DIFFERENT SO WHAT ! Erasmus Project

Project Title

DIFFERENT SO WHAT !

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Disabilities – special needs; Gender equality / equal opportunities; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

The project «different so what!» gathers five European schools: IES profesor Antonio Muro school (Spain), IC Di Giacomo Santa Chiara school (Italy), Agrupamento de Escolas do Teixoso ( Portugal), Westhoek school (France) and Jean Zay school (France).

Observation at the beginning:
The schools which are involved are, to varying degrees, concerned by the problem of the inclusion of the students with disabilities within their institution.
They try to gather at best the necessary conditions to valorize their potential.

Objective of the project:
The aim of the project is to make ordinary pupils aware of the disability situation,that is to get them out of their representations about disability, to allow them to better understand the different types of disability, to enable them to respect the difference but also to valorize it and finally to cooperate and collaborate in a collective project for inclusion.
By getting them involved in a project organised around the practice of adapted sports, shared sports, parasports or cultural or artistic workshops, they develop skills (moving in an unusual environment, mastering emotions, appreciating and estimation of the risk, security), knowledge (discoveries of different European inclusive education systems, or innovative music workshops) and attitudes (cooperation, sharing, taste of effort, surpassing itself, mixed team work) transferable and reusable throughout their schooling.
They must allow students to participate in the discovery of the other and its differences in respect of the values of each and its possibilities.
They also realize that beyond differences, Europeans share values and that they are themselves too, all «different, so what».

The partnership also aims at improving teachers’daily teaching practices that favour :

– the discovery of the different inclusive European education systems.
– observations and exchanging of teaching practices, mainly by adapting learning situations to students with disabilities concerning languages, arts and the practise of sports and physical education.
– the innovation in everyday practices through cooperation and interdisciplinarity.

Profile of the participants :
the project, based on its objectives and activities, requires the practise of adapted sport, shared sport, parasport OR participation in awareness-raising workshops to the difference.
This project is for students who naturally participate to these different workshops.
The association and cooperation between a valid student and a student with a disability will be a plus in the choice of participants at functional and language level.Their complementarity will accentuate the principle of cooperation and sharing targeted by the project.

Complementary partners :
the institutions involved in the project all answer to the same problem of the reception of students with special educational needs and each at the local level has already forged links with educational partners : associative environment of sport, music and audio-visual.

The activities planned :
The project is articulated around two common themes : the discovery, the practice and the organization of adapted sports in order to participate in an Olympiad at the end of the project and the exploration and sharing of artistic and musical cultural activities combining valid students and students with disabilities (design and realisation of these activities in foreign living language / production of a news bulletin / discovery of local heritage / exchange workshops and integration in the lessons). Gradually, students develop and consolidate new skills and become aware of their abilities, so they can project and open up new perspectives.

The expected results are:
-realization of a logo for the project
-presentation of the school and inclusive education classes
– realization of a news bulletin about the difference in all its forms: human, sports, artistic, musical and cultural
– the realisation of a European Olympiad at the end of the project
– writing of a newsletter
– a European exchange of teaching practices at the inclusive school level

The project must positively impact students by providing extra motivation through the development of self-esteem and the development of foreign language skills, social skills and teamwork skills. Teachers’ teaching practices will be impacted by the setting up of interdisciplinary work and the confrontation with different teaching practices.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 180475 Eur

Project Coordinator

Collège Du Westhoek & Country: FR

Project Partners

• IC Di Giacomo 3 S.Chiara
• Agrupamento de Escolas do Teixoso
• COLLEGE JEAN ZAY
• IES Profesor Antonio Muro