By carrying out this project, we wanted to develop in our students the skills and abilities necessary for social and professional integration by participating in pre-professionalization activities and occupational therapies in the European space. We wanted to offer them, perhaps, the only chance to get out of their comfort zone and participate in activities in workshops and recovery centers in Portugal, experiencing a different life. Thus, 40 students from CSEI Arad had the opportunity to develop personal autonomy skills and practical skills in the context of participating in pre-professionalization internships in professional training workshops or protected workshops depending on the degree of each person's disability. Participating teaching staff were offered the opportunity to come into contact with another educational system, diversified ways of developing personalized, therapeutic, compensatory-recuperative intervention programs in order to capitalize on the maximum potential of each student with SEN, starting from the examples of success observed in the European space. Thus, 8 teachers are going to improve their skills to carry out some practical pre-professionalization activities as attractive as possible.
The team members of the project, from the School Center for Inclusive Education (CSEI) in Arad, submitted the application starting from the institutional needs identified before writing the application: insufficient professional training for students with CES through pre-professionalization activities and occupational therapy, on the one hand and due to the lack of a unitary approach regarding the pre-professionalization activity carried out by the specialized teaching staff within the CSEI, on the other hand. Analyzing the educational path of the graduates of our school, we found that the majority of students with moderate-slight disabilities continue their professional training in vocational schools in the county, but, unfortunately, a significant percentage (50/60%) abandons the courses due to the lack of real integration. In the case of students with severe disabilities, the situation is more serious because over 85% after completing their studies at CSEI stay at home without attending any other form of schooling. Our desire was to offer this category of beneficiaries a chance through which both they and their families can realize the importance of professional training through the pre-professionalization activity.