START LEARNING BOX Erasmus Project

Project Title

START LEARNING BOX

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Disabilities – special needs; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The strategic partnership project Start Learning Box connects educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and the business enterprise. This project will be coordinated by Vilnius Silas School, and implemented with the assistance of partners Tallinn Kadaka School, Borge School, AGIOS SPYRIDONAS SPECIAL SCHOOL, Eurl Aristote and Ltd “Baltų lankų” vadovėliai”. The project is intended for 6-7 year old children with special educational needs, and for the development of their skills in pre-school institutions.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, and the strategic tasks of implementation of justice in education provided by the Council of Europe encourage all countries to implement the inclusive education policy until 2020. Inclusive education is a new keyword in today’s school life for all the cooperating institutions. Inclusive education must begin from a pre-school age, therefore this project is aimed at the development of a high quality aid, i.e., an innovative teaching tool Start Learning Box and a digital education tool eBox, thus improving the availability and quality of education at an early age in order to achieve successful adaptation in school. When working with the innovative products of this project, pre-school teachers and educational assistance specialists will be able to successfully integrate children with special education needs into general education groups/classes.
Main objectives of the project:
– improve curriculum quality and effectiveness by developing a teaching/learning tool that would enable teachers to successfully implement inclusive education ideas;
– increase the motivation of teachers and educational assistance specialists, and provide them with professional development possibilities by using the already available general and special competences;
– increase the availability of pre-school education for children with SEN.
Highly qualified teachers and educational assistance specialists will create the content of the aforesaid tool according to the topics provided in Transnational Project Meetings while working in the institutions of their country, by working in teams, sharing good pedagogical experience with their colleagues, and communicating with partners (including associated partners) via e-mail, web-conferences, and Skype. The technical staff of the project – artists, layout designers – will communicate with teachers with the help of IKT technologies and platforms in order to learn to prepare and design teaching aids for children with SEN. Tests and assessments of the developed product will be carried out during the project (Status Quo, product piloting, project quality and impact assessment).
Expected project results:
– the developed innovative teaching aid (together with individualized plan recommendations) is intended for pre-school children with SEN, and will be translated to English, Lithuanian, French, Greek, Turkish, Norwegian, and Estonian languages;
– better foreign language skills of participants, team work skills, understanding of collegiality;
– positive attitude towards the European Union project and its provided opportunities for professional and personal improvement;
– improved competences of special and general education teachers and educational assistance specialists;
– deeper understanding of education and policy frameworks in cooperating countries;
– more efficient application of interconnections of formal and informal education in practice;
– rational use of the potential and accumulated good practice of motivated and energetic professional teachers and educational assistance specialists in order to create added value in education;
– the changed views and attitudes of all the participants of the project regarding inclusive education and general learning outcomes of children;
– more active inclusion of scientists and business representatives in education and development of innovations.
The intellectual product – teaching/learning tool Start Learning Box will be innovative in both its form and content, and tested in 5 different countries: Lithuania, Estonia, Norway, Cyprus and France. It is estimated that the product developed during the project will be tested by 29 educational institutions that teach 6-7 year old children with special educational needs.
The likely long-term impact of Start Learning Box project – positive attitude towards inclusive education, better circumstances for its implementation; higher motivation to learn among children with SEN participating in the project, developed independence and the competence of learning to learn; project teams in educational institutions will learn to effectively manage their time and resources from their business partner; by cooperating with disabled children and their families, business representatives will become more socially sensitive and empathetic, which will lead to better quality of work.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 200515 Eur

Project Coordinator

Vilnius Silas School & Country: LT

Project Partners

• EURL ARISTOTE
• Tallinna Kadaka Põhikool
• Ltd “Baltu lanku” vadoveliai”
• AGIOS SPYRIDONAS SPECIAL SCHOOL
• Borge skole