153 countries including the European Union have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) and 159 have adopted the Convention. Inclusive education lies at the heart of the UNCRPD and Article 24. It gives the direction to governments, administrators, educators, parents and people with disabilities on how to achieve this. The majority of children with learning impairments attend regular schools throughout Europe. (Source: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education) Pathway+ aims to substantially contribute to the uptake and implementation of inclusive education by providing teachers and teacher educators with a toolset to support the assessment of each child as part of a holistic approach towards inclusive education, thereby being provided with guidance on which pedagogical approaches are most suitable for a child. The measurements take place using a mobile tablet device on which the children play a game, of engagement and attention in a non-intrusive manner, and using a game-based fun approach. This offers teachers support in the challenge to teach in inclusive education classrooms and will strengthen the teaching profile of teachers. The ratification of UNCRPD has had a drastic impact on how teachers need to act in inclusive education. Considering that most of these teachers did not receive any additional training on how to cope or support children with disabilities, Pathway+ offers a handy tool to be used with children with mild/moderate learning disabilities to assess attention and engagement over a period of time, and adjust their interventions accordingly. Teachers mainly learn and develop their practice as a result of input from significant key people in their immediate environment: the head teacher, colleagues and professionals in or around the school. These are the professionals who are therefore considered to be the main target groups for this project. The main task of this project is to provide key people with knowledge about pedagogical strategies for handling differences in the classroom and school and to inform them about the conditions necessary for the successful implementation of these strategies, supported by Pathway+. The project will therefore answer key issues concerning inclusive education. In the first instance, an understanding of what works within inclusive settings and a deeper understanding of how inclusive education works will be defined. Secondly, it is important to know how and why these approaches work (the conditions for implementation). This will be addressed in the training handbook for teacher educators and the manual for teachers who will both use Pathway+ outcomes. The project focuses on supporting and suggesting appropriate pedagogical approaches, and on observed competences. This is in line with the positive psychology approach supported and embraced by all partners involved, and also is aligned with the WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). As mentioned above, Pathway+ addresses at its very core inclusive education, thus affecting and supporting every teacher in the European countries that ratified the UNCRPD, as well as beyond. Following project outcomes will be created: - IO1 Descriptive map of effective pedagogical approaches - IO2 5 mobile games to support effective pedagogical approaches selection - IO3 Mobile pedagogical attention/engagement measurement App - IO4 Handbook for teacher educators on usage descriptive map of effective pedagogical approaches - IO5 Manual for teachers on using the mobile pedagogical attention/engagement measurement App - E1: Multiplier event in Brussels, Belgium - Pilots in Nottingham (UK), Ieper (BE), Plovdiv (BG), Istanbul (TR) The 3 year project brings together partners from 5 countries: A university as coordinator: > P1 Nottingham Trent University - United Kingdom Umbrella organisations of pedagogical experts in the field of inclusion: > P2 National Association Of Professionals Working With People With Disabilities - Bulgaria > P6 International Association for Research and Development of Vocational education and Training - Turkey National policy maker: > P7 Nottingham City Council - United Kingdom Special education school: > P3 Special School "Stefan Karadza" - Bulgaria Private consultancies on inclusion and inclusive education: > P4 PhoenixKM - Belgium ICT experts for mobile applications: > P5 SOFTQNR - Serbia
Inclusive education lies at the heart of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It gives direction to governments, administrators, educators, parents and people with disabilities on how to achieve this aim. In response, our project's primary objective is to support inclusive education systems by developing tools that can help school staff develop the potential in every learner, and to accommodate particular students with different impairments, so that those with special educational needs (SEN) can be included in mainstream classrooms. At the heart of our project is an AI-enabled tool to support the decision making processes of teachers in inclusive education in the types of pedagogical approach that should be adopted for each child. We have achieved this by developing a mobile App that uses sensor data (e.g. eye gaze, body posture and facial features) and Machine Learning to infer the level of engagement in learning activities of each individual child using a simple 'Traffic Light' system as an output of the App. This is supported by a Handbook, which provides teachers in inclusive settings with a range of practical strategies to re-engage each child should engagement wane (our 'What's Next' approach). In addition, we have developed a set of interactive games which allow us to gather sensor data from a wide range of students with mild and moderate learning disabilities throughout our partner countries to robustly train the engagement algorithm operating at the heart of our App. Our Manual gives inclusive teaching staff practical guidelines on installing and using the App. Our primary target groups are inclusive teaching staff - including teachers, teaching assistants and Special Educational Needs Coordinators working with students with mild and moderate learning disabilities in a range of formal learning environments - in mainstream, inclusive and special needs schools. We also promote the use of our tools in other settings - with parents and carers, and to support the social and emotional health needs of students. Pathway+ comprises partners from 5 countries: - Nottingham Trent University - United Kingdom - National Association Of Professionals Working With People With Disabilities - Bulgaria - Centre for Special Educational Support - Bulgaria - International Association for Research and Development of Vocational education and Training - Turkey - Nottingham City Council - United Kingdom - PhoenixKM - Belgium - SOFTQNR - Serbia The following project results have been created: - IO1: A descriptive map of effective pedagogical approaches to promote inclusive education. - IO2: A set of mobile games to gather sensor data to train our engagement algorithm. - IO3: A Mobile App with a 'Traffic-Light' system to give a real time indication of the level of engagement of students. - IO4: A Handbook for inclusive teaching staff and 'What's Next' section to give practical guidance on strategies to re-engage students. - IO5: A Manual for inclusive teaching staff on installing and using the App. - E1: An online Multiplier event. - A series of Piloting Events in the UK, Belgium, Bulgaria and Turkey. Impact attained: The Pathway+ partnership has created a unique set of AI-enabled tools for the assessment of learners` engagement using embedded sensors in mobile devices, together with a set of interactive games that are used to train our engagement algorithm. Packaged along with a Handbook to support inclusive teaching staff in selecting teaching strategies to re-engage students and a Manual to describe the installation and use of the App, our tools have already had an immediate impact on the organisations involved in the Pathway+ consortium. They have increased their organisational capacities by using these tools when working with teaching professionals and other specialists providing training and support to SEN students. Teachers working in inclusive mainstream education, school psychologists, special educators, resource tutors, pedagogical advisors and teaching assistants all over Europe have access to our AI-enabled tool which can be used direcly within the classroom, and indeed in other informal settings to support all students and ensure they reach their full potential. The piloting phase of our project has involved more than 150 inclusive education teachers who iteratively tested the Pathway+ outcomes with more than 200 SEN students. The results were used not only to train the engagement algorithm in the development stage of our project, but to also enrich inclusive teaching practices and transform the educational process for students with mild and moderate learning disabilities. Positive results from the piloting phases and the resulting positive impact achieved demonstrates that Pathway+ has the potential for a transformational impact on teachers' attitudes to AI approaches to help them to engage more effectively with students with disabilities.