Promoting research and entrepreneurial activity for the academic progression of people with sensory Impairment Erasmus Project

Project Title

Promoting research and entrepreneurial activity for the academic progression of people with sensory Impairment

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 2019

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Students with disabilities across Europe are underrepresented in higher education and employment, while peer support has been recognised as a valuable and cherished support by students with disabilities and their educators (Murphy, 2011, 2015, Magennis, Murphy et al, 2014). Career guidance for students with disabilities by professionals who are skilled and knowledgeable about their needs is crucial to making effective transitions (NCSE, 2014). However, access to skilled career guidance professionals who have the skills required to support students with disabilities is limited (NCSE, 2014, EC, 2012). Students with sensory impairments need a more inclusive infrastructure to encourage and inspire them to make better informed career decisions. The areas of future employment such as engineering, Sciences and ICT will be particularly targeted by this project.

Peer support has been shown to be very successful for people with disabilities for example in the field of technology, (see  http://dice-project.eu/) Peer4Progress seeks to develop an customized online peer support and peer mentoring platform for students with sensory impairments in second and third level education. Peer supporters and peer mentors will be recruited at undergraduate, post graduate, and those graduates who are in employment; in particular, the project will recruit researchers, scientists and PhD holders with sensory impairment as mentors. The project will engage with post primary students with sensory disabilities and their educators to identify their transition needs and see how Peer4Progress can best support them. Accredited online training will be provided for peer supporters and peer mentors.

An online course on the Inclusion of people with disabilities in career guidance will be developed for those professionals working in this area. This will be an accredited Continuous Personal Development course. Those who complete this course will increase their confidence as career guidance teachers to work with disabilities by increasing their knowledge of the options available to students with sensory impairment. They will gain knowledge about enabling technology, and other supports available to people with sensory impairments to allow them enjoy a career of their choice. The Career Guidance Professional is a key resource to all young people in supporting them to chart a career path including students with sensory impairments.

In order to support such students the guidance professional must have a deep understanding of the impact of disability and of the negative attitudes and problems these students are faced with in making transitions to education and or work in a world that was not designed to include them. This E.Learning CPD Course for Guidance Professionals aims to give Guidance Professionals the competence and confidence to guide and advise students with disabilities in making career chooses. They will learn how to respond to a student with sensory impairments whose condition could be seen as a barrier to their chosen career, for example the deaf student who wants to be a nurse or the blind student who wants to be a journalist. The guidance professional through this course will come to understand how accommodations and assistive technology work to enable the student to take up the career path of their choice and secure employment. Similarly, they will understand the changes that are needed in the educational or employment environments to be more inclusive of students/graduates with sensory impairment. The course will be developed in collaboration with the guidance professionals and piloted in 4 partner countries.

The project intends to share the learning from user requirements with the students with sensory impairment to inform the Guidance Professional course and vice versa. It will capitalise on the shared learning of professionals and students across the partner countries.
The project will fully utilize the networks of students, graduates and career guidance professionals available via the partner organisations to disseminate the project outputs to at least 2000 students, volunteers, teachers and career guidance professionals via the various networks in the partner countries. The E. Learning modules are innovative and will be promoted through the partner networks . Participants will be encouraged to use social media such as twitter and face-book to promote the modules and to invite others to take part.

In summary the project aims to improve access to higher education and career opportunities including professions for students with sensory impairment by up-skilling and improving the guidance infrastructure and by improving the self advocacy of students with sensory impairment through peer mentoring. The innovative online formats used in the project will enable participants to participate anywhere, any time and any place in both eLearning and or the Peer support network.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 258025 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Union Mutualiste Enfance Famille Handicap Soins Pays de la Loire
• EVROPAIKO KENTRO KATARTISIS GIA TIN APASCHOLISI ANONYMI EKPAIDEFTIKI ETAIREIA
• Scoala Gimnaziala Mihail Sadoveanu
• Premium Research SL
• AHMET RASIM ANADOLU LISESI
• FAPAS (Federación Andaluza de Familias de Personas Sordas)
• KEPEZ OZEL EGITIM UYGULAMA OKULU 2. KADEME MUDURLUGU