IIEF – Inclusion and integration in Europe for experts in pre-school education, youth and social work Erasmus Project

Project Title

IIEF – Inclusion and integration in Europe for experts in pre-school education, youth and social work

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 adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

The project “Inclusion and Integration in Europe for experts in the pre-school education, youth and social work” is a strategical partnership of 5 institutions from Germany, Ireland, France and Greece, which are active among others in the adult education. The idea is to jointly work out structures and necessary prerequisites that enable inclusion and integration. Structures and necessary prerequisites that enable inclusion were investigated and identified. Important was the mutual exchange of previous findings and the development of a handbook which summarises our 2-year cooperation and inclusion ideas. One change to our grant application was, that we concentrated on the topic of inclusion, integration was only to look at in comparison to inclusion.

The handbook was drawn up in our common working language, English. Contents were provided by each institution, the summary and publication production was done by the coordinating institution. Colleagues from the Irish organisation were responsible for proofreading and stylistic touch up.
Each institution makes the handbook freely available electronically on their website. It is recommended to prepare a translation in each organisation’s native language and to provide both (English and native language) also in print formats, so that a wider audience can inform themselves about the project, its results and the topic inclusion and integration.
The project has led professionals working with children, adolescents, adults and families to adopt a prejudice-conscious pedagogical attitude. With the help of good examples from other European countries, the experts gained new ideas and insights on the subject of inclusion, one’s own obstacles and scruples were dismantled and intercultural competences strengthened. The participating institutions created inclusive offers and modified with the help of self-reflection already existing offers so that they are inclusive.
The project activities were divided into the preparation and follow-up of transnational meetings, the transnational meetings with the project partners and the meetings with the participants for developing and implementing methods and instruments for inclusion and integration and for carrying out self-evaluation based on the index for inclusion. In the project’s preparatory phase, all project partners used this material to illuminate the stand of inclusion and integration in their institution.
Within the project 5 transnational meetings took place: the kickoff (with a public event) in December 2017 and the final meeting in September 2019 in Leipzig, the 2nd meeting in February 2018 in Kilkenny/Callan, Ireland, the 3rd meeting in September 2018 in Rethymno, Greece and the 4th meeting in April 2019 in Bordeaux, France. During these meetings, discussion rounds, visits to institutions and observation of effective inclusion methods in practice, video work, lectures and presentations on instruments of inclusion and informal collegial exchange were used as methods.
At the end of the 2-year project we consider a strong partnership with the other institutions with whom we would like to cooperate in the future as well, e.g. 15 social workers of the FAIRbund e.V. will visit the KCAT institution in March 2020 as part of a further training course and with the partner Odyssée a further training trip on the topic “Intercultural work with refugees and migrants” will be organised for 8 kindergarten teachers from Leipzig day-care centres. The Greek partner organised a 2weeks internship placement for vocational students of the Johanniter Academy this October who worked in kindergartens, schools and institutions for disabled or disadvanteged children.
In our partnership, all employees were given the opportunity to participate in the project and to contribute to the development of a common concept about incluson. We would like to share our findings and results with other institutions and open our facilities for consultations, for example.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 69310 Eur

Project Coordinator

FAIRbund e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• CAMPHILL COMMUNITIES OF IRELAND
• European Education & Learning Institute
• Association Odyssée