Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2014 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------mentioned before; each course day had two
training sessions with breaks (we used them to
socialize with the other participants), two or three
countries' presentations that gave us information
about the participants' countries, cultures,
civilizations and educational systems, and an
educational visit to discover the cultural and
historical elements of Turkey. The materials used
by the trainers – PowerPoint presentations,
flipcharts – were very well designed, interesting and
useful for me.
This training has been funded with support from the
European Commission through the Lifelong
Learning Programme, Comenius in-service training.
This publication/communication reflects the views
only of the author, and National Agency and the
European Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.
Bibliography:
Final report of Comenius in-service training “EUMAGIC – Effective Use of Modern technology And
Games In Classrooms”
eTwinning Inclusive
by Christine Kladnik
Integration and Inclusion in Europe
For about 30 years there have been efforts in the
educational systems of Europe to teach children and
young people with special needs together with all
other students. At the beginning these intentions
were carried mainly from concerned parents and
dedicated Special Needs (SN) teachers. As a
consequence of migration also the integration of
students with different first languages got an issue
and a challenge in schools. There were good best
practice models, but in the European education
systems integration/inclusion remained a marginal
issue.
With the ratification of the UN Convention on People
with disabilities, all European countries agreed to
advocate and implement Inclusive Education. Since
that time Inclusion has been (still a little hesitant) a
content and target of the European educational
policy. Here you can find more information:
http://inclusion-europe.org/en
http://www.european-agency.org/
http://www.education-worldwide.de/InclusionEurope-7015_e.html
What is meant by “Inclusion”?
Inclusion wants more than the integration of
students with SN or other first languages in
“normal” classes/schools. Inclusion refers to the
appreciation of the diversity of all people and the
lifting of limits between disabled and non-disabled,
nationals and foreigners, male and female and
between religions and cultures.
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In an inclusive school students learn together from
each other, each child is appreciated with their
resources and is integrated into the whole – nobody
is excluded.
A beautiful dream? Only a vision?
No, not at all! Because there is eTwinning, and thus
a way to implement the goals of inclusive education
and to realize them.
An inclusive eTwinning story
I am an SN teacher and I have worked in a special
school for students with very special needs for a
long time. My way as an eTwinner started there
almost 10 years ago. In the first projects we set up
a small network of SN schools/classes and were
soon rewarded with quality labels and prizes –for
example: http://wondertree.wikispaces.com/, 11
partners from 11 countries). So then we sat with
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