Diversity Puzzle
Start date: Sep 1, 2016,
End date: Aug 31, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
The School Center for Inclusive Education ,,C-tin Paunescu “ from Recas is an institution adapted to the requirements of the social inclusion of children with special needs, training 256 students with mental, behavioral and emotional disorders. The center collaborates with all institutions concerned with good development of children, while the staff is focused on responding to the real needs in the community: early education for children from families at risk, constant information to parents regarding future school integration of children, harmonious integration into the community for children with special needs, mitigation of effects resulted from school dropout of youth and adults. In recent years the school has been facing a new problem, the increased number of children from different educational backgrounds, some from the orphanage, others from vulnerable families, who besides specific educational needs, also have major social and economic needs. Most of these children come from conflictual backgrounds or nomadic families, some of them being born in various European cities and spending the first years of life in sporadic contact with several European cultures. The return of these children in the country and their enrollment in our unit together with other children with special needs coming from such different backgrounds create a change in the homeostasis of school environment and pose serious subsequent issues regarding their integration into society.In this context, the current KEY ISSUES for teachers are: managing diversity and understanding the problems of children from nomadic families, harmonious integration of children with special needs in the community, management of conflicts and school violence situations.The "Diversity Puzzle" project aims at institutional development by winning a European dimension to approach children with special needs, facilitating for teachers the attaining of an innovative attitude in education, work skills and new techniques (see F.1.), the exchange of information in the field of pedagogy in multicultural context and the possibility of networking with specialists in Europe. This will result in a greater understanding of the practices and systems of education and training from other countries, for the benefit of children, families and ultimately the local community.The project includes two European mobile activities considered to have a direct positive impact on the development of teachers and consequently on the quality of education offered to students. The two activities are:1. Participation of a total of eight teachers at the Special Needs Children course organized by International TEFL Certificate, Prague, Czech Republic2. Participation of a total of eight teachers at the Project Based Teaching and Learning: Bring Life into Your Classroom course, organized by Bios Life Long Learning Centre, CyprusThe OBJECTIVES of this mobility project are:- Professional development of a group of eight teachers from CSEI "Constantin Paunescu" through a specialized course - Special Needs Children, for 5 days, bringing a European perspective in addressing children with special needs- Professional development of a number of eight teachers from CSEI "Constantin Paunescu" through a course for learning the method Project Based Teaching and Learning (PBL), for 7 days, contributing to the innovation of the way of teaching in school - sharing information and knowledge in the field of pedagogy to a total of 16 teachers in a multicultural context facilitated by attending selected specialized courses. Participation in the project will result in acquiring the skills appropriate to the needs identified (point D) and a deeper understanding of the difficulties faced by children with special needs.In order to achieve the project, it was formed a team of three teachers and an accountant under the coordination of dean Mariana Heber, performing organization activities (see G2): training activities, contact with training providers, selection of participants, concluding learning agreements with participants, solving practical arrangements for organizing mobilities, project monitoring, dissemination actions, addressing aspects related to the communication within project (communication with courses providers, mass media), project evaluation. The project implementation will result in the institutional development of CSEI "C. Paunescu" in the direction of increasing professional staff, and the school winning a team of well-trained teachers who understand the problems a child with special needs faces in a context of cultural, social and linguistic diversity and empathize with him. Participants will gain European approach insight and will be willing to contribute to the professional development of colleagues through their activities, and to the institutional development through community involvement and partnerships with other European institutions.