The SEND's are acting in life

3 Participating countries: North Macedonia, Turkey, Romania

Start: 01-09-2020 - End: 31-08-2022

Project Reference: 2020-1-TR01-KA229-03185                                    

EU Grant: 43.320 EUR

Programme: Erasmus+

Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Action Type: School Exchange Partnerships

In EU countries, the rate of disabled people who left after primary school is 25%. It is noticeable that they are exposed to isolation from community and the rate of employment of them is low because they In today’s World, it is a common problem in EU Countries that people who are with disabilities and special needs such as Down syndrome and mental disability are isolated from community and they are not accepted by other groups because their lack of communication skills and because they can not do like what social structure wants from them, and they try to survive with the help of other individuals
According to data of OECD of EU and Turkey, approximately %15 of World population is composed of individuals with disabilities. So that, they are called ‘largest minority’ in the World.
In EU countries, the rate of disabled people who left after primary school is %25. Also, %29.9 of disabled people are in the risk of poverty/social isolation in EU. It is noticeable that they are exposed to isolation from community and the rate of employment of them is low because they are not be included in production and social life.
It is a important way to share the practices which are promising with international collaboration for individuals with disabilities so that they can acquire vocational skills in schools, provide self-confidence, maintaine their lives as individual offering added value to society and discipline social integration. On the basis of this problem, under the coordination of Turkey, we have met three schools from North Macedonia, Romania and Turkey and decided to pursue our Project named ‘The SENDs Are Acting in Life’ Our most fundamental need was to produce solutions to uncover own potential of our student with special needs and to annihilate obstacles that they have countered and will countered.

Facilitating the access of individuals with disabilities to health, rehabilitation, supporting education and employment, ensuring social equality for their success and mobilizing all the possibilities for environmental planning will make an important contribution to the solution of this problem. Education is an extremely critical topic for the employment of people with disabilities and for the prevention of poverty or social exclusion. We have selected the partners of the project, considering our personal initiatives and according to that there are experienced institutions carrying out educational activities on eTwinning in the field of special education, and also that the student profile is similar to our pupils profile. We provided the needs analysis by conducting online meetings with other stakeholders. Basic and common problems of all partners; The socioeconomic status of many of the student families is low profile, a significant part of the student parents are disorganized families, the social exclusion of students due to the limited communication skills, anger attacks and aggressive behaviors, and the high level of post-school employment anxiety of the students. We believe that people with disabilities who are educated in schools can not generalize learning with classical education techniques, and supporting students with a production and art-based model will make learning more permanent and
enable student integration into society.

Our project will be realized under these two main titles. Production and Art. In 3 countries, 3 different production activities and therapeutic art activities will be held.
In Turkey; professional skills will be gained in the field of organic farming and cooking with ecological production and gastronomy activities. Therapeutic studies will be carried out in the fields of painting, traditional crafts, earthen ceramics and music.

In Romania; decorative objects such as ceramic works, vases, flower pots will be produced and professional skills will be gained in the field of cooking with gastronomy activities. A composition consisting of traditional music and dances will be prepared and a theatrical performance will be performed.
In North Macedonia; In the field of wood material production and restoration, professional skills will be gained and therapeutic studies will be carried out in the fields of painting and music.

At the end of the project, a 3-part documentary film will be created and the reflections of workshops, professional skill workshops and art therapy workshops carried out in each country will be shown to students and teachers. The goal of our project; to enable students to develop skills based on production and art, and to participate in social life and express themselves with confidence. In addition, it is the rehabilitation of students and their parents, teachers to learn different methodologies, to support students' self-confidence and entrepreneurship, to facilitate their integration with the society, to get to know the culture of other societies. Our project is in the long term; It aims to encourage employment of disabled people by contributing to social production, developing lifelong learning skills in students and teachers, tolerance to different cultures, and creating awareness and sensitivity in all segments of the society, employers and awareness.