The Zero Project

EASPD - Inclusive teaching programmes: Let’s develop it together!

by Michael Fembek, Director of the Zero Project

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

What is the Zero Project?

• Project of Civil Society, initiated by the Essl Foundation (Austria), run in partnership with the World Future Council (Germany, Switzerland) and the European Foundation Centre (Belgium), started in 2011

• Mission is: “For a World without Barriers”, supporting the implementation of the UN CRPD

• 1. Research and selection of most outstanding Best-Practice examples to improve the situation of persons with disabilities: Innovative Practices and Innovative Policies

• 2. Research Social Indicators that measure the implementation of the UN CRPD worldwide

• Full research is based on the Zero Project Network of experts: more than 3000 have contributed since 2011; more than 1.000 have in 2013/2014

• Communication: Zero Project Report, Website and Conference, Social Media, “Innovative Practice 2016 of the Zero Project on Education and ICT”

• Annual topic: 2013: Employment; 2014: Accessibility; 2015: Independent Living, Political Participation; 2016: Education and ICT; 2017 Employment

2016: Research on Education and ICT

• Call for nomination in June/July 2016: 338 nominations from 98 countries

• Shortlist of 200 practices (projects, products, services) and policies (laws, regulations, supreme court rulings)

• Will be further narrowed down to a selection of 80 to 90 “Innovative Practices and Policies of the Zero Project 2015/16 on Education and ICT”

• Using an extensive network of experts in the selection process, peer-reviewing-model on broad scale, importance of stakeholder-involvement, nothing-about-us-without-us and nobody-left-behind

Shortlisted nominations using the term „Universal Design“ and principles

• Universal Design of Information, Oslo and Akershus University College, Norway

• Universell, University in Trondheim, Norway• Ciencia sin Barreras, Spain• Action Oriented Guidelines and Toolkit, India

• No clear definition of Universal Design

• Training the next generation of technology professionals and contributing to the creation of universally accessible ICT user interfaces, infrastructure and services

Making ICT usable by as many different people as possible, in diverse situations, using different kind of browser, device

Includes practioners and educators from 8 countries, using expertise from computer science, sociology, law, healthcare, neuroscience, political science

Cost-neutral; overcoming „institutional biases“

Universal Design of Information, Oslo and Akerhus University College, Norway

• Universell is a national unit supporting students with disability

Developing a universal approach to eliminate barriers, physically, socially, paedagogically

Individual adaptions to the develop inclusive environments for all

Universell University, Trondheim/Norway – Universal approach and individual adaptation in ICT

• Promote accessibility to science and scientific knowledge to students with all kinds of disabilities, using different formats and abstraction levels

Started in 2014, 59 students with Down Syndrome, 48 with visual and/or hearing impairments; 16 researchers, 12 students, 6 diversity specialists

Ciencia sin Barreras, Universidad Complutense, Spain

Provide schools with comprehensive design and implementation guidelines, preparing a toolkit on Accessibility and Universal Design, will guide UNICEF and government staff

Focus on - Space standards which are friendly and safe for all children, with a focus on girls- Cost effective design and technology solutions- Equality and inclusion of girls

Infrastructure, material in accessible formats, e-learning technology

Action Oriented Guidelines and Toolkit, Samarthyam, India

Other shortlisted nominations with a universal approach

• Dortmund Center zhb/dobus, Germany• Istituto San Giovanni Bosco, Inclusion Value with

ICT, Italy• Inclusive Education, Chance B, Gleisdorf, Austria

Creating a fully accessible learning environment for students

- Started with removing barriers from the built environment- Individualized support for applicants, students, graduates- couselling, awareness raising and training of lecturers- using the knowledge and experience of peer counselling

In 2014, 300 students and 100 applicants were counselled.

Easily transferable to other European Universities (EU Project Science Partnership)

Dortmund Center for disability and academic studies, zhb/dobus, Germany

Give equal chances to all students, by making the ICT infrastructure fully accessible to every student, especially with learning difficulties

WIFI Access, tablet for every student, training teachers and lecturers how to use technology, developing educational technology curricula, support and advisory services

820 students participated in the project, model can be used in any school in Europe

Inclusion Value with ICT, Istituto San Giovanni Bosco, Italy

Development of inclusive education facilities in the eastern part of Styria. Results will be shared with other regions.

Chance B`s expertise in non-scholar support systems and connect to the labour market.

Multistakerholder-Dialogue, based on the current modelAll educational facilities of Gleisdorf work together

Inclusive Education, Chance B Holding, Austria

Solutions that contribute to inclusive education

• Curricula for teachers• Diagnosis and

assessment• Digital literacy• Digital libraries,

databases• Advocacy campaigns• Non-formal education• Early childhood

interventions

• Job-driven Vocational-Educational Training

• Platforms, Dialogues, stakeholder inclusion

• Apps, Web-solutions• World maps• Devices, tools

In practice, there is no clear definition, becomes a kind of a buzz word.

In practice, change is an ongoing process with hundreds or thousand „lego pieces“ of solutions, dependent also on the development of technology and many other factors

There is not one big „universally designed inclusive education model“ out there, as there is no „universal justice“ or „universal democracy“ or „universal freedom“

The story of „I, Pencil“ (1958)

Using Universal Design as an approach: Yes, but…