ASUMIE – Additional Support and Mediated Learning in Inclusive Education

Successful inclusive education depends on the transfer of knowledge and skills and cooperation between teachers, parents and support professionals. Project ASUMIE, a strategic partnership for school innovation, focuses on strengthening the role and skills of people that support the classroom teacher as a leader of a team in organizing and implementing additional support and realizing accommodations in the process of inclusive education. The partners’ consortium consists of 3 higher education training institutions and 5 service providers from 7 European countries.

Project partners:

ARTESIS PLANTIJN HOGESCHOOL ANTWERPEN, Belgium – project coordinator

UNIVERSIDADE DE EVORA, Portugal

CENTER ZA KOMUNIKACIJO, SLUH IN GOVOR PORTOROZ, Slovenia

UNIVERSITA CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE, Italy

Imparole Società Cooperativa, Italy

DYS-centrum Praha o.s., Czech Republic

Karin Dom Foundation, Bulgaria

Pedverket AS, Norway

Support systems for inclusive education vary widely across countries in Europe. There are school-internal support staff and external support staff. Some support staff has a leading role, others have an executive role. Some are trained in education, others in rehabilitation professions (speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists), others have no adequate training. Previous training varies widely. It is not clear what works best and if there is a common ground, methods, ways that work. The project aims to close gaps in training content and create and develop common strategies that can be used by support staff to support teachers and children that experience barriers to learning. More specifically, the project aims to explore the use and interpretation of reasonable accommodations, a good understanding of the bridge between transversal cognitive competencies and key competencies for learning and dealing with behavior issues and interprofessional/ interdisciplinary teamwork.

During the project, we want to develop materials that provide a good understanding and implementation of educational support towards inclusion. The project is build up logically: actions follow a structure where one step leads to another. Project phase one is the phase of analysis of support systems (meso- and micro-level) and the training of professionals involved in support. This leads to the development of intellectual outputs 1 & 2 based on input from the partners, local experts, etc. An overview of the needs analysis, gaps, strengths in support systems, training of professionals and/or organizing additional support in the partner countries has to result in reports and articles. In project phase two, input and results from the previous phase are the stepping stone for the development of a common framework. Important input will come from the participants and local experts and professionals in and between multiplier events. It’s about creating the need-to-know-basis for the support staff in inclusive education, collecting and sharing good practices of support, building common ground. This has to result in a guide book, a case book, and video material as intellectual output.

In phase three results and input from the previous phases will be integrated and used in order to create learning trajectories and shared learning: the development of a course, curriculum design, learning activities, etc. Considering different learning styles and a maximal impact and dissemination effect, the outputs of this phase are a transferable train the trainer (pilot) course (face to face), an E-learning platform (more dynamic, interactive, growing) to build a learning community across European borders and a MOOC (more static, one trajectory) that can be used in different study and training programs in Europe. To realize all this, partners will organize six transnational meetings, four multiplier events and an international conference on support in inclusive education.

Intellectual products to be produced withing the project:

O1 Additional support for inclusive education in Europe: report, factsheet, article;

O2 Training of support staff: strengths and gaps;

O3 Guidebook for Additional support;

O4 Casebook: additional support, analysed in practice;

O5 MOOC: Additional support in inclusive education – Karin Dom is leading organization for elaboration of this course;

O6 Pilot Course: Additional support;

O7 Learning platform for support in inclusive education.