The DEFI project comes from a simple but crucial observation: each school or educational establishment must improve the access to all types of public, even pupils who suffer from disability. This improved access is in line with one of the eleven European priorities of cohesion politics for the period 2014/2020 (“Target 9: improving social inclusion and fighting against poverty and all forms of discrimination”). In order to enrich our pedagogic practices and to enlighten our pupil’s mind about handicap inclusion, we have to share experiences with other schools from the south of Europe. All along this project we will rely on the definition the OMS gives about disability: “Disability is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in real-life situations. Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between the features of a person’s body and the external elements in the society in which he or she lives.” Each school participating in the project currently welcomes pupils who suffer from a physical disability (deaf pupils for instance) or from linguistic impairment (such as dyslexia or dysorthography). 90 pupils from France, Italy and Spain with very different social profiles, will participate in this project. Some of them suffer from disabilities, which puts them at the very core of our reflection. The teachers in charge of the project have followed trainings aiming at improving their skills in coordinating international projects and have also attended some specific classes about disability. Before going abroad, pupils must first get in touch with the actors in charge of the people suffering from disability in their own environment: other pupils, families, teachers. They will have to assess the level of inclusion for disabled people in their school as well as in their associative and cultural environment. This first step will allow them to establish a list of criteria to observe during mobility. Additionally, this approach can push them to improve their knowledge on the subject of disability. During this phase, pupils will work in small groups, and each group will have to explore further the issue of disability. During the mobility abroad, pupils will have to evaluate the access for people suffering from disability in the places which belong to educational or cultural environment they will visit. They will meet people in charge of local inclusion. They will have to observe all the aspects of inclusion and, starting from these observations, make reports analyzing the different paths of inclusion: procedures that work and can be reproduced in their own countries and the procedures needing improvements too. These reports will take the form of oral conferences: every single group will have to present the results of their own research to the High School community that welcomes them. These conferences aim at involving directly the people in charge of inclusion and they will help to develop the linguistic skills for those who are supposed to speak in a foreign language. Regarding this last point, being hosted by families will be a powerful resource for improving the linguistic skills of all the pupils participating in the project. Finally, after each mobility, workshops centered on inclusion will be organised with groupsof students working on a twofold objective: the first one will be a written diagnosis about inclusion in the foreign school. It will have to include different methods to foster inclusion and it will be delivered to the school staff. The second one will be a charter, written in collaboration by all the pupils according on the E-Twinning platform, which will be a communication tool towards the press and local politicians. The main goal of this project is the improvement of the linguistic skills in a foreign language for all the pupils with a focus on speaking and writing skills. The evaluation of the linguistic skills will be based on the CECRL. But the most important aim is, without a doubt, to raise pupils' awareness about disability and inclusion. It will be a source of emotional and personal development, with a focus on empathy, understanding and solidarity. Improved emotional skills are essential to educate future citizens and we are convinced that this project will favor our pupils, pushing them to social and civic commitment. They will learn to observe, to listen to and to benefit from all the experiences they will have, learning to live with others. The third goal is, of course, to create inclusion protocols in every school they will work in. The DÉFI project will not only affect pupils but it will also have a positive impact on the whole educational commu
The DEFI project comes from a simple but crucial observation: each school or educational establishment must improve the access to all types of public, even pupils who suffer from disability. This improved access is in line with one of the eleven European priorities of cohesion politics for the period 2014/2020 (“Target 9: improving social inclusion and fighting against poverty and all forms of discrimination”). In order to enrich our pedagogic practices and to enlighten our pupil’s mind about handicap inclusion, we have to share experiences with other schools from the south of Europe. All along this project we will rely on the definition the OMS gives about disability: “Disability is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in real-life situations. Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between the features of a person’s body and the external elements in the society in which he or she lives.” Each school participating in the project currently welcomes pupils who suffer from a physical disability (deaf pupils for instance) or from linguistic impairment (such as dyslexia or dysorthography). 102 pupils from France, Italy and Spain with very different social profiles, have participated in this project. Some of them suffer from disabilities, which puts them at the very core of our reflection. The teachers in charge of the project have followed trainings aiming at improving their skills in coordinating international projects and have also attended some specific classes about disability. Before going abroad, pupils first have got in touch with the actors in charge of the people suffering from disability in their own environment: other pupils, families, teachers. They have assessed the level of inclusion for disabled people in their school as well as in their associative and cultural environment. This first step has allowed them to establish a list of criteria to observe during mobility. Additionally, this approach has been able to push them to improve their knowledge on the subject of disability. During this phase, pupils have worked in small groups, and each group have explored further the issue of disability. During the mobility abroad, pupils have evaluated the access for people suffering from disability in the places which belong to educational or cultural environment they have visited. They have met people in charge of local inclusion. They have observed all the aspects of inclusion and, starting from these observations, maked reports analyzing the different paths of inclusion: procedures that work and could be reproduced in their own countries and the procedures needing improvements too. These reports have taken the form of oral conferences: every single group had to present the results of their own research to the High School community that welcomed them. These conferences aimed at involving directly the people in charge of inclusion and they have helped to develop the linguistic skills for those who were supposed to speak in a foreign language. Regarding this last point, being hosted by families has been a powerful resource for improving the linguistic skills of all the pupils participating in the project. Finally, after each mobility, workshops centered on inclusion have been organised with groups of students working on a twofold objective: the first one has been a written diagnosis about inclusion in the foreign school. It had to include different methods to foster inclusion and it has been delivered to the school staff. The second one has been a charter, written in collaboration by all the pupils according on the E-Twinning platform, which has been a communication tool towards the press and local politicians. The main goal of this project is the improvement of the linguistic skills in a foreign language for all the pupils with a focus on speaking and writing skills. The evaluation of the linguistic skills has been based on the CECRL. But the most important aim has been, without a doubt, to raise pupils' awareness about disability and inclusion. It has been a source of emotional and personal development, with a focus on empathy, understanding and solidarity. Improved emotional skills are essential to educate future citizens and we are convinced that this project will favor our pupils, pushing them to social and civic commitment. They will learn to observe, to listen to and to benefit from all the experiences they will have, learning to live with others. The third goal is, of course, to create inclusion protocols in every school they will work in. The DÉFI project will not only affect pupils but it will also have a positive impact on the whole educational commu