Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

Summary

ALDO is an EU Project founded by the European Commission in the framework of Lifelong Learning Programme - Dissemination and Exploitation of Results (KA 4). ALDO project aims to support improvements in the quality and accessibility of education and training for adults with a learning disability by identifying and validating best practices approaches and to promote increased use of the best practice resources identified by raising awareness of the resources and presenting them in one central online portal or observatory.

Project object:

• to identify innovative best practice approaches to the provision of education and training for people with disabilities;

• to highlight the different possibilities and potential benefits of applying ICT in a variety of ways in different educational contexts and settings for people with disabilities;

• to identify the required continuous professional development supports for tutors and trainers working with disabled adults that will facilitate the integration of the best practice models selected into core service provision at all relevant educational levels and in all appropriate educational settings;

• to create an online best practice observatory where all materials are presented, discussed and accessible to education staff;

• to support national and transnational interaction between tutors and trainers supporting the learning needs of adults with a learning disability through the provision of a dedicated social media environment;

• to promote a focus on recycling best practice methodologies and philosophies encouraging experts and professionals to engage in critical reflection on past achievements on which to build future interventions. In order to achieve these aims and objectives, ALDO Project identifies, assesses and considers a series of best practice examples from a range of geographical and educational situations.

Methodology

After the completion of initial research among centralised projects (Compendia 2007-2013 and projects final reports published by EACEA) 54 best practice models are selected regarding the answers of the projects’ coordinators covering all the 4 thematic areas. These practices are compiled into a resource database for assessment and validation by local expert groups. The best practices in the resource database are categorised by thematic areas. It will be also incorporated into the project website to support the assessment process.

Each partner was asked to identify 12 projects and best practices for each one of the five countries of their responsibility. The parameters for searching the best practices were (a) the target group which is adults with a learning disability, (b) to be part of a centralised lifelong learning project, and (c) to include ICT. The research was conducted basically through internet (Compendia 2007-2013 and projects final reports published by EACEA). Two questionnaires were applied one for the partners to assess the best practices identified (Appendix 1) and another for the coordinators of each project in order to give information on the content and the philosophy of each practice (Appendix 2).  Partners identified many best practices which were evaluated by the partners themselves by using the questionnaire prepared for this purpose (Appendix 1). These Best Practices were categorised by the country and the area in which they belong to.

Target

Among 55 examples of best practices, 36 will be added to the online observatory (9 best practices per thematic area) which will serve as a web-portal for users.   

Good practice innovations

This is not just a project that looks inward at policies and practices in the partner countries. It will place a considerable emphasis on engaging educationalists and project promoters in all 27 Member States to identify best practice approaches for further exploitation.

Beyond the life-cycle of the project the online observatory will be maintained and in addition to maintaining access for those already signed-up it will be used into the future as a key discussion forum.

Good practice achievements

On March 11, 2014 was held at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest, the official launch of the “Erasmus +” Programme in Romania. Within the ceremony “Beyond the numbers, reward excellence!”, our Romanian partner in the ALDO project – the Group for European Integration (GIE) - was awarded with the prize for excellence under the category “Transfer of good practices towards diverse groups of beneficiaries”

The project is able to collect variety of good practices in the area of inclusive education for persons with disabilities.

Two sets of questionnaires have been developed to collect the BPEs’ information as well as for the assessment groups to evaluate these BPEs. As a result, 84 projects have been selected by project partners. They are on process of assessment by external Assessment Groups to finalise on the 36 best practices for the online portal website.

This process is done through an online assessment tool. The use of explicit assessment criteria offers a way to highlight the strengths or limitations of the evaluated “object” (in this case the BPEs) and to claim rigour or critical thoughtfulness in the approach.

• Project documents:

  Appendix 1: Questionnaires for the partners to assess the best practices identified

• Appendix 2: Questionnaires for the coordinators of each project in order to give information on the content and the philosophy of each practice
• Online assessment questionnaire: http://cppdd.ro/survey/

Project partners and other stakeholders

ALDO Partner: County Meath Vocational Educational Committee (LMETB), Centre for Advancement of Research & Development in Education (CARDET), Grupul Pentru Integrare Europana (GIE), E-Learning Concepts Rietsch KEG (ELC), European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), University Enterprise Training Partnership Region of Murcia (FUERM).

Good practice testimonial

At this stage of the project, there is no beneficiary participant to the project.

Evaluation

The completion of collecting 84 BPEs is the first successful steps to achieve the final goal of the project.

The development of the two questionnaires (for project managers and experts) with the detailed guideline on the assessment criteria should ensure the quality of the selection for the final best 36 BPEs to be put online and disseminated on the completion of the ALDO project.

The assessment groups gather by each partner with the diversity in the background and expertise will enhance the quality of the assessment.