One Class – Total Inclusion Erasmus Project

Project Title

One Class – Total Inclusion

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: Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

More and more teachers in Europe face the challenge of how to integrate students with special needs in their mainstream class. This is in part due tos the outcome of a general trend towards accommodating children with special needs in mainstream schools rather than in special school settings. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed by all Member States of the European Union, articulates the right of students with special needs to be taught in mainstream education. While this trend is a very welcome and necessary move towards more inclusive education systems, it does provide new challenges to teachers that need to teach more diverse classrooms with more learners with particular needs.

Welsh Government recently identified the need to modify the current curriculum arrangements within the devolved nation of Wales (Donaldson Report, 2015). These arrangements had essentially remained as originally devised in 1988; a world before the World Wide Web and the advances in technology and globalisation that affect the way we live and work today. Professor Donaldson argues within his report that the curriculum has become overloaded, complicated and, in parts, outdated and goes on to identify four purposes for the curriculum of the future in creating:-
1. ambitious, capable learners, ready to learn throughout their lives
2. enterprising, creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work
3. ethical, informed citizens of Wales and the world , ready to be citizens of Wales and the world
4. healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

The “One Class – Total Inclusion” project pays cognisance to the Professor Donaldson’s report by building on existing collaborative relationships with other education providers, particularly within Europe, whilst broadening the horizons of both teachers and pupils, through shared experiences and information sharing. This project is also an opportunity to fully embrace the ethos of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015, an Act that places an expectation upon us all in Wales, to work in a much more globally responsible and inclusive way, creating equal chances for all whatever their backgrounds, whilst considering other people around the World. It is envisaged that the project, as one of several building blocks, will be used in helping to shape our young people’s futures as relayed in the Act, whilst helping to create a new focus on the curricula alluded to by Professor Donaldson.

The project will include a large number of pupils and teaching and support staff, who will be involved in hosting the visit from their European counterparts, undertaking various enrichment activities within the school environment, whilst showcasing Wales, its culture and unique aspects that differentiate it from other countries. It will involve visits to local landmarks, sites of national importance as well as other cultural experiences. We will also include pupil mobility for over 100 pupils to experience face to face contact and participation in pupil centred activities to promote inclusion.

Locally within all countries, a coordinated project management approach will enable focus on inclusion and opening the eyes of the young people, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as having additional learning needs. It will provide them with a broader understanding of the world around them through global citizenship and cultural experiences, opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise experience. Amongst the teachers, both hosting and visiting, international good practice can be shared and explored, and the different pedagogical approaches of the schools being visited can be considered, all whilst developing links that can be maintained

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 100270 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ysgol Hendre & Country: UK

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO DE ENSEÑANZA SECUNDARIA HUELIN
• Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn
• Städtische Realschule Ochtrup