"Project Title:""Professional support for the teachers of visually impaired pupils in a mainstream schools""""Veljko Ramadanovic"" School of Visually Impaired Students, Belgrade has one hundred years of experience working with blind and visually impaired pupils.We recognized the necessity to provide training to teachers in an inclusive setting for using assistive technology, various tiflodidactic tools and Braille.We are building collaboration with the following partner organizations in order to exchange experiences and strengthen knowledge in this field:1. Center IRIS- Center za izobrazevanje, rehabilitacijo, inkluzijo in svetovanje za slepe in slabovidne, Slovenia;2. ISTITUTO REGIONALE RITTMEYER PER I CIECHI DI TRIESTE, Italy;3. Drzavno uciliste za deca i mladi so osteten vid ,,Dimitar Vlahov“, The Republic of North Macedonia.Goals:Our goals:- To strengthen the professional competencies of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings- To encourage social inclusion of pupils with visual impairment in mainstream schools- To improve the teaching quality by using assistive technologies in inclusive education.Activities:1. Provide a professional training course for the subject teachers (two-day training course)2. Design a handbook for teachers in inclusive education as a practical guide for working with blind and partially sighted students;3. Exchange of good practices at the meetings, via Skype, Viber and a Web Site formed during the duration of the Erasmus + project.Results: - A new, published Manual as a practical guide to teachers in inclusive education, which provides information on the use of assistive technologies, and on Braille notation in subjects of natural sciences (math, physics, chemistry); - A training program of teachers in working with blind and visually impaired pupils in inclusive education settings; - Website - created during the duration of the Erasmus + project will serve as a platform for the exchange of good practices between partners and teachers in mainstream schools.The project activities will include about 40 teachers from the mainstream schools (per participating organizations). The project will greatly contribute to increasing the competencies of teachers engaged in the education of pupils with visual impairment."

<< Background >>The special schools involved in the project are implementing customized education programs for the blind and partially sighted. To ensure the best possible conditions for education, each of them has developed various activities, including the adaptation of didactic materials for blind and partially sighted students. In the past, blind and partially sighted students were only included in specialized institutions. In these institutions, teachers have specific knowledge and experiences for adapting didactic materials and teaching aids for the needs of lessons.With development of inclusive education, blind and partially sighted students in all partner countries have become increasingly involved in inclusive schools. This has increased the need for adaptation of wide variety of teaching materials, as each school selects them autonomously. Because teachers during their studies are not trained to teach blind and partially sighted students, they often find themselves in need of how to adapt teaching materials so that these students can achieve their learning goals and be equally involved in the pedagogical process. For quality teaching and inclusion of the blind and partially sighted, they need various special knowledge in the field of teaching material, adapting materials, using adapted ICT equipment, knowledge of orientation and mobility, and braille. These teachers turn to special institutions for help and support. All partner schools are currently in the process of transforming into professional centers, the main goal of which is to help and support inclusive education. Transition is a process that requires professionals to be prepared for change and to acquire new skills. The design of the project and its main goals are therefore intended to raise the professional competencies of teachers who teach blind and partially sighted students and to raise the competencies of professionals who adapt various didactic materials. Teachers in Slovene and foreign schools use various teaching materials during their teaching process, but they can be useless for teaching blind and partially sighted students if they are not adapted in an appropriate way. When reviewing the materials with which teachers pursue the goals of the curricula, we can see that there is a lot of material. Some of these are essential for the acquisition of learning objectives and the achievement of knowledge standards. In doing so, we face the challenge of how to adapt tactile material that cannot be replaced by a description for the blind so that it does not differ significantly from the original and is accessible to students and teachers. Teachers are not sufficiently equipped with the knowledge and skills for this type of work and do not have the necessary hardware and software.Despite many years of practice, organizations involved in the adaptation of tactile material still adapt their own tactile material for the blind and partially sighted, as there are no unified recommendations. We are aware that unified recommendations could ensure better quality adjustments, as well as the possibility of exchanging adapted image material between partners. On the basis of unified recommendations, a freely accessible collection of adapted tactile material would be created, thus enabling teachers of blind and partially sighted students to access professionally adapted and high-quality teaching material for use in the classroom. By preparing videos and instructions for using a freely accessible collection of adapted tactile didactic material, we will also train teachers for their proper use. It is also important to note that in most countries, except Serbia, there is no higher education institution that would deal with the development of didactics and teaching methods for the blind and partially sighted, so international networking of experts within the project is important from the perspective of professional development.