INCLUSION

Since the peak in immigration in 2015-16 in Sweden, today approximately 27% of post-secondary students are eligible for mother-tongue classes, compared to only 12% more than a decade ago. Similarly, adults born outside the EU have recorded higher participation rates in learning than their native-born peers in Ireland, Belgium, and Sweden. Diversity among learners, from immigrant groups, to NEETs and disadvantaged learners, to the neurodiverse, challenges traditional one-size-fits-all teaching and exposes a distinct need for learning spaces that work for ALL students.

INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

Yet just at the time when innovation is so clearly needed, education is failing to respond. The OECD shows that, in contrast to many companies and countries which have innovation policies and departments, “innovation remains a marginal policy agenda in most education systems.” Our own review of research/policy on education innovation revealed that the growth of technological innovation has masked the lack of pedagogic innovation and has made it harder to put forward the case that “technology can amplify great teaching, but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.”

OBJECTIVE

The goal of INACT is therefore to provide educators with the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage in pedagogic innovation, helping them to create inclusive, innovative and genuinely engaging learning experiences for all their students.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

The first tangible results of the project will be the intellectual outputs:

•  IO1 “Differentiated Instruction for Inclusive Classrooms” an online course that introduces the challenges that diversity poses and upskills participants on the principles of Differentiated Instruction as a proactive means to cater for different learning needs and styles.
• IO2 “Pedagogies for Innovative and Creative Classrooms”, a compendium of good practice sourced from participating countries and all over Europe, published in a dynamic, digital format with clear guidance on how to adopt/adapt them for each educators’ own situation.
• IO3 “Digital toolbox for the 21st Century Classroom”, a carefully curated selection of digital tools, with actionable information which enable educators to harness technology in favour of more creative pedagogic techniques.