AIMS
Engaging formal and non-formal education professionals in the inclusion of children and teenagers with sensory disorders’ is a social innovation project that aims at developing the professionals’ capacity to ensure quality inclusive education (incl. formal and non-formal education) for children and teenagers with visual and hearing impairments.
OBJECTIVES
In order to achieve this, project partners will meet the following Objectives:
- Co-developing a Guide for formal and non-formal professionals detailing the profile of a ‘resource person’, i.e. a professional who has gained a set of knowledge & attitudes that he/she is able to apply and share with his/her colleagues to ensure quality inclusive education for the project’s end-beneficiaries.
- Building the capacities of professionals working in mainstream institutions to act as ‘resource persons’ through the co-creation of a new training device that combines instructor-led training sessions and e-learning.
- Boosting the digital skills of professionals through the development of the Open up OERs & training.
- Raising awareness of mainstream schools, youth organisations & policy makers on the specific needs of the project’s end-beneficiaries.
- Promoting the transferability of the Open up approach.
PARTNERS
La Vie Active (LVA) is an association created in 1964 in Northern France. With 90 medical-social settlements and services, nearly 4 000 employees, we mainly support and provide services for 13 000 beneficiairies. LVA is an important stakeholder of inclusive education that supports daily 2661 children and teenagers with disabilities and their families (2018), incl. with physical, mental and sensory disabilities. LVA is the Coordinator of the Open up project our pilot site is the Specialized Home Education and Healthcare Service Jean Macé, based in Liévin. Besides, LVA is engaged in four other European social innovation projects.
Ouvrir Les Yeux (OLY) is an association that was created in 2000 to fight Hereditary Optic Neuropathies (HON). OLY is a non-profit organisation based in Pas-de-Calais, recognized as ‘assistance and charity’ working at national level with settlements in different regions of France. OLY also cooperates with similar associations from foreign countries supporting patients with visual impairments.
Hrvatski savez gluhih i nagluhih (HSGN; engl. Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) was established in 1921. Since then HSGN cares and carries out activities for more than 80.000 deaf and hard of hearing persons in Croatia. From its establishment, HSGN supports programs of rehabilitation and protection for the deaf and hard of hearing persons, and is especially committed to solving problems of communication, education and employment of deaf and hard of hearing population. HSGN is an active participant in all legislative and policy initiatives and actions in favour of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
INNOVADE is a social innovation organisation with extensive expertise in designing and implementing projects and solutions in diverse settings around the globe. The team has decades of expertise in implementing over 100 projects in more than 30 countries. Areas of engagement have a primary focus on bringing about positive change in organizations and social systems. Expertise includes School Education, Vocational Training, Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, Capacity building and Information and Communications Technology.
Innovation Training Center (ITC) is a consulting practice founded in 2015 which is based in Spain, specifically in the Balearic Islands and Andalusia. Our researching team has more than 25 years of experience participating and managing R&D+i projects in the education, training, technology, culture and employment fields. The expertise hoarded is these years based on the values of excellence, quality, trust, innovation, teamwork, and social impact is now being focused, as part of a broader strategy for social equity and inclusion, in supporting and providing quality education services for vulnerable people such as persons with any kind of disability.
Verdiblanca is an association and non-profit organization with almost 4000 members, all of them with different kinds of disabilities (physical, sensory or intellectual). For more than 40 years now, Verdiblanca has worked towards a more inclusive society. It has two main facilities: one is located in Almería (Spain) and the other one in Seville (Spain). Verdiblanca has also a Special Employment Centre with more than 500 employees. At least 75% of them have some kind of disability. After leading the Erasmus+ project “Code-N-Social”, Verdiblanca is now involved in four European projects. Therefore they will contribute its experience, its knowledge in the matter and its extensive network to this new project.
METHODOLOGY
Our methodology is based on:
The development and the promotion of a new professional profile of ‘resource person’:
Any formal and non-formal professionals working in a mainstream school or youth organisation, who has gained a set of knowledge or attitudes that he/she is able to apply and share with his/her colleagues to ensure quality inclusive education for our end-beneficiaries.
This new role defers from the special education teachers who oversee the education and training of pupils and students with physical, emotional, mental, and learning disabilities because a ‘resource person’, as defined by the Open up project partners, specifically supports children and teenagers with sensory disorders, both in formal and non-formal settings.
