– eminent.eun.org14-15 November 2012 – Genoa, Italy Learning environments for all: Special Needs in the future classroom Genoa 14/11/2012

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Workshop outline Context (Christian Liesen, Roger Blamire) Access to content (Marcella Turner) –Accessibility: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education –Discoverability: Developing the Learning Resource Exchange Innovative practices (Silvia Panzavolta and Patrizia Lotti) –Examples from Italy, Estonia (Merje Pors), Portugal (Ida Brandao), United Kingdom (Terry Waller) Mainstream teacher education (Ida Brandao) –Awareness-raising and support –Demonstration of an online course Concluding remarks 2

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Context The future classroom –Pedagogies –Technologies –Learner and teacher competences Challenges/opportunities –Entitlement UN Convention ratification –Integration into mainstream schools Challenges for mainstream teachers –Potential of ICT to achieve this SNE Working Group and SENnet –Peer learning activities 3

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy 2: Access to learning 4

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Access to content European Agency –i-Access project outcomes –ICT4AL plans Improving access to resources in the Learning Resource Exchange Discussion (digital textbooks…) 5

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Access to content Why is accessible ICT so relevant for education? ICT to support personal access to information and knowledge ICT to support learning and teaching situations ICT for alternative/augmentative communication ICT to support access to administrative procedures 6

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Relevance of Accessibility UN figures – half a billion people with disabilities worldwide 10% (a conservative estimate) of European population has some form of disability 2% - 18% of the total school population (temporary or permanent educational problems) ICT is increasingly seen as a major tool in meeting individual learning needs People with disabilities are at risk of being doubly disadvantaged if their access to appropriate ICT is not supported 7

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Accessibility Policy European and International policy support the provision of accessible content: Digital Agenda for Europe (2010) European Commission Conclusions on Accessible Information Society (2009) Standardisation Mandate 376 (2005) UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) – Tunis Commitment (2005) 8

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy The i-access project March 2011 to February 2012 supported under the Lifelong Learning Transversal Programme, Key Activity 1: Policy Co-operation and Innovation funding, agreement number: LLP-2010-DK-KA1-KA1ECETA Experts from 21 Agency member countries 9

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy The i-access project Additional experts including UNESCO, G3ict, the International Association of Universities, European Schoolnet, World Wide Web Consortium/Web Accessibility Initiative and DAISY Consortium The goals of the project were to raise awareness of the issues of accessibility and develop recommendations to support accessible information provision. 10

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy What is i-access? i-access stands for “information - accessibility” This includes access to all forms of information: Websites and web tools Electronic and print files Various forms of media Contact with organisations 11

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy What is i-access? i-access is more then technology, it is also about how technology is embedded in suitable organisational processes to provide the organisation's target groups with a fully accessible interaction experience 12

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Guiding Principles Rights Principle: Access to information is a fundamental right - it empowers learners and facilitates their participation in society. This access must be provided in the earliest phases of learning and accompany a learner throughout their lifetime. Structural Principle: It is vital that any policy or recommendation does not regard technology as an end in itself. The systemic factors that determine the use of tools for lifelong learning must be recognised and considered. 13

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Guiding Principles All-Inclusive Principle: Accessible information provision needs to be considered in its widest interpretation to include people with all forms of disabilities and/or special educational needs. Synergy Principle: Accessibility benefits users with disabilities and/or special educational needs and may often benefit all users. 14

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Recommendations 1. Raising awareness about accessible information for lifelong learning as a rights issue. Policy makers, organisations and professionals in lifelong learning, ICT specialists, people with disabilities and/or special educational needs and their families and support networks should be made aware of learners’ rights to accessible information provision. 2. A multi-stakeholder approach based upon co-operation and information exchange should be taken. Highly specific policies focused upon single interest group issues alone cannot achieve the provision of accessible information for lifelong learning. Policies must be developed and then implemented based upon the principle of a multi- stakeholder approach. 15

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Recommendations 3. Issues around accessible information provision should be covered in the education of all professionals involved in lifelong learning. ICT can contribute to effective access to learning opportunities only if all professionals in lifelong learning are educated in the use of ICT as a tool to enable equal opportunities in education. 4. Issues around accessible information provision should be covered in the education of ICT and media professionals. Educating media and ICT specialists on the impact of disabilities and/or special educational needs on people using ICT, it is possible to develop more accessible technology from design to production and avoid later work to make the finished product more accessible. 16

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Recommendations 5. Accessibility should be a guiding principle for procurement of all goods and services. Goods or services should only be purchased from organisations that fully account for accessibility issues. 6. Research should be promoted in order to develop an evidence base for future policy design, implementation and evaluation. Long-term research efforts in this area should inform policy-making, monitoring and evaluation and should aim to identify areas for future development and work. 17

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Recommendations 7. Compliance to policy should be systematically monitored. Monitoring of compliance can only be encouraged at present, but should be extended. Compliance with accessibility policy is monitored on an international level for signatories of the UNCRPD (2006), but currently not all countries provide these annual reports. In the long term monitoring of compliance to accessibility policy should be mandatory at the national level. 18

