Rytmus and the Czech Republic on a path towards inclusion
Mar, 26/02/2013
Rytmus, one of the incluD-ed network partners, is currently working on several projects to foster inclusive education in the Czech Republic. To keep the incluD-ed virtual community up-to-date about Rytmus‘activities, we will present shortly each of the ongoing and new projects of the incluD-ed network partner from Czech Republic.
“Back to communities”
This project focuses on the situation of children with disabilities living in institutions for people with disabilities and the level of education they receive. The project is based on the observation that not all children with disabilities have access to education. Rytmus decided to map the situation in more than three regions of the Czech Republic and to highlight this fact.
The project also includes a coordinating plan for 20 children from these facilities, which would allow them to be included in local nursery or primary schools. The integration of children into local schools will contribute to the fulfilment of equal access to education and to some extent helps to break the isolation from peers.
“Acceptance that everything begins. The second and the third step on the path to an inclusive school”
The aim of the project is to provide support to children with disabilities who are educated in mainstream schools in the Karlovy Vary Region. The main activity of the project is a methodological aid to teachers in selected schools to help them deal with the specific education of students with special educational needs. Together with the students educational materials for teaching assistants, respectively teachers, will be created. Furthermore, eight meetings, involving parents, teachers and representatives of cities, were held in order to exchange experiences and to provide a forum for discussion and clarification of attitudes towards inclusive education in mainstream schools.
“Networking in supported employment”
The aim of the project is to implement innovative approaches to seek employment for persons with disabilities. New approaches, based on the experience of foreign agencies supported employment, focusing mainly on networking, ie. linking potential employers, current employers, family, friends, and the user who is looking for work. The outcome of various excursions to foreign organizations and the participation in specially designed joint workshops including people with disabilities will be presented in a photobook on identified good practices that will be produced at the end of the projects.
“Education for change”
The project "Education for Change", ongoing since March 2010, is equally dedicated to the topic of inclusive education and includes teacher training courses. The aim of the project is to contribute to improve the situation of children with disabilities in mainstream schools by increasing the professional competence of teachers and teaching assistants. Furthermore, it aims to make the general public aware about important and interesting information on inclusion in the Czech Republic and abroad by offering discussion seminars, publishing professional articles and by setting up an information portal www.inkluze.cz . This website is the first and only portal in the Czech Republic that focuses on inclusive education. In December, the project organised an international conference titled "Where disability is not an obstacle" - the outputs can be found at www.rytmus.org .
“What would cost us transition to inclusive education? A new research project of Rytmus”
“School project for all” is a case study that aims at the specific example of a smaller model of the transition to a fully inclusive education. During one year, a research team will review the special educational needs of each child with a disability (age 5 to 16 years) in a chosen city of the Czech Republic. In parallel with the collection of these data, the researchers will map the current (technical and personal) readiness of the primary schools of these children and gather accurate information on the financial resources that are needed (e.g. travel costs to schools). Based on these data, a model will be created that will give information on what it would look like if every child attends could attend his or hers nearest school.
