Based on the "European Pillar of Social Rights" everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education, training and life-long learning in order to maintain and acquire skills that enable them to participate fully in society and manage successfully transitions in the labour market. In Europe around 15 million children have Special Educational Needs (SEN).They frequently leave school with few or no qualifications, before moving into specialist training. People with disabilities or SEN are much more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive, and even those who are relatively successful in the job market often earn less than their counterparts. The child with SEN remains far behind in reading-writing or reckoning in comparison with his/her intellectual abilities, with the amount of home and school exercises. Furthermore, young people who are identified as having disabilities and/or special educational needs (SEN) seem likely to be particularly at risk of Early School Leavning. It is important to understand whether this is the case and whether inclusive provision protects young people against the risks for Early School Leavning or worsens those risks. For this reason and with the aim to provide a quality, targeted and inclusive education for all the subjects with SEN, the main objective of the project is to enhance the skills and competences of teachers, teachers trainers and all those subjects from the educational chain that deal with young people with Special Educational Needs. The partnership of MAGIC SENS is composed of the following organisations: - FSLI (ROMANIA) – APPLICANT - ASOCIATIA BUCURESTI PENTRU COPII DISLEXICI (ROMANIA) - Centro F.A.R.E. (ITALY) - FORMA.Azione (ITALY) - Dyslexia Association of Ireland –DAI (IRELAND) - C.M. SKOULIDI & SIA E.E. (GREECE) - INDUSTRIAL AND BUSINESS EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTE - SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (GREECE) Considering the profile of the project partners and the objectives envisaged by the project, the direct target group of the activities is represented by Educational / training professionals who deal with individuals in the range of age 10-18 with Special Educational Needs such as specific learning disorders, specific language disorders, deficits from attention and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mild autism spectrum disorder and borderline or limit intellectual functioning. Each teacher/trainer holds primary responsibility for the learning of every student in the class and plays a key role in ensuring that the specific needs of students with disability and additional learning and support needs are met. In fact, their role should consist of: - identifying and responding to the additional learning needs of students - facilitating and coordinating a the approach to improving the learning outcomes of every student - coordinating the planning processes and resourcing for students with disability and additional learning and support needs - designing and implementing the supports required so that all students access quality learning - developing collaborative partnerships with other teachers/trainers, parents and carers, other professionals and the wider school community. MAGIC SENS foresees the active involvement in a short staff training mobility of at least 24 trainers form the partner organizations and 200 teachers trained in 4 National Trainings. To achieve the above mentioned goals and to actively involve both direct and indirect target groups, partners intend to establish a stable network of subjects that are involved in the educational chain, both at trans-sectoral level (trade unions/schools / training institutes ) and on the transnational level (the various countries involved), and to develop a TOOLKIT for teachers of students with SEN, a SEN Platform and a Training course for teachers (to be delivered both online and offline) and to be disseminated through this network. Thanks to the Intellectual Outputs of the project Teachers will be adequately trained and will be able to intervene with innovative approaches and tools in the various singular cases. This will help indirectly to prevent early school leaving and low-level choices of students with SEN, will increase the percentage of students with SEN within the universities and will implement all the necessary strategies for their entrance in the labour market, in a way that takes into account their attitudes, potential, skills and individual talents.. Further impact, in a long-term perspective, is represented by the fact that the activities of the project lead towards an overall cultural change in the approach towards subjects with SEN.
The situation of students with SEN in Europe is complex, and despite the efforts of the EC, they frequently leave school with few or no qualifications, before moving into specialist training. People with disabilities or SEN are much more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive, and even those who are relatively successful in the job market often earn less than their counterparts. The child with SEN remains far behind in reading-writing or reckoning in comparison with his/her intellectual abilities, with the amount of home and school exercises. Unfortunately, there is a huge number of cases of children with SEN in the partner countries and, the most of them do not have real access to an inclusive education system. Are various causes for this situation (lack of legal framework, lack of material and human resources, bureaucracy, or lack of adapted curriculum). Two key elements for this inclusion process are: teachers’ training and adapted curriculum and educational plans for SEN students. Given this situation, the MAIN OBJECTIVE of MAGIC SENS was to enhance the skills and competences of teachers, teachers’ trainers and all those subjects from the educational chain in dealing with young people with Special Educational Needs such as specific learning disabilities, specific language problems, ADHD deficit, ASD deficit and Borderline Intellectual Functioning. The partnership of MAGIC SENS is composed of the following organisations: - FSLI (ROMANIA) – APPLICANT - ASOCIATIA BUCURESTI PENTRU COPII DISLEXICI (ROMANIA) - Centro F.A.R.E. (ITALY) - FORMA.Azione (ITALY) - Dyslexia Association of Ireland (IRELAND) - C.M. SKOULIDI & SIA E.E. (GREECE) - INDUSTRIAL AND BUSINESS EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSTITUTE - SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (GREECE). The project actions were focused on: • Activation of a process of comparison between the countries participating in the project, based on an effective transnational cooperation • Identification of good practices, legislation and methodologies related to the SEN issues in the partner countries in order to identify the most significant and effective tools, standards and policies that the different countries use and implement • Sharing of the results through the creation of a SEN Toolkit for teachers • Definition and creation of an Online Platform dedicated to all subjects from the educational chain that aims to strengthen the network and increase the quality of exchange between the project partners as well as to disseminate and maximize the project results at EU level • Design and creation of an Online Training for teachers that could be implemented both online and offline, adapting it to the specific national needs and requirements. • Dissemination of the project results to professionals. The direct TARGET GROUP of the activities were represented by educational/ training professionals who deal with individuals in the range of age 10 - 18 with SEN such as specific learning disorders, specific language disorders, deficits from attention and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), mild autism spectrum disorder and borderline or limit intellectual functioning. Each teacher/trainer holds primary responsibility for the learning of every student in the class and plays a key role in ensuring that the specific needs of students with disability and additional learning and support needs are met. MAGIC SENS foresaw the active involvement in a short staff training mobility of at least 24 trainers form the partner organizations and 200 teachers trained in 4 National Trainings. These targets HAVE BEEN EXCEDEED by organizing additional activities with the participation of 43 trainers form the partner organizations and 756 teachers trained and certified in 7 National Trainings (4 languages). The Online Platform has 1318 individual users (direct participants at the project) and one website and 2 facebook pages was created. After the implementation of this project at transnational level we consider that the results contributing at: • raising awareness on the strengths and weaknesses on the SEN issues in the educational sector; • facilitating progressive change of the teaching methodologies from a static/ external position – in which the difficulties of a SEN are simply ascertained – to a more dynamic/ active position – in which it is really possible to answer to the needs of students with SEN; • creating concrete WORKING TOOLS (MIND MAPPING; CURRICULUM ADAPTATION; PERSONALIZED EDUCATIONAL PLAN BY LEARNING UNITS AND STUDY DISCIPLINES) and sharing and exchange of good practices and experiences. The project achieved the realization of 3 Intellectual Outputs that will be translated in three languages (EN, IT, GR, RO): 1. SEN Toolkit for Teachers; 2. Online Platform; 3. Online Training for Teachers. Further impact, in a long-term perspective, is represented by the fact that the activities of the project lead towards an overall change in the approach towards subjects with SEN.