This hybrid role should be easily accessible to any educator, educational leader, support staff or youth worker who wants to contribute to improve the quality of inclusive education for these very specific end-beneficiaries.
A bottom-up approach in which the Open up project partners engage inclusive education stakeholders, including:
- professionals from the medical-social establishments and services (incl. special schools)
- formal and non-formal professionals working in mainstream schools and youth organisation
- local, national and European inclusive education policy makers
- trainers with experience in training design
- Information Technology (IT) specialists or web-designers
OUTPUTS
The Open up project will consist of a set of new materials that will all be translated in all the national languages of the partnership. This will include:
- The Open up Guide for Professionals: This consists of a handbook divided in two main sections: one about ‘visual impairments’/ ‘how to support blind or partially sighted youngsters’ and another one about ‘hearing impairments’/ ‘how to support deaf of hard of hearing youngsters’ in mainstream schools of youth organisations. This handbook, co-developed on a transnational level, defines the profile of ‘resource person’.
Read - The Open up Training Curriculum: Consisting of a roadmap/ training tool for the trainers to train future ‘resource person’, defined in the Open up Guide, this new instructor-led training is the first component of the Open up training device.
Read - The Open up Joint Statement for inclusive (formal and non-formal) education: This paper aims at raising awareness of policy makers in the field of education, mainstream schools - their boards of leaders - and youth organisations with tailored information and recommendations for improving the quality of inclusive education in Europe.
Read
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education states that: ‘The ultimate vision for inclusive education systems is to ensure that all learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers’ (European Agency, 2015, p. 1). This statement includes learners with any kind of disability. In line with the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, European mainstream schools and youth organisations and their professionals are facing the challenge to include an increasing number of children and teenagers with disabilities.
Open up aspires to engage formal and non-formal education professionals in the inclusion of children and teenagers with sensory disorders, developing the professionals’ capacity to ensure quality inclusive education (incl. formal and non-formal education) for children and teenagers with visual and hearing impairments.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education states that: ‘The ultimate vision for inclusive education systems is to ensure that all learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers’ (European Agency, 2015, p. 1). This statement includes learners with any kind of disability. In line with the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, European mainstream schools and youth organisations and their professionals are facing the challenge to include an increasing number of children and teenagers with disabilities.
Open up aspires to engage formal and non-formal education professionals in the inclusion of children and teenagers with sensory disorders, developing the professionals’ capacity to ensure quality inclusive education (incl. formal and non-formal education) for children and teenagers with visual and hearing impairments.
AIMS
Engaging formal and non-formal education professionals in the inclusion of children and teenagers with sensory disorders’ is a social innovation project that aims at developing the professionals’ capacity to ensure quality inclusive education (incl. formal and non-formal education) for children and teenagers with visual and hearing impairments.
OBJECTIVES
In order to achieve this, project partners will meet the following Objectives:
- Co-developing a Guide for formal and non-formal professionals detailing the profile of a ‘resource person’, i.e. a professional who has gained a set of knowledge & attitudes that he/she is able to apply and share with his/her colleagues to ensure quality inclusive education for the project’s end-beneficiaries.
- Building the capacities of professionals working in mainstream institutions to act as ‘resource persons’ through the co-creation of a new training device that combines instructor-led training sessions and e-learning.
- Boosting the digital skills of professionals through the development of the Open up OERs & training.
- Raising awareness of mainstream schools, youth organisations & policy makers on the specific needs of the project’s end-beneficiaries.
- Promoting the transferability of the Open up approach.
METHODOLOGY
Our methodology is based on:
The development and the promotion of a new professional profile of ‘resource person’:
Any formal and non-formal professionals working in a mainstream school or youth organisation, who has gained a set of knowledge or attitudes that he/she is able to apply and share with his/her colleagues to ensure quality inclusive education for our end-beneficiaries.
This new role defers from the special education teachers who oversee the education and training of pupils and students with physical, emotional, mental, and learning disabilities because a ‘resource person’, as defined by the Open up project partners, specifically supports children and teenagers with sensory disorders, both in formal and non-formal settings.
This hybrid role should be easily accessible to any educator, educational leader, support staff or youth worker who wants to contribute to improve the quality of inclusive education for these very specific end-beneficiaries.
