Course overview

“Inclusive education is not an optional extra, it is a basic necessity. We must put the most vulnerable at the heart of our actions to achieve a better life for all” said Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education. Statistics prove that students with learning disabilities in segregated schools catered for special education needs will be more likely to be earlier school drop-out or to have fewer opportunities when entering the job market. Inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream schools is an important goal. Italy has been a pioneer in this field and with only the 0,01% of students with special needs in segregated schools leads EU countries in inclusive education.
Participating in this course teachers and education staff will get to know and analyse the Italian model of inclusive education discussing strategies, working methods and approaches to fight the segregation of students with special needs and at include them in the mainstream education.


​Learning outcomes

This training course is aimed at getting to know strategies, methodologies and tools to include all students in education and at learning how inclusive education works in Italy and how overcoming segregation of students with special needs is indeed possible.
The general aim of this course is to foster excellence and inclusion in education by providing teachers, headmasters, education staff and policy makers with knowledge and inspiration to make inclusive education a reality in their school.
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Thanks to this course the participants will:
  • Get to know the key principles, benefits and values of inclusive education;
  • Learn about the Italian inclusive education model of overcoming segregation and including students with special needs in mainstream education;
  • Get acquainted with ICT tools and platforms that support and ease the learning process of students with special needs;
  • Get to know and discuss teaching strategies and practical activities to foster participation and enhance the learning of special needs students;
  • Discover the power of peer-involvement and peer-education;
  • Visit Italian schools and institutions active in the field of inclusive education and students with special needs;
  • Exchange good practices and discuss challenges with Italian teachers as well as education staff from other EU countries participating in the training course.

Courses planned

2024
 11/02/2024 - 17/02/2024 (Bologna)
14/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 (Bologna)
28/04/2024 - 04/05/2024 (Palermo)
13/10/2024 - 19/10/2024 (Bologna)
13/10/2024 - 19/10/2024 (Palermo)
17/11/2024 - 23/11/2024 (Palermo)
24/11/2024 - 30/11/2024 (Bologna) 

2025
09/02/2025 - 15/02/2025 (Bologna)
16/02/2025 - 22/02/2025 (Palermo)
11/05/2025 - 17/05/2025 (Bologna)
11/05/2025 - 17/05/2025 (Palermo)
05/10/2025 - 11/10/2025 (Bologna)
05/10/2025 - 11/10/2025 (Palermo)
30/11/2025 - 06/12/2025 (Bologna)
30/11/2025 - 06/12/2025 (Palermo)

​If none of these dates suits you please mind that if there are at least 8 participants interested we may organize an additional session ad-hoc for your school.

Target audience

This course is addressed to teachers, trainers, educational counsellors, career counsellors, school psychologists, headmasters, school management and administrative staff working in primary schools, secondary schools, vocational schools, training centres, adult education schools, higher education and NGOs.
Please mind that the course may include teachers from different school levels.

Language

The course is held in English. For groups with at least 8 participants, we can organize an ad-hoc session in a different language. 
Please write an email to [email protected] to get more information about it.

Past participants say...

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"If you want to learn about inclusive education, you definitely should follow this course."
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- Alin Guler, Romania

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"The training for Erasmus+ teachers by ELA are a great event to attend. The staff are young, motivated and helpful, their enthusiasm for work and flexible organization is quickly recognized and appreciated."

- Metodi Stoyanov, Bulgaia

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​"This course showed me the Italian system of education. It was a good opportunity to know this system."

