Sharing Independence in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sharing Independence in Europe

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

Context of Project:
The project involved staff and students from partner schools in the UK and Germany. Both schools were special schools for children with learning and physical disabilities. Both institutions had previously found that their students were at a high risk of unemployment and being socially marginalised once they left at the age of 19.

Objectives of project:
O1
To provide opportunities for students to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that will shape them into responsible, independent members of society.
O2
To provide opportunities for our students to develop entrepreneurial skills.
O3
To provide young people with the opportunity to travel to other countries to promote tolerance and understanding of their own and other countries’ cultures.
O4
To provide teachers and other professionals with opportunities to work collaboratively, share best practice and improve their knowledge and understanding of employment issues and cultural diversity.
O5
To provide parents and the local community with opportunities to become involved in the project.
O6
To provide young people with the opportunity to develop their language and communication skills in a practical context.

Participants:
For the first two mobilities, between six students and four staff from the UK school travelled to Germany to carry out activities. Back in their own country, they worked alongside colleagues to carry out some of the activities and consolidate the things they learnt. The third mobility had to be adapted to be carried out virtually due to the pandemic and this meant that the activities were also heavily adapted to make them relevant to our students, despite them being carried out virtually.

Activities:
Participant schools worked together on the following activities:
P1: Logo Competiton
P2: Teacher Partnerships and Class Twinning
C1: initial Transnational Meeting and Planning
P3: Social activities carried out virtually.
P4: Students created a Currency Tutorial to prepare visiting countries for mobility
C2: Travel Training in Germany
C3: Shopping Experiences
C4: Virtual activities based around current affairs and politics. Conclusion of Project.

Results and potential longer term benefits:
This project aimed to address some of the barriers faced by adults with learning disabilities. We focused throughout on developing students’ independence skills, giving them opportunities to work together on different activities and encouraging them to build relationships with students from other schools. Through our activities, we have worked to equip our students with the desire to participate in social and democratic life. When preparing for the mobilities, we gave students opportunities to help plan the visit. Through the activities carried out during the mobilities, we developed students’ skills in travel, shopping independently and cooking. Through the virtual activities, we gave students opportunities to discuss current events and politics with support. Across both schools, we have built up work experiences such as developing enterprises and working in the school cafe. We think that staff have benefitted greatly from working alongside colleagues from other countries and that this has benefitted the schools as they continue to make changes to their curricula. We believe that our schools are helping students to be more employable as we continue to build on their experiences from this project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 35136 Eur

Project Coordinator

Priory Woods School and Arts College & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Stephanus-Schule