A bottom-up approach in which the Open up project partners engage inclusive education stakeholders, including:
- professionals from the medical-social establishments and services (incl. special schools)
- formal and non-formal professionals working in mainstream schools and youth organisation
- local, national and European inclusive education policy makers
- trainers with experience in training design
- Information Technology (IT) specialists or web-designers
OUTPUTS
The Open up project will consist of a set of new materials that will all be translated in all the national languages of the partnership. This will include:
- The Open up Guide for Professionals: This consists of a handbook divided in two main sections: one about ‘visual impairments’/ ‘how to support blind or partially sighted youngsters’ and another one about ‘hearing impairments’/ ‘how to support deaf of hard of hearing youngsters’ in mainstream schools of youth organisations. This handbook, co-developed on a transnational level, defines the profile of ‘resource person’.
Read - The Open up Training Curriculum: Consisting of a roadmap/ training tool for the trainers to train future ‘resource person’, defined in the Open up Guide, this new instructor-led training is the first component of the Open up training device.
Read - The Open [up] Educational Resources (OER):This e-learning space will serve as a ‘one-stop-shop’ providing free access to the full suite of digital learning resources adapted to our target group, incl.: to online modules, the digital version of the Guide for professionals Training Curriculum and other OERs.
- The Open up Joint Statement for inclusive (formal and non-formal) education: This paper aims at raising awareness of policy makers in the field of education, mainstream schools - their boards of leaders - and youth organisations with tailored information and recommendations for improving the quality of inclusive education in Europe.
Read
PARTNERS
La Vie Active (LVA) is an association created in 1964 in Northern France. With 90 medical-social settlements and services, nearly 4 000 employees, we mainly support and provide services for 13 000 beneficiairies. LVA is an important stakeholder of inclusive education that supports daily 2661 children and teenagers with disabilities and their families (2018), incl. with physical, mental and sensory disabilities. LVA is the Coordinator of the Open up project our pilot site is the Specialized Home Education and Healthcare Service Jean Macé, based in Liévin. Besides, LVA is engaged in four other European social innovation projects.
Visit website
Ouvrir Les Yeux (OLY) is an association that was created in 2000 to fight Hereditary Optic Neuropathies (HON). OLY is a non-profit organisation based in Pas-de-Calais, recognized as ‘assistance and charity’ working at national level with settlements in different regions of France. OLY also cooperates with similar associations from foreign countries supporting patients with visual impairments.
Visit website
Hrvatski savez gluhih i nagluhih (HSGN; engl. Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) was established in 1921. Since then HSGN cares and carries out activities for more than 80.000 deaf and hard of hearing persons in Croatia. From its establishment, HSGN supports programs of rehabilitation and protection for the deaf and hard of hearing persons, and is especially committed to solving problems of communication, education and employment of deaf and hard of hearing population. HSGN is an active participant in all legislative and policy initiatives and actions in favour of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Visit website
INNOVADE is a social innovation organisation with extensive expertise in designing and implementing projects and solutions in diverse settings around the globe. The team has decades of expertise in implementing over 100 projects in more than 30 countries. Areas of engagement have a primary focus on bringing about positive change in organizations and social systems. Expertise includes School Education, Vocational Training, Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship, Capacity building and Information and Communications Technology.
Visit website
Innovation Training Center (ITC) is a consulting practice founded in 2015 which is based in Spain, specifically in the Balearic Islands and Andalusia. Our researching team has more than 25 years of experience participating and managing R&D+i projects in the education, training, technology, culture and employment fields. The expertise hoarded is these years based on the values of excellence, quality, trust, innovation, teamwork, and social impact is now being focused, as part of a broader strategy for social equity and inclusion, in supporting and providing quality education services for vulnerable people such as persons with any kind of disability.
Visit website
Verdiblanca is an association and non-profit organization with almost 4000 members, all of them with different kinds of disabilities (physical, sensory or intellectual). For more than 40 years now, Verdiblanca has worked towards a more inclusive society. It has two main facilities: one is located in Almería (Spain) and the other one in Seville (Spain). Verdiblanca has also a Special Employment Centre with more than 500 employees. At least 75% of them have some kind of disability. After leading the Erasmus+ project “Code-N-Social”, Verdiblanca is now involved in four European projects. Therefore they will contribute its experience, its knowledge in the matter and its extensive network to this new project.
Visit website
