A European comparison of teaching material – criteria for its development and evaluation Erasmus Project

Project Title

A European comparison of teaching material – criteria for its development and evaluation

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

Considering the public dialogue about inclusion that has been going on in Europe recently, one can observe a remarkable development in many areas of the educational sector. These developments concern educational policy, professional practice in schools, as well as the academic area and, among others, they are made visible in an ameliorated teacher training, inclusive didactic principles and the discussion about a basic understanding of inclusive schooling, which partially has an impact on the school system.
However, the consequences of inclusive schooling on the level of didactic material, which is made available for this purpose, have not been taken into consideration systematically in a sufficient way so far. Making use of this deficit, educational publishers currently launch many publications they call “inclusive educational material”, which nevertheless, have usually neither been tested academically or in educational practice, nor do they possess added value compared to their “non-inclusive” predecessors. Moreover these materials were generally not designed based on an established notion of inclusion, but instead in order to attract buyers, mostly via media-effective marketing. According to recent surveys, teachers in Germany do buy these materials, but can hardly get the guidance for an inclusive education they would expect out of these materials. They are also missing appliances that make a quick and effective testing of these materials, concerning their suitability for using them in an inclusive learning environment, possible. Inquiries and consultations with other players in the educational sector in Europe revealed that this problem does not occur everywhere equally, but however seems to be a challenge for the professional acting of teachers beyond Germany.

Referring to this initial situation, the project, which includes communication among the countries of Sweden, Italy, Germany and Luxembourg will serve to examine inclusive educational material as compared to international standards regarding its key design criteria. Moreover further communication about the ideal development of the respective material will take place and then also put to practice. It is the project´s aim on the one hand to develop a set of criteria which will appear in the different languages of the participating organisations and in English and which can be applied internationally in Europe. It should also aid teachers and eventually educational policy in evaluating already existing material for school education on the market, as it will be based on the suggestions of exemplary educational material. Both interdisciplinary and subject specific criteria will be taken into account for this matter. On the other hand inclusive teaching material and a concept for teacher training regarding the use and analysis of inclusive material in due consideration of local specifics in education should emerge. It is planned that the intellectual outputs of the project (set of criteria for inclusive teaching material, inclusive teaching material, concept for teacher training) will be made public in the first and third phase of teacher training via various institutions, ideally also by means of educational policy. Every step of the project will be accompanied, evaluated and analysed by a qualitative research study, which will be done in a comparative content analytic way. Interim data and the results of the project will be made public by the project partners and the applicant organisation via various online and journal publications.

In order to design the intellectual outputs of the project as professional and helpful as possible, partners of different sectors of the education system have been chosen. On the one hand, the university partners of Sweden, Luxembourg and Italy guarantee a scientific basis for all the criteria and intellectual outputs. The partnering schools from Germany (Arnstein-Schwebenried) and Italy (Schulsprengel Bozen) add a functional perspective to the project in order to design the outputs as easy to handle as possible and to meet the needs of teachers and pupils. The Schulamt of the Main-Spessart region was chosen to care for the implementation of the evaluation and a wide distribution of the project´s results.

In conclusion it is the project´s aim to improve the social inclusion of European pupils, also in the long run, and to support teachers in this matter by creating criteria for the evaluation and application of inclusive teaching material, a concept for teacher training and respective teaching material. On a scientific level the project will have a expectably huge impact as well, as the scope of material research will be broadened by adding inclusive material to it, which will influence students and researchers in a positive way. Therefore one can conclude that the project serves the optimal inclusion of pupils by ameliorating the condition in schools and universities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 328048,4 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET BIELEFELD & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UMEA UNIVERSITET
• UNIVERSITE DU LUXEMBOURG
• Grundschule Arnstein-Schwebenried
• LIBERA UNIVERSITA DI BOLZANO
• Deutschsprachiger Grundschulsprengel Bozen
• Staatliches Schulamt im Landkreis Main-Spessart
• OREBRO UNIVERSITY