- Asunción Gómez Aller, Spain

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Standard daily programme

Please find below the standard indicative daily programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles.
Our standard program comprises 7 days of course, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangement. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion. Upon specific request we can organize longer or shorter versions of this course.
Sunday
-  Participants arrival
 - Orientation and information about the venue and the city 
 - Networking activities
 - Walking tour in the venue’s city
Monday
-  Course introduction
-  Team building exercises
-  Needs and expectations evaluation
-  Schools and participants’ presentations
-  Inclusive Education in Europe: basic concepts and current statistics
-  From integration to inclusion: the benefits of inclusive education
-  Sharing experiences and best practices in working with learners with learning disabilities
Tuesday
-  The Italian inclusive education model: how it works and which are its main actors, tools and approaches
-  The personalized didactic plan and the inclusive annual plan
-  Practical group work on inclusive annual plans
-  Visit to a local school and discussion with local teachers on the challenges and best practices to include students with special needs
 -  Cultural activities in the venue’s city
Wednesday
-  Membership, relationships and skills: how to create an inclusive classroom
-  The role of empathy in working with learners with special needs
-  Practical group work: in the shoes of our learners
- Optional cultural visit outside the venue’s city 
Thursday
-  Inclusive teaching methods: a new perspective on universal design for learning
-  How to make learning resources more accessible
-  Diversifying teaching methods to include all
-  Co-teaching main approaches and the Italian experience
-  Success case presentation: station rotation teaching to meet individual needs
- Visit to a local school working with young people with physical and learning disabilities and discussion on teaching methods, tools and approaches
Friday
-  Using ICT tools and platforms to support the learning process of learners with special needs
-  Practical work on ICT tools
-  Working with parents: challenges, benefits and best practices to involve and communicate with families
-  Making inclusive education a reality
-  Practical activity: what can I improve in my school?
-  Farewell dinner
Saturday
-  Space for discussion of future cooperation and planning follow up activities
 -  Course roundup and final evaluation
 -  Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony
 -  Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)
 -  Participants departure
    Pre-registration
    Read here our privacy policy

Other relevant facts

  • Methodology
  • Costs and Erasmus+ Funding
  • Certification and Validation of learning outcomes
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We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
The standard methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning in an interactive and international environment knowledge applicable to the real contexts and/or in the classroom. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange. They include visits with local schools and institutions allowing the participants to better understand the local education system as well as exchange ideas and contacts.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.
Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs to attend our training courses including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and we offer different options to ensure the best comfort and quality at a price that is within the Erasmus+ grant.
We are proud to tailor our training courses to both participants' learning and practical needs and to ease your participation at our training courses, we will gladly take care of all the practical arrangements. If you prefer, you can take care of some of the practical arrangements by yourself (e.g. meals, local transport...), though we will manage the organization of your accommodation in order to ensure optimal logistic organization, safety and time-efficiency. We always provide board and lodging in the same hotel in which we organize the course  thus ensuring optimal comfort and potential of networking with the fellow participants. Read more about  how we take care of your subsistence and practical arrangements. 
The most common option that we offer to schools and organisations in 2025 costs 1405 EUR in Bologna, 1330 EUR in Tenerife and Thessaloniki and 1225 EUR in Palermo, Porto and Rimini and includes course fee, certification and support fee, accommodation in single room, 2 coffee breaks per day, walking tour in the venue’s city, a sum-up dissemination video. The standard option in Bologna, Tenerife and Thessaloniki includes all meals from Sunday lunch to Saturday lunch, while in Palermo, Porto and Rimini includes all breakfasts and three networking meals in local restaurants. Few of our courses include extra services and activities hence having a different pricing option, which will be communicated upon receiving the pre-registration.
​For schools sending 2 or more participants we can offer accommodation in double rooms and we can provide as well accommodation for people or relatives accompanying the participants.
When attending our courses, we recommend you to request 9 days of individual support for your subsistence costs, 7 days for the course plus 2 additional days for the travel. In this way you can have more flexibility in planning your stay and you can enjoy all the cultural activities planned from the first to the last day of course. You can read here more about the Erasmus+ funding. Shall you have need any help with filling the budget during the application stage or have any problem with your grant please let us know and we will see how to support you.
At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance, together - if requested - with the Europass Mobility Certificate. The certificate are in line with the Erasmus Quality Standards and include a short description of the course and its learning outcomes, dates, venues, the name of the course provider and the course instructor(s).
We support the participants in every step of certification and validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon request we can provide additional certification and reporting documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.

Videos and photos of previous training courses

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