School Social Support for Students with Disabilities Erasmus Project

Project Title

School Social Support for Students with Disabilities

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Research and innovation; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

The School Social Support for Students with Disabilities – 4StuDi project – aims at improving the social inclusion of Students with Disabilities (SwD) in school units and communities in all participating countries. It is also expected that via the dissemination actions and sustainability activities, along with the targeted effort to align this project with previous projects undertaken from all partner countries, the national initiatives for tackling early school leaving and disadvantage will be reinforced. In addition, the 4StuDi project will foster social inclusion by engaging learners to innovative practices of raising awareness of the needs of students with impairments in schools. Digital practices will go hand in hand with real life situations, depicting the real difficulties students with impairments face in their everyday life within the school community.

4StuDi aims at tackling intersecting drivers of exclusion that may be invisible to the school community by hearing the voices of the actual learners with disabilities, traditionally excluded or silenced and informing teachers and peers about new pathways to embrace learners with disabilities and advance, in this way equity in education, which is essential to sustainable, inclusive and democratic participation in all spheres of life. Teaching SwD in mainstream schools presents unique challenges for SwD, but also for educators and classmates. The ultimate aim of the 4StuDi is two-folded: First, to investigate the impact of disability education/information programs on teachers and school-aged children/adolescents. Second, to make school education for students with disabilities more fun, more inclusive and just. To achieve the aims of the project 6 intellectual outputs, 3 multiplier events, 32 tasks and 17 activities will be delivered.
Participants will involve at least 100 teachers of primary and secondary education, 400 students without disabilities and 120 SwD with visual, hearing, physically/mobility impairment and learning disabilities (30 students per disability).

The first part of the research will be conducted on groups of SwD and will investigate what types of social support they expect from teachers and classmates without disabilities and the types of support they consider most important. The second part of the research involves students without disabilities and teachers. The students will respond to a pre- and post-knowledge assessment about the social support they can provide to SwD. Between the two assessments, the students without disabilities will participate in the education/information programs which will take place in the school environment with the instruction of their teachers. An educational digital game will also be an additional component of those programs. Moreover, teachers of primary and secondary education will participate as subjects in a similar pre- and post-knowledge assessment about the social support SwD need and in a multiplier event aiming at informing a significant number of teachers who are expected to spread the knowledge received and at diffusing the knowledge to students without disabilities. Teachers and students without disabilities will also be involved in the pilot evaluation of both the educational material and the educational game.

The 4 StuDi project will deliver the following results:
1) Identification and classification of the types of social support that SwD need in their school environment from their classmates and teachers.
2) Understanding the existing knowledge of students attending primary and secondary schools and teachers regarding the social support they provide to students with disabilities.
3) Educating the school community about concrete types of support students with disabilities need during their presence in school.
4) An improvement on the quality of support given to students with disabilities. Τools and didactical-pedagogical solutions will be emerged to make educators and students realize the ways they can help SwD.
5) Dissemination (via e-learning sessions, videos, newsletters etc) of the type of support SwD need in order to provide them with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities.

It is envisaged that the findings of the 4StuDi project will be the basis for the design and implementation of new research in the field of inclusiveness, analysing the impact of interpersonal relations, social media, inclusion in the school community, and the dynamics between the members of a school community with a specialized focus on SwD. Consequently, the findings of the 4StuDi could form the basis for the development of school curricula, or enrichment of the existing ones, and digital educational games and programmes. New research findings advancements in the scientific community concerning the identification of concrete ways of helping SwD, making things that are invisible and can influence the school progress of SwD, visible and tangible, and in this way, resolvable.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 362701 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF MACEDONIA & Country: EL

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
• IPSSAR “Antonio Gramsci”
• IMAGINARY SRL
• ARISTOTELIO COLLEGE
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CAGLIARI
• Peiramatiko Gymnasio Panepistimiou Makedonias
• Agrupamento de Escolas Romeu Correia