Promoting inclusion and preventing school dropouts: goals in SHIFT project
The Institute for Lifelong Learning Foundation (IL3-UB) will coordinate the project SHIFT (School Harnessing Inclusive Facilitator Technology), a 3-year European project which is co-funded by the EU Erasmus+ program. The main goal of SHIFT is to promote inclusion in schools and prevent school dropout. The Åbo Akademi University (Finland), the University of Nicosia (Cyprus) and the Department of Education of the Catalan Government take part too in this project, which will work on the creation of assessment systems for the transfer of ICT competences with the teaching staff and other staff that contribute to the inclusion at school, as well as the design of learning routes so these professionals can create inclusive atmospheres in class..
The Institute for Lifelong Learning Foundation (IL3-UB) will coordinate the project SHIFT (School Harnessing Inclusive Facilitator Technology), a 3-year European project which is co-funded by the EU Erasmus+ program. The main goal of SHIFT is to promote inclusion in schools and prevent school dropout. The Åbo Akademi University (Finland), the University of Nicosia (Cyprus) and the Department of Education of the Catalan Government take part too in this project, which will work on the creation of assessment systems for the transfer of ICT competences with the teaching staff and other staff that contribute to the inclusion at school, as well as the design of learning routes so these professionals can create inclusive atmospheres in class..
A long-term project
SHIFT will be carried out in four phases: identification of digital competences favouring inclusion, creation of assessment tools, implementation of a pilot in schools from different countries, and last, the analysis of results.
The first phase aims to identify ICT skills for the inclusion the teaching staff and other support staff acquire in previous training, and analyse how these can be effective in class. The used model to gather this information will be built up by inclusive schools from the three main countries taking part in the project, with different social realities and educational context, so as to get a diverse and precise representation.
The second phase of the project is focused on setting indicators and tools to assess the ability of teachers to create inclusive learning atmospheres through the use of technology. To do so, there will be assessment rubrics, as well as self-evaluation and co-evaluation of the instructors, on the basis of quality criteria.
UA third phase will consist on a pilot applied into primary and secondary education schools from the three involved countries, to assess how instructors and support staff transfer the acquired digital competences and promote inclusion. “We hope to get evidence on the impact of the skills they acquired, and identify how to improve so as to get the expected educational results”, notes Maica Gil, from the Department of Education of the Catalan Government.
The last phase of this project will synthesise the obtained results in the different participating and will work on a manual for the assessment of ICT skills transfer. In addition, it will create a guideline on learning routes and best practices to favour inclusion, aimed at the teaching staff and other staff.
Guaranteeing ICT competences are transferred in class and support inclusion
Apart from guaranteeing the good development of the project, IL3-UB, as experts on lifelong training, will participate in the design of learning routes. In this sense, Marsia Ellina, who coordinates the project on behalf of IL3-UB, highlights the importance of inclusion as the core idea of SHIFT: “With this project we are committed to provide results that will promote the acquisition of skills and interdisciplinary work among lecturers and non-teaching staff in the inclusive school”.
Ignasi Puigdellívol, professor from the Department of Teaching and Learning and Educational Organization of the University of Barcelona, highlights that “the impact of this project is guaranteed for it is applied to and carried out in different schools. It is not about a theoretical research but about providing practical tools so that ICT copmetences are transferred in school and support inclusion. Also, having different countries and perspectives enriches our work and allows us to treat different needs in Europe”.
Internationalization is a key added value in this program. Emmanuel Acquah, lecturer from the Åbo Akademi University of Finland, notes “it is important for the different countries to work together so as to solve a common problem, which is the inclusion of immigrants and students with special needs, so they can feel they belong in the same classroom. This is the future of education”.