Description
Although in legal terms, the Romanian state guarantees the right to education for all children with special needs, studies point to the inefficiency of the educational system when it comes to the integration of these children. There is a need to strengthen discriminatory practices in relation to this vulnerable group. The main objective of the project is to develop and implement a set of measures to fight social and scholar exclusion for children and youth with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Bucharest. The project envisages documenting the methods, measures, work practices and tools to prevent and combat social exclusion, improving knowledge on adaptation practices and tools for 250 professionals, raising awareness of the right to education of children and youth with SEN to 250 parents/tutors, creation and operation of a network of 10 professionals involved in school inclusion of children with SEN and advocacy and promotion of the project at local and national level.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to develop and implement, a set of measures to fight social and scholar exclusion for children and young people with Special Educational Needs in Bucharest. The main activities of the project were creation and operation of a network of 10 professionals involved in school inclusion of children with special education needs (SEN); developing, accreditation, piloting and implementation of training programs for professional, multimedia toolkit for professionals; awareness campaign of 250 parents’ children and young people with SEN. In order to enhance the impact of the project, the promoter had received additional funds through PLUS and the promoter had implemented supplementary activities. The project was implemented in 12 school from Bucharest. The project target group was represented by a number of 345 experts, 90 NGOs representatives and 250 disadvantage young people. The promoter developed a training curricula for children with special needs based on the concept of school adapted to all children. During the project implementation this curricula was tested in the schools involved in the project and it was developed a training program which was authorized by Ministry of Education in 2016. Compared with the estimated number of experts trained (250), a number of 400 experts obtained certification. The promoter offered in all schools services of social assistance meant medical evaluation for children with special needs, psychological guidance for children and parents, assistance for obtaining disabilities certificate. Although the promoter intended to develop the assistance for just 100 parents, a number of 271 parents benefited of social assistance. This showed an increasing demand coming for the parents to have assistance at school level. The promoter succeeded to increase the parent’s participation in the project activities also through information campaign. An awareness campaign was conducted to school level, informing parents about the right to education of children and young people with SEN. The promoter created a functional networking gathering experts and teachers. The new structure elaborated a position paper regarding the importance of inclusive education and it will continue to lobby for legislative changes and to promote the necessity of set up disciplinary team in schools. All indicators have been reached and exceeded due to the fact that there has been a major interest from both teachers and parents.
Summary of bilateral results