The Future of Education
The SMILE Project - A Systemic Approach to Creating an Inclusive Educational Environment
Anca Colibaba, GR.T.Popa University / EuroED Foundation (Romania)
Irina Gheorghiu, Albert Ludwigs Freiburg University (Germany)
Cintia Colibaba, Ion Ionescu de la Brad University Iasi (Romania)
Ramona Cirsmari, Scoala Primara EuroEd Iasi (Romania)
Carmen Antonita, Scoala Primara Euroed Iasi (Romania)
Stefan Colibaba, Al.I. Cuza University (Romania)
Abstract
The article is based on the SMILE project, under the Erasmus+ Programme, which is being implemented in four European countries: Greece, Romania, Portugal and Bulgaria, the last country also being the project coordinator. The project aims to transfer and scale up a Model for a systemic approach to inclusive education which was initially tested out and applied in Bulgaria. The Model and its self-assessment instrument enable teachers to create an inclusive school environment relying on four educational areas: shared and visionary leadership, inclusive pedagogy, child safeguarding and partnership with parents. The article outlines the objectives and methodology of the project and focuses on the main findings that have emerged from the teacher training course on inclusive education delivered in Romania. The training sessions are designed as workshops that encourage active participation (expressing opinions and sharing experience) with a view to actively implementing the ideas generated by each participant school during the training. This strategy allows for schools to adjust and apply to their context what has been acquired, and also later discuss with the other participants, share experiences and fine tune them.
Keywords: inclusive education, school, teachers, model, training.
