There is a need to ensure that our students with special needs studying at vocational high schools gain knowledge,skills and competence in vocational fields and to meet the professional needs of these individuals,the internationalization goals of institutions and the qualified workforce needs of the sector. Because, while many projects are carried out for students with normal development to do internships in EU member countries,it is striking that the number of projects for our students with special needs is quite low among these projects.In addition,while internships for students with special needs should be carried out in enterprises such as students with normal development,these students are forced to do their internships at their schools due to the lack of suitable enterprises and the reluctance of businesses towards these students.In this project, it is aimed to facilitate the domestic employment of students with special needs,defined as the disadvantaged group,by enabling them to do their compulsory internship in EU member states.Besides, it is aimed to support individuals with special needs who do not have the appropriate skills to participate in the business world by developing and increasing their skills and competencies.
According to the results of our analyzes and studies,82917 students with special needs benefited from the education system within the scope of 12 year compulsory education in 2019 in Turkey. The number of students who continue to high school among those is only 20935 and in vocational high schools, this number is even less. Problems such as not being accepted to schools, physical access barriers in schools, failure to fulfill obligations such as a support room for the disabled, pedagogically inadequate teachers, carrying out internship applications in schools instead of job market,the unconsciousness of parents deprive these students of the right to equal opportunities in education. These students who graduated from vocational high schools cannot benefit from internship opportunities like other students and this situation makes their employment more difficult. Based on these reasons, it was decided to carry out an EU project under the coordination of our institution for students with special needs studying at vocational high schools to do internships in EU member countries.Our aim is internationalization and quality strategy, increasing the quality of our education, recognition of our institutions, students and graduates abroad and their integration into equivalent institutions by applying international quality standards