<< Objectives >>The plan of the project, whose main goals are to raise the competencies of professionals who teach blind and partially sighted students and to raise the competencies of professionals who adapt tactile didactic material for the blind, addresses the needs of all participating partners. With this project, we want to establish an international network of professionals who adapt materials for the blind and partially sighted, in order to acquire new skills in adapting tactile didactic materials and use their in-depth knowledge in creating a freely accessible collection. Acquaintance of teachers who teach the blind and partially sighted with the collection and Instructions for the use of these materials will enable the raising of teachers' competencies and the rationalization of their preparation and implementation of the learning process.Also, at the international level we still do not have unified recommendations for adapting visual material for the blind, so each organization adapts in its own way. Unified recommendations mean richer and better adjustments and offer the possibility of exchanging adapted image material between partners. Therefore, our desire is to ensure a high professional level of adaptation in all partner organizations by adopting unified Recommendations for the adaptation of tactile didactic material, which will facilitate the production of tactile materials for teachers of blind and partially sighted students.With a set of tactile material that will support the learning objectives, we will provide teachers with professionally adapted teaching material that they will be able to use during the lesson or will provide it to students for independent work. With this project, we want to give them free access to a collection of adapted tactile materials for the blind and partially sighted and train them how to use them. Instructions for using the collection and a video presentation will be available to them. Teachers are expected to use the materials in their pedagogical process and to enable blind and partially sighted students to be more equally involved in the pedagogical process, to provide a rich and professional quality set of tactile materials and to ensure greater sovereignty in implementing an inclusive educational process.Our wish is that all newly acquired knowledge to be included in professional training programs for teachers, which are organized by partner organizations also after the project. Last but not least, we want to enable the participants in the Erasmus + project to exchange knowledge and experience, both in the field of content, as well as in the field of teamwork, project management and language competences.<< Implementation >>Several different activities will be carried out during the project. Five international project meetings will be held, the purpose of which is to connect with partners, review current work, plan goals and future activities. International project meetings strengthen the connection between the partners and enable the exchange of ideas and good practices between all participants in the project. During the project, they are scheduled in such way that they enable the conditions for good cooperation and continuity of work on the set goals as much as possible. All but one meeting will be conducted live, which strengthens the working etiquette of all participants and facilitates collaboration. The first international meeting is more of an organizational nature, so it will take place virtually, and all the others are set up for live work, which enables higher quality in working progress. In addition to international project meetings, there will be continuous meetings of leaders of every partner organisation and the project coordinator, which allows for constant review of planned activities, monitoring of progress, resolving potential issues, conflicts or problems. There will also be two learning / teaching / training activities aimed at deepening existing knowledge and acquiring new knowledge. The first training Adaptation of textbooks and other teaching materials for the blind and partially sighted is intended to deepen knowledge about the adaptation of teaching materials and the acquisition of new knowledge in this field. The emphasis will be on adapting teaching materials and adapting didactic tactile material. The training will take place with the active participation of all project members in order to gain as much experience and practice in the field of adaptation. The second training on audio description of tactile material is another possible form of adaptation, which enables further development of the field of adaptation of didactic tactile material. At the end of the project, Multiplicative events will be held in every country of each partner and coordinator on the project. They will be intended