Nonformal activities for inclusive groups of students Erasmus Project

Project Title

Nonformal activities for inclusive groups of students

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

Nowadays, when non-formal educational methods are blooming and they should encourage the increasing of school attractiveness and social participation and inclusion of all members of school group, we still face only a physical integration of students with disabilities in mainstream school and a very low participation or mostly exclusion from the social life of the school group. By teaching the teachers how to use adapted games, non-formal and extracurricular activities to include all students in the group activities, despite their individual special needs, we have been implementing for two years, an innovative strategy to support real inclusion of the children with special needs in mainstream education, in order to combat school failure, school dropout and increase the competencies of teachers to manage a diverse group of students.The project objectives were:-Implement in partners organisations the innovative strategy of non-formal activities for all–Create a course- curricula for training the teachers in using non-formal activities for a diverse groups of students.-Training at least 25 teachers from each partner in using non-formal activities for all-Exchange of good practices regarding the non-formal activities and inclusive games used in schools and the ways to collaborate with NGO`s for supporting inclusive environments in schools , by participation of 60 teachers in staff training events – Create a Guide-Book of best practice to inspire others in implementing this strategy.Our project shows its innovative strength by closing a gap in non-formal activities , which couldn`t cover the sample of students with special needs included in mainstream schools, as these activities are always being focused only on typical children, the others being excluded.For achieving project aims, the project partners (schools and and an NGO experienced in increasing school and social participation of students with special needs with young and motivated teams) carried out different local or transnational activities. In the first joint staff training event, 12 participating teachers have been trained on how to produce a qualitative course- curricula for using non-formal activities and inclusive games designed for a diverse groups of students. Providing the training course to the local teachers, by each partner, has lead to acquiring specific competencies for organizing inclusive non-formal activities for 179 teachers from all partners. As a result, 12 trainers have got Certificates of Trainer for the project and 179 teachers have got Certificates of Attending the Nonformal for all training course. The other 4 joint staff training events have improved, for 60 teachers, the competencies of organizing and implementing practical inclusive non-formal activities with different categories of students with special needs. Their competencies were certified by Europass Mobility documents. The teachers participating in the project acquired new teaching skills, of integrating non-formal methods into curricular activities, organizing inclusive non-formal extracurricular activities that included all students, despite their special needs, language and cultural competencies. The 22 children involved in the blended mobility developed better social skills for group inclusion and valued diversity. They received Certificates of Attendance to a European Project. The students with special needs involved in all project activities, almost 2368, developed new social and communication skills and an increased active participation into the group activities, which means a better social inclusion into the school groups. All the participating students, over 9800, have developed humanity, empathy, good communication, collaboration and team work. These local activities provided important examples of best practices for the Guide-Book.Our project, by developing and implementing an innovative inclusion strategy aimed to achieve two important intellectual outputs: the course- curricula for training the teachers in using non-formal activities and inclusive games designed for a diverse groups of students and the guide book – Collection of Inclusive games and non-formal activities- for teachers in inclusive schools, which are freely made available through the process of dissemination on the project website and others: of European Commission (http://e-include.eu/), on European Shared Treasure-Face-book group , and European teachers for inclusive and public schools-Face-book group and through an International Conference. For long term, the examples of good practice from the Guide-Book will be adopted by teachers in mainstream education as part of the daily practice, and that the course-curricula will be used at teachers training associations and colleges to teach new generations of teachers on how to socially include students with special needs in the social and school group by using games, non-formal and extra-curricular activities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 155370 Eur

Project Coordinator

Scoala Gimnaziala Speciala SF NICOLAE & Country: RO

Project Partners

• Mozgásjavító Óvoda, Általános Iskola, Gimnázium, Szakgimnázium, Egységes Gyógypedagógiai Módszertani Intézmény és Kollégium
• Tuna ilkokulu
• Førde Ungdomsskule
• APCAS ASSOCIACAO DE PARALISIA CEREBRAL DE ALMADA SEIXAL
• Tartu Herbert Masingu Kool