Project INDIVERSO A SCHOOL MARKET FOR THE INTEGRATION An italian good practice

Daniela Boscolo, a support teacher, is candidate for the Global Teacher Prize for the project that she has conceived; She has pioneered ways of teaching pupils with learning disabilities, enabling them to develop their capabilities in ordinary social situations.

The Project It was realized from 2010 in the commercial and technical Institute for Tourism of Porto Viro (Rovigo); The school is attended by around 180 students divided into 10 classes, including 16 certified with special educational needs; PREMISE: in high school the integration has the task of organizing the learning, the collective life, the rhythms, the spaces, with a view of the “After School” in a social, existential and professional perspective.

The Project It’s an orientation activity, in favour of the social-working integration of the students with intellectual disabilities; It consists in the simulation, at school, of a working environment: a supermarket run by disabled students.  Is a known context and easily accessible;  the students have a chance to move, not only to work experience, but they can also exercise to be socially independent;  It offers many activities;  It has links with school subjects;  It is a workplace likely for guys with disabilities.

Actors Involved: All school staff; Students (“managers”/”users”); Two social Cooperatives; The Local health Unit; The Italian Union Blind and visually impaired; A supermarket (“Lando”) which provided material for the preparation of the School Market and has made available an employee to teach the students; A supermarket (“Crai”), which hosted the students; Parents. NETWORKING with different realities of the territory

The main aims of the Project: To acquire basic, specific and transverse skills; To increase the level of self-esteem of the students; To trace the competences assessment of each student for a more effective job placement; To allow a first targeted approach with the job environment; To avoid periods of social “alienation”; To educate parents at the autonomy of their child; To acquire appropriate behaviour to a working reality; To allow the system of job placement the knowledge of the disabled person in the growth and learning phase; To assess the expectations of the students with regard to the work placement; To educate students of the institute (involved as clients) to recognize an active social role to their classmates with disabilities.

Specific skills promoted by the project: To read the time and the date; To respect the time of delivery; To learn how to work in a team respecting everyone’s roles; To be able to rearrange the objects according to criteria; To know how to use the scale, the calculator and the computer; To be familiar with quantities and measures; To be able to recognize and use the money; To learn to label the products; To learn to fill in an invoice ; To be able to create advertising billboards in Italian and English; To be able to fill in an order; To be able to communicate in English.

Course Of Action: SETTING UP a room in the school used as a supermarket LINK WITH THE POINT OF SALE through some guided tours SIMULATION for two hours a week INTERNSHIP (15 days) in an external supermarket

Evolution of the project: Food Laboratory Theme of “Health Education – Nutrition Education”. The Students, through practical and theoretical activities, have become aware of the nutritional characteristics of different foods in the market. To the City Market An orientation and personal/social autonomy experience. Visits to the City Market and knowledge of other types of products and their prices.

Evolution of the project: Project “Special Masterchef” Thanks to the collaboration of a restaurant, the project allowed students with disabilities and their mates to acquire special skills and competences in a working experience.  the students learnt how a restaurant does work and became acquainted with the various activities carried out in this working environment, including accounting/tax tasks;  some training sessions at the restaurant  the students learnt to clean and cook fish, to prepare starters, the first and main courses, pizza and sweets, to prepare tables and serve the guests;  the project ended with a gala dinner and the creation of a recipe book as its synthesis.

Assessments EFFECTIVENESS INDICATORSPAPERS OUTPUT  number of students who are unable to finish the project;  quality of their learning in terms of basic, specific and cross skills;  skills mapping at the beginning and end of the project;  tests.  List students;  skills mapping at the beginning and end of the project;  tests. OUTCOME  number of students integrated into a work environment;  time of job placement;  quality of employment in terms of consistency with the formative projects.  updated lists of students leaving the school and integrated in a work environment;  mapping of the companies or cooperatives that are welcoming. SOCIAL IMPACT  number of production realities willing to accept students who are involved in the projects;  increased participation of parents to job placement projects.  reports and lists of the job centre;  Meetings’ report.

Some final thoughts: The importance of looking beyond the school, in a perspective of “Life Plan”; The use of the capability approach, which looks to the resources of each student, rather than the difficulties; The creation of customized work-related learning project for every student starting from their capabilities, and create environments inside and outside school in which they can express their proficiency; The importance of family involvement for the compliance projects; The need to implement networking with the social realities of the territory. “An inclusive school is a school that enhances the skills of all turning them into valuable resources for the entire community” (Daniela Boscolo)

To Conclude: Autonomies Soft Skills Specific skills PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AND WORK –RELATED LEARNING

Thanks for your attention