Through years part our work in Pedverket Kompetanse has been mediating the PASS theory and its applications to practitioners in PPT, school and kindergarten. It has been a "bottom-up" enterprise, and as such quite successful. With this project we wanted knowledge about the PASS theory to be more common, and knowledge about the PASS theory to be known - because we strongly believe this will be beneficial for teachers in supporting their "tool-box" and when and how to use it. It will provide knowledge and experiences important for knowing how meet the diversities of characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs in children and adolescents and provide opportunities to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning - to use the terms from the Salamanca statement. We wanted to share such knowledge on a general level for university and university college level, and more specific in the areas of education; school and kindergarten, school psychology services (in Norway PPT), and other support systems important for inclusive education (e.g. in Norway Statped). We also wanted to establish a European network merging research and practice for common work to the benefit for European children/adolescents at risk of exclusion
The Salamanca statement proclaim that education systems should take into account the diversity of unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs. To meet this diversities and the needs of children, was our core objective, applying for this project. This core need creates several needs in the system. Teachers need knowledge helpful in understanding and addressing the diversity of abilities and learning needs. Supporters for teachers need to know how to support this. Teacher educators need to have general knowledge about the range of possible abilities and learning needs to be able to mediate this to their students. We have experienced how the PASS neurocognitive theory provided tools for such knowledge - possible to mediate to the relatively small group of students we meet. We have experienced how this knowledge provides a basis for understanding and meeting the needs of diverse children that we have worked with. To strengthen this work, and demonstrate its general impact in the field, we wanted get related to professionals in research and practice from other European countries, familiar with the PASS theory. We also wanted to include the practice field, in particular the PPT, but also teachers.