ACADAS (Alliance for inClusive Acknowledgement of eDucational meritS) will analyse and exchange good practices in prevention, intervention and monitoring of disabled people at particular risk of early school leaving (ESL) by defining what are the main dimensions in which educational systems in the EU fail to address their needs. As the specialized literature (European Agency Special Educational Needs, 2017) has pointed out and the latest available data confirms (Eurostat, 2011), students with disabilities are especially vulnerable to ESL and present an early school drop-out rate at the EU-28 level- of 25.1%, twice the average of students between 18 and 24 years without disabilities. ACADAS responds to the lack of disaggregated information on this phenomenon at the EU level, since definitions of disability and early school leaving vary greatly from one-member country to another. Despite recent efforts (EASEN; 2015, 2016) to establish a common framework to monitor and help define the underlying causes of early school leaving processes have been made, the specialized literature suggests the existence of a gap when it comes to explaining the special incidence of this phenomenon in specific social groups, and points out the lack of references in terms of showcasing success stories of both public policies and specific interventions in the ESL mitigation among people with disabilities. In this line, as specific objectives the project establishes three: 1) Analysing the impact of ESL among disabled people by type of disability, sociodemographic variables and other factors related to the individual, social context and school, using as a basis the "theoretical model of forces" underlying ESL developed by Squires & Dyson (2017); 2) Identifying good practices in prevention (i.e. monitoring systems for disabled students and homologation of educational attainment) and intervention (i.e. curricular adaptations) carried out in the countries of the partnership and at all relevant dimensions affecting academic performance among disabled students (i.e. public policies, schools, family, broad social environment and individual level) and 3) Sharing and discussing ideas, practices and measures being applied to prevent ESL among model partner countries (with a low rate of ESL) and countries with higher levels of school dropout. ACADAS takes disabled students as its priority target group and will involve 42 people at least. In addition, since ESL is a multidimensional process, this project is also aimed at stakeholders that belong to school communities in a broad sense: public institutions with educational competencies, Parents’ associations, school boards, disabled people organizations, as well as other civil society organisations. Among the expected results and impact of the project, obtaining an overall image of the aspects in which EU education systems do not meet the needs of students with disabilities stands out. Moreover, ACADAS will carry out an exhaustive analysis that will work as a tool to transfer the burden of responsibility on the ESL among disabled students towards those actors with educational competences and will lay the foundations of the involvement of entire school communities to reduce early school leaving. Emphasis will be placed on the early identification of persons with disabilities who are particularly vulnerable to ESL, as well as on the recognition and standardization of educational attainment levels among students with disabilities at the European level. In terms of its methodology, the project will work as a peer to peer network for the analysis and compilation of good practices in terms of monitoring and prevention of ESL. Following the model of the Quintuple Helix to Innovation, ACADAS will involve different stakeholders in a participatory manner at local, regional, state and European levels. Likewise, the use of open source, the applicability of the project results and alignment with previous work area will ensure the results of ACADAS being transferable and lasting beyond the life of the project.
The general objective of the project was to analyse and exchange good practices in prevention, intervention and monitoring of people with disabilities at particular risk of early school leaving (ESL), defining the main dimensions in which EU education systems are not adapted to the needs of these groups. The project has three specific objectives: 1) To analyse the incidence of ESL in PWD; 2) To identify good practices in prevention (monitoring systems for students with disabilities and accreditation of educational achievements and intervention (appropriate curricular adaptations) that are carried out in the different member countries of the partnership and at all levels that affect the academic success of students with disabilities (policies, schools, family and environment and individual level) and, 3) To share and compare ideas, practices and measures that are being applied to prevent ESL between partnership countries with a low rate of ESL and partnership countries with a high rate of ESL.
ASPABER is an entity that provides services to people with intellectual disabilities in the province of A Coruña. Since 2017, it has had 2 educational units through which it has become aware of the barriers that these students have to reach the results in the different educational stages, and as a consequence, that their academic merits are not recognised. The same concern is shared by the other partners, which are, however, in different situations as their educational legislation has been developed differently. The needs addressed have been: The special incidence of ESL among people with disabilities (PWD) and the lack of detailed information on this phenomenon at EU level, as definitions of disability and early school leaving vary greatly from country to country. To carry out an analysis of the dimensions of why education systems in the EU are not adapted to the needs of these groups in order to shift the burden of responsibility for ESL to the actors with competences in education, and to lay the foundations for the involvement of the educational community in measures to prevent ESL.
ACADAS (Alliance for inClusive Acknowledgement of eDucational meritS) will analyse and exchange good practices in prevention, intervention and monitoring of disabled people at particular risk of early school leaving (ESL) by defining what are the main dimensions in which educational systems in the EU fail to address their needs. As the specialized literature (European Agency Special Educational Needs, 2017) has pointed out and the latest available data confirms (Eurostat, 2011), students with disabilities are especially vulnerable to ESL and present an early school drop-out rate at the EU-28 level- of 25.1%, twice the average of students between 18 and 24 years without disabilities. ACADAS responds to the lack of disaggregated information on this phenomenon at the EU level, since definitions of disability and early school leaving vary greatly from one-member country to another. Despite recent efforts (EASEN; 2015, 2016) to establish a common framework to monitor and help define the underlying causes of early school leaving processes have been made, the specialized literature suggests the existence of a gap when it comes to explaining the special incidence of this phenomenon in specific social groups, and points out the lack of references in terms of showcasing success stories of both public policies and specific interventions in the ESL mitigation among people with disabilities. In this line, as specific objectives the project establishes three: 1) Analysing the impact of ESL among disabled people by type of disability, sociodemographic variables and other factors related to the individual, social context and school, using as a basis the "theoretical model of forces" underlying ESL developed by Squires & Dyson (2017); 2) Identifying good practices in prevention (i.e. monitoring systems for disabled students and homologation of educational attainment) and intervention (i.e. curricular adaptations) carried out in the countries of the partnership and at all relevant dimensions affecting academic performance among disabled students (i.e. public policies, schools, family, broad social environment and individual level) and 3) Sharing and discussing ideas, practices and measures being applied to prevent ESL among model partner countries (with a low rate of ESL) and countries with higher levels of school dropout. ACADAS takes disabled students as its priority target group and will involve 42 people at least. In addition, since ESL is a multidimensional process, this project is also aimed at stakeholders that belong to school communities in a broad sense: public institutions with educational competencies, Parents’ associations, school boards, disabled people organizations, as well as other civil society organisations. Among the expected results and impact of the project, obtaining an overall image of the aspects in which EU education systems do not meet the needs of students with disabilities stands out. Moreover, ACADAS will carry out an exhaustive analysis that will work as a tool to transfer the burden of responsibility on the ESL among disabled students towards those actors with educational competences and will lay the foundations of the involvement of entire school communities to reduce early school leaving. Emphasis will be placed on the early identification of persons with disabilities who are particularly vulnerable to ESL, as well as on the recognition and standardization of educational attainment levels among students with disabilities at the European level. In terms of its methodology, the project will work as a peer to peer network for the analysis and compilation of good practices in terms of monitoring and prevention of ESL. Following the model of the Quintuple Helix to Innovation, ACADAS will involve different stakeholders in a participatory manner at local, regional, state and European levels. Likewise, the use of open source, the applicability of the project results and alignment with previous work area will ensure the results of ACADAS being transferable and lasting beyond the life of the project.