Autism in Mainstream Units in Schools across Europe: Identification and dissemination of best practice Erasmus Project

Project Title

Autism in Mainstream Units in Schools across Europe: Identification and dissemination of best practice

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: Access for disadvantaged; Disabilities – special needs; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

CONTEXT:

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior (APA, 2013). ASD is diagnosed in at least 1% of the population, and diagnoses are more common amongst males than females (Baird et al., 2006). Autism can have profound impact upon learning and it is estimated that 32% of individuals with autism also have intellectual disability/learning disability (CDC, 2016).Whilst inclusion policies have encouraged children with ASD to be placed within mainstream classrooms, this has been argued to put unfair pressure on teachers, and for the child with ASD to experience ‘integration without social inclusion’ (Barnard, 2002: 25). Parsons et al. (2009) identified a rapid rise of autism-specific units within mainstream education. Whilst this modality of provision has the potential to enhance inclusion, Parsons et al conclude that there is a lack of robust, empirical evidence concerning practice and provision, and that more research is required to establish the effectiveness of the types of provision. The government of Valencia, a partner of this proposal, has developed a report about the modalities of schooling for students with ASD, including the experimental model of autism units developed in that region for twelve years, also reaching the conclusion that more research is required. What evidence there is suggests that, students with autism progress much better when autism-specific educational support is provided (Mesibov and Howley, 2003).

OBJECTIVES:

The main objective of AMUSE project was to provide resources, knowledge about the best practice, and research to support this particular modality of schooling which is highly strategic and has policy implications for the effective inclusion of students with ASD. Other complementary objectives were learning from students with ASD from the four participating school, visiting each other to learn good practices and to transfer knowledge between the 8 participants organisations of the three countries involved.

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS:

A multi-sectorial team has been built for this AMUSE project, including researchers from the two participating universities (UVEG and UBATH), teachers and families from the four schools involved (MARENOSTRUM, GABRIELPEREZ, AUCAVI and MARESAL) and continuous training institutions from regional governments (CEFIRE-GVA and KONYAMEM).

MAIN ACTIVITIES:

Together with the technical activities for developing the three intellectual products of the project that are mentioned below, AMUSE has celebrated four transnational meetings (in Murcia, Bath, Valencia and Konya) together with two training actions (Murcia and Bath) and two multiplier events (Valencia and Konya).

RESULTS AND IMPACT:

AMUSE has developed an Online Database of Autism Units within Mainstream Schools across Europe, available in ten languages, with 138 good practices shared during project length. This was the first intellectual product.

AMUSE has also developed a 4-week MOOC on Good Practices in Autism Education, available in Spanish, English and Turkish, that had 2546 students in its first edition. This was the second intellectual product.

AMUSE has also developed a research study to determine the profile of students with ASD who benefit the most from this model of schooling, over a sample of 629 students with autism, informed by their teachers from Spain, Turkey and UK. This was the third intellectual product.

The two multiplier events had been very useful in spreading information about the project results in Spain and Turkey.

LONG TERM BENEFITS:

An agreement has been reached with ADAPTA Foundation (Spain) during the project in order to guarantee the maintenance of O1 (online database of good practices) once the project has finished. ADAPTA will launch a contest of good practices by the end of the year, in order to encourage teachers from different countries to share their good practices in AMUSE website. UVEG, UBAH and KONYA-IL-MEM will run one edition per year of the Spanish, English and Turkish versions of the MOOC until 2020, increasing the number of participants that will benefit from the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 183561 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA & Country: ES

Project Partners

• CONSELLERÍA DE EDUCACIÓN, INVESTIGACIÓN, CULTURA Y DEPORTE
• FUNDACION AUCAVI
• CEIP MARE NOSTRUM
• UNIVERSITY OF BATH
• CFI GABRIEL PEREZ CARCEL
• MARESAL MUSTAFA KEMAL ORTAOKULU
• KONYA IL MILLI EGITIM MUDURLUGU