for the presentation of project activities and results, to all those who are directly or indirectly involved in working with adapted materials. The event will be aimed at teachers of blind and partially sighted students, IRIS Centre professionals, parents of blind and partially sighted children, representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, covering the field of education of children with special needs and the field of the development and quality of education and also other interested public e.g. publishers. Project partners who will join us via a virtual connection will also be invited to the event. Multiplicative events will be organized in each country separately, in order to reach as many users as possible. These events will be organized in the final phase of the project so that the concrete results of successful international project cooperation can be presented.<< Results >>The expected products of the project are the manual Unified Recommendations for Adapting Visual Didactic Material for the Blind, which is intended for all professionals of special schools involved in adapting tactile didactic material, as well as teachers to help identify appropriately adapted materials and options for adapting selected material. The product of the project is also the Collection of adapted tactile didactic material for the blind and partially sighted. The collection will be freely accessible and extensive. It will collect all appropriately adapted tactile didactic materials of the participating organizations, which will be made during the project. The collection will remain freely accessible even after the end of the project and will be constantly updated with new. appropriately adapted tactile didactic materials. Thus, teachers of the blind and partially sighted will have a larger set of professionally adapted tactile material. The product of the project will also be the published Instructions for the use of adapted tactile didactic material for the blind and partially sighted, which will be supported by video demonstrations for teachers of blind and partially sighted students. The use of adapted tactile material requires certain knowledge and approaches, for a comprehensive understanding, so such instructions are necessary, as they allow their proper use. The expected results of the project are that teachers of blind and partially sighted students will use adapted tactile didactic material in the pedagogical process, freely access the collection of adapted tactile materials and be more efficent and autonomus in the implementation of the educational process. The expected results of the project will also be reflected in the adopted unified recommendations for adapting tactile didactic material for the blind and the established international network of professionals adapting materials for the blind and partially sighted and knowledge of various education systems for children with special needs in partner countries. The newly acquired knowledge will be included in professional training programs for teachers organized by partner organizations, professionals in partner organizations will acquire new competencies in adapting teaching materials and video presentations for teachers of blind and partially sighted students. Project work enables the acquisition of new knowledge and experience in the field of teamwork and project management, as well as the development of language competencies using the English language. The results of the project will affect the quality of education of blind and partially sighted students, who will have adapted learning materials that are currently inaccessible to them in order to achieve the learning objectives from the curricula.

<< Background >>The project STEAM in the secondary school with no barriers for blind and visually impaired pupils, has been created to generate in Spanish schools, including the partner university, inclusive classrooms with a diversity of students with different profiles, especially students with visual impairments. The school partnership includes three schools specialized in this student profile, the collaboration and exchange of practices will serve to generate experiential classrooms within technical subjects such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics and arts (STEAM), subjects that have often been cited as difficult for students with visual impairments.The centers specialized in students with visual impairments, the partner university, the Canary Islands high school with students with various disabilities, including severe disability profiles, and the coordinating center in Burgos will generate classrooms of full integration, with students of diverse profiles, working in STEAM subjects in a cooperative system and seeking a full integration of all students, working on equal opportunities without differentiating students by abilities, religion, sexual identity or gender.Within the specific needs for STEAM material for visually impaired students, the project will address the following needs;1.- Generation of material with technical notation in audio and Braille format and to be able to include it in conventional schools.Access to visual resources. To develop online and public formats accessible to visually impaired students in STEAM subjects in an alternative format to the usual one.3.- Development of oral explanations for the understanding of visual concepts.Experimenting without vision: some aspects of participation in classroom activities, inclusive experiments among students with and without disabilities.5.