Supporting Inclusion and Diversity in Teaching

In its 2016 Communication “Action Plan on the integration of third country nationals,” the European Commission recognised the vital role of schools in ensuring that migrant children are successfully integrated in society and become engaged citizens, but highlighted that inclusive education should be supported (COM(2016)377, p. 8). UNHCR/UNICEF/IOM echoed this call for additional support to educators in September 2019.The successful integration of migrant children in the classroom is important, as is the integration of all children – regardless of their socio-economic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds, or their abilities. Our premise is that a successful integration within the classroom is a vital first step for children to acquire the mindset and skills they will need to successfully integrate in increasingly broad social groups and finally in society as a whole. Transversal skills are also key to a successful future social integration. Objectives Our overall goal is to promote social inclusion – including of migrant children – in the long-term, by supporting primary school teachers to engage in more inclusive teaching in their classrooms.To reach this goal, we will work towards the following objectives:-To develop a teaching methodology focused on ensuring the inclusion of *all* students in classroom activities, while at the same time teaching transversal skills that are equally vital to social inclusion, such as learning to learn, critical thought, media literacy, entrepreneurship or languages;-To improve teachers’ capacity to teach in a fully inclusive manner, regardless of their students’ diverse abilities and background, through the development of the SiDiT Teacher Training Course, which will train primary school to implement the SiDiT methodology;-To encourage the broader adoption and mainstreaming of the SiDiT teaching methodology, through the development of Policy Recommendations including a review of teacher competence frameworks related to inclusion.Number and profile of participantsThe main project participants will be primary school teachers. Over 20 practicing teachers will pilot the TTC during the development phase, testing it in their classrooms with an estimated 15-20 pupils each. Starting from Year 3, the TTC will be implemented on an additional 180-200 trainees annually: both student teachers as well as teachers undergoing in-service training. An on-line teacher training course is expected to be used by an additional 120 teachers annually.Results and expect impact Intellectual Outputs will include:-The SiDiT teaching methodology;-A physical and on-line teacher training course (TTC), designed to train teachers to implement the SiDiT methodology in their classrooms;-Policy Recommendations that will support the implementation of the SiDiT methodology as standard practice in primary schools, and propose how ‘social inclusion’ skills could be included to national teacher competence frameworks including in the context of continuing education. All of these intellectual outputs will be publicly available on-line, in the six project languages (DE EN EL HR IT NL).Expected impactsWe expect that compared to a control group, students that are exposed to the SiDiT methodology will have better transversal skills, resilience and self-efficacy, and will take greater responsibility for their own learning processes. They will carry these learning outcomes as they move into secondary education and later, into adulthood and active citizenship. We also expect that teachers that implement the SiDiT methodology will very much enjoy using this innovative methodology and will derive great professional satisfaction from it. The partner organisations – in particular the Teacher Training Institutes and Primary Schools – will benefit not only from the implementation of the methodology, but will also become “reference points” for the SiDiT methodology, to train and advise staff from other schools and teacher training institutes in their countries or beyond. This will enhance their reputation as organisations promoting new educational methodologies and inclusion.Longer term benefitsIn the longer term, we intend that the SiDiT methodology will become an integral part of teacher training and that it will be mainstreamed in primary schools, certainly in the project countries but also beyond. As a result, all children – including migrant children – will be more successfully integrated in society and better able to become engaged citizens.The project will be implemented by a partnership led by Goethe-Institut (DE), and involving two primary schools (De Toverfluit and Unescoschool, BE), two teacher training institutes (Marino Institute, IE and Par University College, HR), two organisations active in the field of education and inclusion (Bantani Education, BE and Materahub, IT), a specialist in educational software (CCS Education, IE) and the University of Athens (EL).