The central significance of schools in all substantial questions of inclusion remains uncontested. In this sense, the report „Inclusive Education for Young People in Europe: Trends, Issues and Challenges. A Synthesis of Evidence from ANED Country Reports and Additional Sources“ in chapter 5 „Remaining gaps and challenges to inclusion“ strongly focuses the social and overall societal context and shows deficits and challenges towards society and education systems. The concrete implementation of these European aims within the regional school systems, besides some positive examples, is not moving further in any significant way. We believe that the field is mainly influenced by three „blind spots“: + the non-consideration of the teacher-role with disability (role model effect) + the still existing taboo concerning body and embodiment and finally + the missing recognition of the fact, that inclusion can only come to fruition, if it takes place on eye level and in conjunction with people with disabilities. We found a whole range of comparative studies on general school education in relation to the inclusion of pupils with disabilities, which clearly show how much is still to be done in this sector. But how is the situation of persons with disabilities in the “faculty body”? Even after thorough research we couldn’t find a single report on the state or existence of teachers with disabilities. How come thus, that there are so little teachers with disabilities? As long as children throughout their education curricula have never been in touch with persons with disabilities, have never asked questions, have never gained positive experiences together, fear, uncertainty and distance will remain the almost logical results. This is where Dance out of Line! (DOOL) comes in and proposes, that each child in its school-time should have some project days in contact with a teacher team with disabilities. Dance out of Line! is inclusion arriving in the classroom. It is for all schools of all ages and scalable for all Europe. Within the projects timeframe we plan to realize 110 school projects with about 7500 DOOL days for pupils and students and about 600 to 700 DOOL days for teachers. In Dance out of Line! a possible beginners scepticism regarding the encounter with disability is smoothed out in a playful and effective way. Dance and with it movement, bodily contact and self-expression are the most efficient way to get into the process of togetherness. The „Body to Body“ encounters in the classroom become direct lived experiences that no theoretical input will ever be able to reach and like that become an unforgettable event in every (young) person’s life. Conceptions of the world towards lived diversity can be lastingly altered. An outcome which could not be achieved faster in an individual’s school path. Forever anchored in mind and heart. In Dance out of Line! the proven knowledge of diverse practices and aesthetics of contemporary dance meets the pedagogical knowledge of the schools and its teachers. The project brigs temporary learning units to all schools (primary, secondary and teacher education). In these learning situations, which we call 'action days', a mixed-abled artist team visits the school and shapes the curriculum of most diverse subjects. At the same time – almost by the way—there is time for mutually getting to another and for the unconstrained handling of disability full of contact. In a pilot project in Vienna in the recent years we could already test these modules in over 50 schools with 5 mixed-abled artist teams. Dance out of Line! seeks to bring this knowledge into a European comparison, test and expand it with colleagues from the field in other regions. Dance out of Line! aims to document the applied methods and the developed knowledge for others into an accessible and transferable, at the same time quality securing open source form. In Dance out of Line! the 5 strategic project partners from the 5 countries stem from diverse social and societal systems of education and culture. They are all valuable resources, correctives and comparative parameters of mutual learning, developing and securing as well as actors of effective implementation of the modules and of the specific contextual know-how within this project. The project partners form the future carriers of the project. Following a mixed-abled policy and its principles, Dance out of Line! will develop modules in three phases, combining know-how, communication and learning media as well as the effective transdisciplinary infrastructures between its actors from education, politics, art and Independend Living. It will foster its networks for the transfer, implementation and further expansion and development, to position temporary teachers/artists with disabilities in all types of schools.
The most effective way to do it is to do it. — Toni Cade Bambara (US-amerikanische Dichterin und Schriftstellerin) Education, and in particular school education, remains a key factor for sustainable inclusion of people with disabilities. Figures from the 2018 European Disability Expert Report confirm the glass ceiling for people with disabilities in tertiary education. This is one of the determining factors for why the proportion of teachers with disabilities in schools remains infinitesimally small. The Italian partners in our project addressed this issue among others: empowering people with disabilities in universities. Hungary, Slovenia and Austria are still struggling with the situation that children with disabilities have a hard time getting a general education. Consequently, this hinders equal access to the labor market and thus participation in society. The Erasmus+ KA2 project DANCE OUT OF LINE (DOOL) created concrete realities: Artists with and without disabilities facilitated 7,486 DOOL Days for students in Finland, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy and Austria. Students in these five countries experienced PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN A LEADING FUNCTION in DOOL Action Days and DOOL Action Weeks. Factors that we believe are instrumental for DOOL to successfully contribute toward increased inclusion are: - that DOOL Day leaders are ARTISTS, and - they perform as a MIXED-ABLED TEAM. One artist without a disability and one artist with a disability go to schools and create lessons for students for 1.5 days. At "Dance Out of Line!" inclusion is not discussed, it is lived. In "Dance out of Line!" the proven knowledge of contemporary dance meets the pedagogical knowledge of the schools in a complementary way. "Dance out of Line!" provides temporary learning units at schools (primary and secondary, as well as teacher training). In this way, students and teachers encounter people with disabilities in leadership positions in a very informal way. Dance out of Line! (DOOL) also brought mixed-abled artist teams into college classrooms and seminar rooms. The realization of our goals: the basic_DOOL models and advanced_DOOL methods. Through the Learning/Teaching/Training/Activities that took place at the beginning of the project, the artists were able to familiarise themselves with the pilot model for DOOL developed by MAD in Austria, develop it further for themselves, and generate from it the informances (information + performance), workshop programs, and methods for resonance meetings. During the project period, 15 unique BASIC DOOL MODELS (IO1) and 22 ADVANCED DOOL METHODS (IO2) were developed in the five partner countries. Since the artists have very different focuses, skills, and methods, the DOOL_models and methods developed are unique. These were tested with students after the respective development period. ArtMan developed them under the title "NémArt, one day fun day!", DanceAbility Finland's regional title was "Mun kehossa" ("My body"), Slovenia's was "Skok čez Luno" ("Jump behind the moon") and the Austrian team’s regional title was "MellowYellow". "Disabilità, arte e università: approcci critici per corpi sovversivi" ("Disability, art and university: critical approaches for subversive bodies") is the name of the Italian team’s university intervention developed around the choreographer Chiara Bersani. The theory papers of the Italian artists are a solution we found due to the tense Covid-19 situation – Chiara Bersani and Marta Montanini developed six theory papers for IO1, in addition to four DOOL_models in universities. During IO2, 12 theory papers were developed. DanceAbility Finland has developed online formats of DOOL Days. In addition to this, MAD (AT) developed and tested the Action Week format, Medarhiv (SI) facilitated collaborative, digital interaction and reflection among the partners on the ROADMAP outputs (our web platform on dool.eu). In IO3, ArtMan, in consultation with MAD, developed a higher education curriculum for training inclusive dance professionals in school education. In Flight Case (IO4) we lead up to our project: in Stories for the Web we specifically address politicians, artists, teaching staff, and activists from the Self-determined Living movement. Furthermore, in addition to our planned outputs, we present an Impact Survey Toolkit – the foundation an an impact assessment by the Institute for Participatory Social Research (AT). The experience gained from this project demonstrated that possible initial skepticism regarding an encounter with people with disabilities can best be met playfully and creatively, and transformed into an encounter at eye level.