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Practical Project Outputs Collection of examples of practice Glossary of related Terms access/glossary-of-terms; access/glossary-of-terms Collection of Useful Resources agency.org/agency-projects/i-access/useful-resources; agency.org/agency-projects/i-access/useful-resources Suggestions for further reading agency.org/agency-projects/i-access/further-reading; agency.org/agency-projects/i-access/further-reading 19

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Further Agency work on accessibility 1. ICT for Inclusion Project: agency.org/agency-projects/ict4ihttps:// agency.org/agency-projects/ict4i 2. ICT for Information Accessibility in Learning (ICT4IAL) –3 Year follow up of the i-access project supported by the LL Programme of the European Commission –Network including European Schoolnet, International Association of Universities, UNESCO, DAISY Consortium and Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs –Main goal is to develop the recommendations into guidelines which will be trialed within 3 of the network organisations –Project begin is January

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy 2: Innovative practices 21

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Innovative Practices Year 1 report: Integrating students with special needs into mainstream classrooms: the role of ICT Examples from –Italy –Estonia –Portugal –United KingdomUnited Kingdom Available at Discussion (other examples…) 22

Innovative Practices – Italy 1/2 Connect to Redi redi/ redi/ Paolo, 18 years old. Serious illness that forced him to stay away from school for a long period. Liceo “F. Redi” in Arezzo (1,200-1,300 students) Combining the virtual environment with the physical environment of the classroom made it possible to respect Paolo’s rights to health and education as well as his wish to keep working with his class. 23

Innovative Practices – Italy 2/2 Policy Law 517/77 rules requirements and conditions for inclusive education, in particular the presence of SEN teachers and of PEI. Law 104/1992: right to education of SEN pupils is implemented through the creation of the functional and dynamic profile and the PEI, which must be agreed upon by the pupil’s school, health companies and local authorities. With Law 3/2009, Italy ratified the ONU Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities- 24

Innovative Practices – Estonia 1/2 Jakob – Ordinary teenager living an ordinary school life? Jakob, 17year old. Visually impaired since birth. Tallinn's Old Town Educational Collegium. Jakob needs assistance mainly in mathematics, chemistry and physics, in half of the subjects he can manage on his own. After going to the classes with Jakob and conducting an interview with him it can be said that he’s an ordinary teenager living an ordinary school life except that he needs some support and assistive technology to acquire all the knowledge. 25

Innovative Practices – Estonia 2/2 Policy According to the Educational Act, children with special needs have the right to attend the school of their residence. Estonia is moving towards more inclusive system of education -Reducing the number of special schools -Increasing the importance of information and communication technology in the study process of children with special educational needs 26

Innovative Practices – Portugal 1/2 Assistive technology by a student with low vision at school and home Ana, 17 years old. Student with low vision. Secondary and 3 rd cycle Basic Education School of Mirandela. The purpose of the study was to examine the use of assistive technology by a student with low vision in the context of the school (11 th grade) and at home, and how these media help to overcome daily obstacles allowing to develop skills, motivation and pleasure for learning. 27

Innovative Practices – Portugal 2/2 Policy The first National Action Plan for the Integration of People with Disabilities was launched in 2006, followed by the present National Strategy for Disability. A law was passed in January 2008 which governs special needs provisions in schools. Support services for SEN pupils were set up in mainstream schools, such as: (i) Multiple Disabilities Units; (ii) Autism Spectrum Disorder Units; (iii) ICT Resources Centres for Special Needs. Special needs institutions that used to take care of many of the children with severe special needs - at present included in mainstream schools - established agreements and negotiations with the Ministry of Education to provide technical/therapeutic support to the children. 28

Innovative Practices – United Kingdom 1/2 Aroob Aroob has significant word finding difficulties which mean that she frequently cannot think of the right word she needs at the right time. This short film shows Aroob in her mainstream school using a specialised communication app on an iPod Touch to search through visually to find the right word. This can then be spoken by the iPod or Aroob can often say the word when she sees the symbol. Aroob and her peers think having the iPod is very cool and this has been a great boost to her self-esteem and confidence. More case studies at: 29

Innovative Practices – United Kingdom 2/2 Policy The Equalities Act (2010) extended in 2012 the reasonable adjustment duty and now requires schools to provide auxiliary aids and services to disabled pupils. Code of Practice for SEN (2001) requires schools to address children’s SEN and outlines the process including the issuing of a legal statement of need. Draft Provisions on SEN and Disabilities 2012 proposes significant changes to the system including a new Code of Practice, a new Education Health and Care plan (from years of age) and a new approach to funding. 30

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy 3: Teacher education 31

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Raising teachers’ awareness and providing support Developing and piloting online modules 32 “Run more courses like this in the future, since it's an opportunity for connectedness and for the community to share resources and reflect on and discuss issues” (teacher)

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Moodle in Portugal 33

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Towards the future classroom for all Discussion –Inclusive pedagogies –Inclusive technologies –Universal design –Universal access Key messages from the workshop 34

14-15 November 2012 Genoa, Italy Take part in 2013 activities! Research –2013 theme/s –Annual report on innovation with ICT in SNE Content –Survey of ministries –LRE resource tagging –Special needs in mainstream toolkit for teachers 35 Teacher education –Translation and piloting Networking –PLAs in Denmark, Portugal, Turkey… School visits and topic-related seminars Exploitation of results –Links with iTEC, CPDlab