The EU is regarded as a union of developed countries, once established to build a strong economy so that a good standard of life would reduce inequality and agression in the society. However, schools within the EU are still facing different forms of inequality and problematics - many of the problems being similar across countries, and some being of local nature. However, the objective of schools across Europe is the same - to provide equal opportunities and support to all children in schools. Each country has its own standard tools to tackle inequality and support disadvantaged students, but a joint cooperation of schools across Europe provides a much wider perspective and also a much greater selection of inclusion and support methods, mechanisms and approaches. The participating schools will be able to learn about issues such as 1) refugee inclusion in schools; 2) methods in a school specialised in special needs students; 3) tackling social problems in rural areas; 4) implementation of alternative teaching methods in support of special educational needs, etc. EU funding will provide opportunities of growth, building of self-confidence and language skills to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, starting from children with difficult financial background to students under the risk of early school leaving and social exclusion. The Project mainly focuses on disadvantaged students, but mobilities may include mixed groups so that the students with special needs will have peer support. Initiatives such as this one can have a huge impact on the motivation and self-confidence of disadvantaged students who may otherwise be neglected from projects in favour of their more accomplished peers. The project mobilities focus on different kinds of recreational, creative and artistic activities which may support disadvantaged students, covering areas such as recreational use of nature, supporting role of literature and story-telling, therapeutic aspects of music and movement, and the use of photography and design in building the self-confidence of disadvantaged children. The students participating in the mobilities will experience these approaches and benefit from the experience first-hand. The mobilities will result in a booklet of best practices available for dissemination in English as well as other local languages so that the practices can be continued in the future by the participating institutions as well as other educational establishments. The project also includes a staff training event at a school specialised in children with special needs. The staff training event will result in another information booklet about the modern-day best practices available in this field.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT The main objective of the project "Different Colours of Us" was to choose and carry out different activities of non-formal education that could be integrated into school curricula in order to support disadvantaged students, ranging from students with fewer opportunities (disadvantaged backgrounds, financial difficulties) to SEN students. The activities were organised into different theme-blocks (nature, photography and digital arts, traditional culture, dance and music, books and storytelling) with one partner responsible for the organisation of one theme block. CONTEXT AND ACTIVITIES The project started out as planned with a training event on inclusion and special needs education for the staff of participating schools at the Abbey School, UK. The next mobility to Romania was already under risk by the Covid-19 pandemic and schools in most partner countries closed soon after the mobility. The project activities were put on hold and then, as it became clear that travel opportunities would be restricted, the project deadline was extended by six months and the mobilities were mainly organised virtually. Where possible, travel was flexibly organised. The target group of the project was extended. During the first year of the Covid pandemic and remote learning, it became clear that inclusive education has become the necessity of all students undergoing stress and anxiety during the difficult time. All students were experiencing exclusion in education and extra-culrricular/social life and were in need of feel-good activities that would boost their motivation, create a feeling of togetherness and reduce stress. Hence, when organising the virtual mobilities and other project events, the participating schools worked hard to include a wider range of students than originally planned, including whole classes. The two following mobilities (France – “The Colours of Photography and Digital Arts” / Turkey – “The Colours of Nature) were organised as virtual mobilities in 2021. Most of the schools were learning remotely during the French mobility week, some also during the Turkish mobility week. Students were engaged from their homes, they could share their experiences and take part in virtual meetings. The final two mobilities (UK “The colours of books and storytelling” and Estonia “The Colours of Dance and Music”) had some partners attending physically and some virtually. RESULTS The planned results of the project were achieved: 1. Teachers from partner schools attended a training event in the UK and disseminated the materials on special needs education and inclusion in their schools. Additional materials on the subject were collected and published on the project website under the title of “Overcoming obstacles”: https://thedifferentcoloursofus.weebly.com/overcoming-obstacles.html. Skills and competences on inclusive education were developed among the staff of partner schools throughout the following project period. 2. Students were engaged in 6 theme blocks of non-formal education activities during the period of the Covid pandemic. Schools engaged larger number of students than initially planned as all students needed inclusive and engaging activities during the difficult period. 3. Students got an intercultural experience during physical travel or by participating in online meetings and preparing for them. Student discovered different cultures and were encouraged to overcome frontiers and barriers. Students became more aware of intercultural diversity and developed skills of non-discrimination and acceptance. 4. When carrying out project activities (sometimes remotely from home, sometimes as teamwork at school), students developed their confidence in project management, creativity, decision-making, responsibility and language skills. LONG-TERM BENEFITS A selection of non-formal activities with plenty of task descriptions, portfolios of student work and examples are available for future use at the project website https://thedifferentcoloursofus.weebly.com/. Students and staff who participated in the project are content with the project experience despite some missed travel opportunities and are inspired to continue on the path of inclusive education and intercultural communication. Despite the difficult world circumstances, partners have made agreements to continue their fruitful cooperation.