Rechercher des projets européens

Empowering staff through knowledge and skills aiming at improving services to PMLD students
Date du début: 1 sept. 2016, Date de fin: 31 août 2017 PROJET  TERMINÉ 

Helen Keller Resource Centre caters for students of secondary age and young adults between 16 and 22 years of age experiencing profound and multiple learning difficulties. The Centre is equipped with facilities which cater for our students' needs including a Multi Sensory Room, a Sensory Motor Studio, a Gym, A Jacuzzi, an Art room, a Music Room and an ICT lab. The centres offers these services through specialized personnel with periodic training on their use. Apart from activities using these resources, each classroom is equipped with a kitchenette to promote independent living skills, ICT equipment such as switches and also power links that give environment control directly to our service users. All the above activities are incorporated in the National Curriculum in line with the NCF of 2012. This involves the use of the EQUALS Curriculum for those students under the age of 16 and the Moving On programme for the older ones.The objectives for this project are: -to get first hand experience on the use of various resources and how we can utilize what we have available, -to follow curriculum planning, designing and implementation in relation to what we currently do in order to improve our practice, -to experience the use of academic tools such as Individual Educational Programmes with curriculum development, - from the knowledge and skills acquired from this visit update the current curriculum, -updating also the outreach programme after strengthening the services being offered. Our organization plans to visit Special Education Centre No.3 them Kornela Makuszyńskiego in Krakow, Poland following a visit by the staff of this school at our center during the beginning of this scholastic year. Staff from our center will experience and have time to ask questions while experiencing on first hand basis what goes on in classrooms and how the curriculum is planned, delivered and evaluated. Participants will also have the opportunity to share this experience with other educators back home. The main activities to be carried out during the mobility period are: -classroom learning and teaching observations -observation of services offered outside the classroom setting and also outside school-observation on the use of resources -discussions about curriculum planning, designing and implementation -discussion on IEPs and their importance in relation to the curriculum being covered -discussions between schools' Senior Management Teams All documentation and evidence from this project will be compiled and copies will be given to Erasmus+, other resource centers in Malta and to the Sannat Unit in Gozo, the College Principal and higher authorities within the education sector to evaluate the proposals and how participants arrived to such conclusions. A power point presentation will be developed so as to disseminate the whole project which includes the three phases; the preparatory, the mobility and the follow up. Presentations will include parents and other stakeholders working with our students even from different sectors such as speech therapists, physiotherapists, nurses, doctors amongst others. Apart from the changes in the curriculum, in the use of resources and the introduction of new services, this project should lead to the launching of the outreach programme and the production of an information leaflet regarding the service we offer as a center. Following this activity, staff will be more empowered with knowledge and skills and this will be evident in the improvement recorded in the services being offered, in the writing and implementation of IEPs, the finalizing of the center's curriculum and implementation, the introduction of new services, the increasing number of users from mainstream settings, the help given to teachers dealing with PMLD students in an inclusive setting. After six months from the project, another evaluation meeting is to be held with all staff (both participants and not) to evaluate the situation and if this visit was fruitful or not even from those who did not take part in the project. This meeting can include also students and other stakeholders. Finally a questionnaire to all stakeholders will be delivered to assess and evaluate if the changes made have left the desired results in relation to the curriculum, school management, use of resources, introduction of new services, improvement in the services currently offered and the attitude of staff towards these changes for the better.

Coordinateur

Details

1 Participants partenaires