You are one of us! Learning together with the Index of Inclusion The purpose of our project is to reduce the truancy, early school leaving and the barrier of educational participation at cooperating schools, according to the terms of the chosen Erasmus project priorities and the UN BRK. Especially we will focus on improvement and strengthening of transnational inclusive school education. The cooperating partner schools include a special school for emotional development in Cologne, a comprehensive school in Rio Caldo, Portugal, as well as vocational school in Cluj, Rumania. The student body reaches from the primary education to the secondary education II (vocational education). Whereas the majority of students will be taught in secondary education I. With this Erasmus project, we endeavor the excess profit of a European partnership, which enables mutually training and education, establishing an inclusion culture beyond nations. In advance, we carried out a needs assessment, which showed that the cooperation schools have students with severe risk of successful school participation. This risk appears, as the students require intense need for assistance in their social-emotional development. Further risks arise from social obstacles like poverty, cultural distinctions and migration background. The project aims to overcome cultural and social barriers to offer equal and improved learning conditions, due to an inclusive education and school culture for altogether 580 students. The Index of inclusion provides a “common language” for the co-educational applications, to achieve and develop shared goals. In addition, the inclusive Index enables a performance review and comparison of the whole student body. Flexible construction of the Index, leaves margin for every school to deepen specific development concerns. It describes methods as action level(Dimension) and areas of activities (Indicator)of an inclusive school development. Project activities at the cooperating schools and student as well as teacher conventions are assigned to the three dimensions of inclusion. Examples for activities and expected results are: 1. project year- Creating inclusive cultures - Indikator A 2.2 Staff, governors, students and parents/carers share a philosophy of inclusion: Activities: What does inclusion mean at our school? Students create mindmaps, short stories and comics to discuss and reflect the topic “You are one of us” from their individual and personal point of view. - Indikator A 1.4 Staff and students treat one another with respect: Activity: e.g. Workshop “The meaning of respect in schools” 2. project year – Producing inclusive policies - Indikator B 2.4: The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice* is used to reduce the barriers to learning and participation of all students: Activities: Establishing educational methods for individual learning and promotion of social competencies, like conflict management. - Indikator B 2.8: Barriers to attendance are reduced: Activities: Development of provisions to decrease obstacles for educational participation realted to the program “Check&Connect” 3. project year - Evolving inclusive practices - Indikator C 1.4: Students are actively involved in their own learning: Activities: Application of developed methods for the promotion of autonomous leaning. Workshop focused on “Promotion of autonomous learning”. Results are presented at the open house day. - Indikator C 2.4: Community resources are known and drawn upon: Activities: Student explore a resource of their environment and present them (ppt./video/poster…) Thematically the new project is related to a previous Comenius Project “Grow Up”: While the previous project focused on the required competencies of the students to master a successful lifestyle and career entry. Whereas, the novel project will concentrate on the inclusion of students with specific demand. Especially, to develop necessary methods and educational instruments for schools to abolish barriers as well as social exclusion and discrimination of students with special needs. The collected experience and results from this project, should be published to interested stakeholder as well as to general public(Homepage, Newspaper).
You belong to us! Learning together with the Index for Inclusion In our 3-year Erasmus project, we have succeeded in achieving our project objectives in line with the selected Erasmus project priorities and the UN BRK through a wide range of activities at each partner school. Within the Erasmus School Partnership, inclusive cultures have been strengthened and further developed, barriers to participation in education, refusal of school and school leaving in partner schools were also overcome. Our project activities were aimed at measures of teaching and school development in the sense of an inclusive school development, here the specific needs of the schools and participants were taken into account in the planning and monitoring: a special school for emotional and social development (Cologne), a comprehensive school (Rio Caldo, Portugal), and a general and vocational school (Cluj, Romania). The pupils of the three partner schools ranged from primary to upper secondary education (vocational education and training). The vast majority of pupils in all partner schools are taught in lower secondary education. Among the 580 participant students, at a preliminary stage, an analysis of their needs showed that for some of the student body, successful participation in education is risky due to a special need for support in their social-emotional development or learning, and further obstacles and risks arise for a part of the student body, e.g. through poverty or cultural differences. The Inclusion Index enabled partner schools to use "a common language" in terms of diversity pedagogy to jointly develop goals and activities and to verify their success. Each school was left room for specific development concerns. As a method, levels of action were named (dimensions) as well as fields of action (indicators) of an inclusive school development, to which questions about evaluation were assigned, for example. Our project activities in the partner schools and at the student and teacher meetings were derived as planned from the 3 dimensions in the Index for Inclusion. On the one hand, they aimed at the activating and participation of all students in the classroom and in school life, e.g. by strengthening a respectful relationship with each other or, for example, by breaking down barriers by individualizing the learning opportunities. On the other hand, our project activities aimed at strengthening common attitudes and guiding principles in the sense of inclusive school development, as well as the further development or introduction of methods, instruments and pedagogical concepts. This way, the results of our Erasmus project flowed into the school concept of each partner school. This ensures a sustainable impact, including regular evaluation and further development in the sense of inclusive school development. In addition, our project activities have enabled the use and development of resources of an educational participation in the local and regional environment of the schools in a variety of ways, for example several project weeks were carried out. Thus, new cooperations between schools and, for e.g., associations, museums or a university, could be tested , which will have a lasting effect through future offers. In our project, the transnational project meetings and training, teaching and learning activities were particularly important to us, because teachers and students of the partner schools were able to experience the value of a European school project directly in joint activities. Students expanded their linguistic and intercultural skills by working together on project activities, such as applying English skills outside their countries of origin for the first time. Teachers benefited, among other things, from teaching visits, the presentation of concepts, methods and programmes. During the last half-year of the project, our project activities were affected by the covid 19 pandemic, so planned project weeks and our final transnational project meeting had to be cancelled. Our final project focus "Use and expansion of local resources" has been expanded with activities on the aspects of "learning at a distance" and "digital learning opportunities". We have also been able to implement our mission to present the ongoing processes and results of our Erasmus project or European school partnership on a regular basis at regional and supra-regional level. These included, for example, regional working groups with other schools, municipal authorities, professional associations, further education courses and the homepages of the schools, especially on our project homepage: https://inclusioning.wordpress.com.