In setting up this project, our first intention was to create links with our European colleagues so that we could continue to exchange ideas on our future practices. As a second step, we tried and enriched our thinking and our teaching practices. Therefore we wanted to : - discover new activities carried out by teachers to create an outsider perspective ; - discover new ideas for paying attention to cultural expressions ; - enrich our ways of dealing with societal issues in order to awaken our young people to European citizenship ; - develop our media tools (radio, websites, newspapers, video clips, etc.) ; - improve the way in which we combat early school leaving ; - develop our thinking on home schooling and post-hospital support. Finally, we wanted to improve our day-to-day organization, namely : - ensuring better, more effective communication with hospital institutions ; - improving links with multidisciplinary teams ; - adapting our care to the variability of stays ; - strengthening our links with home schools.
As teachers at L'Ecole Escale, we want to open up our students to a wider world and enable them to play a full part in European society. However, the hospital institutions in which we work are sometimes reluctant to allow us to work with them on projects that lead to greater openness. In Belgium, there is no specific initial or ongoing training for teaching young people whose schooling is interrupted because of health problems. Our involvement for over 30 years with the Wallonia Brussels Federation Association of Hospital Teachers has enabled us to identify examples of good practice, but we are looking for more innovative ideas, training and new working methods. Today, stays in somatic hospitals are shorter but are followed by periods of convalescence at home. During these periods, the young people are more or less cut off from their school, and home follow-up in Wallonia Brussels Federation is very poorly organized. Supporting young people after their hospitalization is one of the objectives of our Steering Plan. We therefore wanted to see how our European counterparts working in similar structures deal with similar issues.