- Creating teaching methods for STEAM subjects and being able to develop activities in integrated classrooms. 6.- Real experimentation in integrated classrooms and generation of teaching strategies, highlighting in this the need for teacher training to equip teachers to overcome these problems.There is also a need to generate a specialized training for undergraduate and master students in teaching within the profile of students with visual impairments, this project addresses this training through specialized partners and the O.N.C.E., collaborating entity.<< Objectives >>1.- Diseñar aulas inclusivas incluyendo todo tipo de perfiles. Aulas inclusivas que muestren el desarrollo de asignaturas STEAM y talleres entre alumnos de diferentes perfiles integrados y trabajando en sistema cooperativo.2.- Adaptar aulas , recursos, medios y métodos en colegios societarios para poder diseñar proyectos educativos de aula inclusivos.3.- Formar a alumnos de grado y master en metodologías para alumnos con discapacidad visual mediante la experiencia desarrollada en el proyecto en los colegios societarios.4.- Difundir el proyecto entre profesionales del entorno a través de los centros de formación de profesorado de Burgos y Lanzarote, a través de sisones internacionales generadas por la Universidad de Burgos y a través de los foros en etwinning y el twinspace entre profesionales educativos europeos para poder crear sinergis futuras entre ellos y de esta forma mejorar el desarrollo de una educación diversificada.5.- Generar material audiovisual entre los socios que pueda servir como fuente de recursos para poder mejorar y diseñar talleres específicos en cada centro.6.- Evaluar la aplicación desde una perspectiva experiencial a materias STEAM en aulas inclusivas.7.- Reforzar la red erasmus entre centros escolares para los socios participantes.8.- Reforzar el trabajo en red de los profesores y alumnos participantes y motivar esta forma de trabajo entre alumnado con discapacidad visual y discapacidades diversas.<< Implementation >>The schools will design STEAM activities for students of different profiles and abilities, obviously Lanzarote IES and specialised schools will focus on the profile of their students. The schools will publish STEAM activities and subject development through the project twinspace, and these publications will serve to generate learning and exchange of good practices in the schools. The activities will be designed so that students, regardless of their abilities, can acquire key competences in STEAM subjects, generate inclusive classrooms for all types of students and design activities for cooperative work between students.The project designs three LTTs between students in order to develop in an experiential way all this shared online experience, these three LTTs will be used to evaluate the shared online activities, to evaluate the real effectiveness of these activities and to correct and improve their application, being absolutely necessary these experiences in order to evaluate in a real way an inclusive classroom formed by European students, globalizing in this way the education in Europe, both by nationalities and by abilities.The whole experience will be public, open to comments, trying to make European teachers aware of the need for training and adaptation of the classroom to an inclusive system.In the LTTs for teachers, the aim is to train teachers from the partner centres, but also to disseminate and have an impact on the professionals in the surrounding area through training sessions held at the Faculty of Education in Burgos and the teacher training centres in both Burgos and Lanzarote.<< Results >>1.- Document good practice guidance on converting technical information into accessible formats and, where such guidance is already available, ensure that it is widely publicised and used.2.- Document good practice related to the creation of visual resources for learners with visual impairments. 3.- Document good practice related to cooperative work in classrooms with diverse learner profiles. 4.- To investigate in a practical way the effectiveness of tactile materials and whether students are equipped with the appropriate knowledge for the effective development of workshops designed to use them efficiently.5.- To generate dissemination through etwinning among European education professionals about the possibility of creating classrooms with the participation of students with visual impairments in practical lessons such as experiments and observations, integrated classrooms among students with different abilities.6.- Identify or offer guidance on teaching methods to optimise the experience of students with visual impairment in the classroom.Develop training to increase the confidence of teachers/lecturers in teaching technical subjects to students with visual impairment. The design of this training through the creation of networks of teachers, getting them to share ideas and good practice, workshops or online courses and sessions between undergraduate and masters students, professionals from specialist schools and the O.N.C.E team led by D. Jaime Muñoz in the two LTTs in Burgos and Lanzarote. 7.- Improve communication between students and teachers so that teachers are aware of the needs of students with visual impairment.To carry out and publish the effective interventions in the teaching of STEAM subjects to students with visual impairment and integrated classrooms carried out in the LTTs among students.