CSIE has been a partner in the IMAS II project (IMproving ASsistance in inclusive educational settings II) and the original IMAS project before it.
The IMAS II project was a two-year project funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (2018-1-AT01-KA202-039302). It was launched in October 2018 at the University of Graz, Austria, home of the lead partner, and concluded on 31 March 2021, following an extension necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The project set out to support and strengthen the development of learning and support assistants’ competencies for inclusive practice, in ways which are consistent with the requirements of Article 24 (Education) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. CSIE was one of nine project partners from six European countries. For more information please visit the project website. (please link to https://www.easpd.eu/en/content/imas-ii-improving-assistance-inclusive-educational-settings)
Project partners have developed five online Knowledge Boxes for use by Learning and Support Assistants and anyone else interested in better supporting the learning and development of disabled children in ordinary schools. All Knowledge Boxes are available in five languages (Bulgarian, English, German, Portuguese and Slovakian) and cover the following topics:
Disabled Children’s Rights in Education
Interaction & Communication
Cognition & Learning
Physical & Sensory Impairment
Emotions & Behaviour
Each Knowledge Box contains theoretical information as well as practical strategies and approaches for supporting disabled children and young people in school and includes a wide range of materials. The Knowledge Boxes are available free of charge, upon free registration on the D-LoT platform(please link to https://dlot.eu/course/index.php?categoryid=22) (Disability Leaders of Tomorrow).
Educators from all project countries have taken part in a far-reaching evaluation of these Knowledge Boxes. The results confirm that Assistants who have engaged with the Knowledge Boxes not only enhanced their knowledge and practical skills but, as a result, this also increased their confidence as they reported feeling better prepared and better equipped to do their job.
The final project activities, originally planned to take place in London, successfully took place online. Teaching and Learning Support Assistants from all partner countries gathered online for a three-day training activity prepared by CSIE, in which all online Knowledge Boxes were presented and the Knowledge Box which CSIE developed, on Disabled Children’s Rights in Education, was explored in more detail. The event attracted very positive feedback from all participants, with comments such as:
“Great professionalism, great approach!”
“What I learned was beyond my expectations very well prepared.”
“It´s been amazingly well done. I’ve been part of more projects but this is top class.”
“Just wanted to say thank you for all of the amazing people who created this fantastic information.”
Project partners met on 25 March for the final project meeting, which also took place online. All project activities were reviewed and news was shared of the positive evaluation of the Knowledge Boxes and the participatory research with children and young people in schools. This meeting, and the whole project, ended on a positive note and the hope that a follow-up project could take these successful outcomes even further.
More information is available in the project’s fourth and final Newsletter.(please link to PDF attached)
