About the project

Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education and training

The Commission and the Council’s 2015 joint report on implementing the ET 2020 strategy has established ‘inclusive education, equality, equity, non-discrimination and the promotion of civic competences’ as priority areas for European cooperation in the field of education and training. Children have differing interests, talents and skills. This is true for children with and without disabilities and no matter what age, race, cultural and economic background they are. In an inclusive school, the focus is shifted from what a pupil/student cannot do to what they can do. Our project will upskill school leaders, representatives of school boards, school founders, municipalities, school inspectorate and other institutions active in education in creating a positive school environment where all pupils´/ students´ needs and talents are recognized and supported. To achieve this, we will organize learning activities, provide a wide range of supporting materials including a Methodology that will collect best practice in partner countries and create a website as a source of information and inspiration.

Supporting teachers, school leaders and other teaching professions

The knowledge, skills and attitudes of teachers and school leaders are of great importance. Their quality and professionalism have a direct effect on not only the learning outcomes of pupils and students but also their well-being, self-esteem and overall readiness for life. The demands made of teachers, school leaders and teacher educators are high. The partner countries report a decline in the prestige of the teaching profession and staff shortages. In our project, we intend support the school leaders in their role through enabling them learn, share and discuss what works well in their daily

practice, we will make them be seen and heard on the EU level thanks to spreading reports, articles and videos from the learning activities. The school staff will be provided with access to materials, documents and reports that will significantly contribute to improvement of their practice

The partnership

Our partnership embraces partners from the Baltics to the Iberian Peninsula, from the Czech Republic in Central Europe to the most westerly city in Europe, Galway in Ireland. It covers a range of languages. Most importantly it includes a range of partners from different organisational settings and spheres of influence. Some are new to European projects whilst others have great expertise. Each partner has something to offer and learn from the exchange.

The Project lead, Město Otrokovice is a municipal authority in the Czech Rep. governing not only primary schools but also leisure time centres for children and young people, it supports strategically and financially institutions and schools in their preventive projects in the field of mental health, well-being, healthy life style, prevention of racisms and xenophobia and so on.

The Portuguese Agrupamento de Escolas João da Silva School is strongly connected to the Sao João da Madeira Municipal authority and therefore the school works in the city with other schools both junior and senior. In addition, the municipal authority has responsibility for youth services, sport and other services such as museums and adult education.

The Irish St. Nicolas National School participates in the DEIS School Completion Programme (SCP), and implements a number of specific measures designed to encourage school retention through the teenage years, e.g.: a free homework club; a programme of mindful movement; play, art and music therapy; and a variety of sports programmes. They have participated in a mentoring and homework initiative with local university, the school accepts refugees/migrants/asylumseekers on a rolling enrolment basis from a nearby Direct Provision Centre (The Eglinton Hotel).

The Romanian CPIP bring synergy to the overall project because they are not a school but work with a range of education establishments, training providers and have a specialism in criminal justice work so you can even bring in the role of educationalists work in custodial institutions and with young people on the cusp of criminality.

The Croatian 4th Primary School in Varaždin have a strong connection with the county mountaineering/hiking society in order to include its students in various hiking trips andoutdoor school to foster both physical and mental health. We work closely with the local Institute of Public Health Office Varaždin-psychologist, various associations and their numerous running programmes, `Uz tebe sam`/I am beside you, `PoMoZi da`/Help me, The Media Literacy Society, The Economic Clinic Zagreb etc.) In the area of teenage delinquency, we receive assistance from the educational section of the Police Department and Social Services-Family Centre for Social Welfare.

The main objectives of the partnership

• Increasing quality in the work, activities and practices of schools and institutions involved, opening up to new actors locally and transnationally;

• Enabling transformation and change (at individual, organisational or sectoral level), leading to improvements and new approaches, in proportion to the context of each organisation.

To achieve these objectives, we will undertake the following steps:

1. We will enable exchange of good practice across the partner countries through training events thus upskilling school principals/other professionals. Each partner country will organize a 3day course aimed at effective leadership. Five training courses will be delivered during the lifespan of the project. We expect a minimum of 40 participants on each.

2. We will create a website that will offer good practice including a Methodology incorporating interventions, case studies and materials addressing the topic of effective leadership for inclusion.

3. We will produce a Methodology. This will be developed through the exchange of good practice in partner countries, auditing, analysing and discussing what works and then producing the outcome. The publication will be available mostly electronically and in a limited number of hard copies.

4. We will upskill staff in partner countries. Participants attending the learning activities will be expected to cascade gained knowledge to their colleagues and managers inside and outside their organization. This will be achieved through written report, meetings and presentations.