their motivation to recognise and support individual needs of students, -developed new professional skills, competences and strategies. Resources and activities available for dissemination on project website, school websites, eTwinning and Padlet and in paper format: • Recommendations on equity and quality • PowerPoint presentation about inclusion in partner countries • A collection of materials,worksheets and activities • Recommendations how to create effective and innovative study materials • Recommendations on competences and attitudes of inclusive teacher • Teacher training courses for European teachers • A collection of games and activities organised to special needs students by mainstream students and volunteers • Career start-up portfolio containing self-assessment, CV and letter of intend .Questionnaire to test students' interests, learning styles and attitudes. • Celebration of the Day of the Inclusion • Running internal training sessions for non-participating staff -Articles,leaflets and newsletters -A Padlet The project assisted institutions to have well-motivated students in their studies and career choice according to their specialisation, helping them apply their new skills, enthusiasm and their interest in their local environment and future career. The key outcome of this project was the empowerment of participants in the sense of their capability to identify techniques and approaches that are suitable for them in everyday life and their work. All the schools will use the project as a resource in long-term development of the school in the future.