Erasmus+ students develop tools for inclusion and accessibility without borders

A delegation of around 70 people, including students, teachers and representatives of local institutions from five countries, including Portugal, came to Porto to share and learn about practices to promote inclusion and accessibility in schools and educational communities as part of the Erasmus+ project.

The delegation was received at the City Hall on Monday by the Councillor for Education and Social Cohesion, Fernando Paulo, who presented Porto as 'an inclusive city, open to Europe and the world'.

He pointed out that, 'in addition to the University, which has around 60,000 students and receives around 5,000 Erasmus students', 'in our schools we have 3,200 immigrant students'.

Porto 'is an inclusive city because it has policies and measures for all people and all ages; because it pays special attention to people with greater vulnerabilities, including people with specific needs', Fernando Paulo explained.

Regarding the project 'How special are your needs? Can we help? STEAM for an inclusive Europe!', Fernando Paulo emphasised that 'by investing in education, inclusion, breaking down physical, communication and social barriers, we are enabling all people to exercise their citizenship and be an active part in building fairer, more equal, cohesive, open and tolerant communities'.

Of the three-day programme, the highlight was the round table held on Monday in the Auditorium of the Eugénio de Andrade School Grouping on the theme 'What is my city doing for inclusion?', which was attended by local representatives from the cities involved, including the Councillor for Education and Social Cohesion from Porto City Council. This was followed by a charity concert at the Porto Music Conservatory. The programme also included workshops, lectures and sports.

Breaking down physical, communication and social barriers

The Erasmus+ project, 'How special are your needs? Can we help? STEAM for an inclusive Europe!', Cooperation partnerships in school education 2021/2024 has the participation of six countries: Belgium, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Sweden and Portugal.

Each country is represented by a school or institute, with the exception of Portugal, which has three: Agrupamento de Escolas Rodrigues de Freitas (AERF) school grouping, a benchmark in the field of vision; Agrupamento de Escolas Eugénio de Andrade (AEEA) school grouping, a benchmark for the bilingual education of deaf students; and Escola Artística do Conservatório de Música do Porto (CMP) music conservatory.

The project essentially aims to raise awareness among schools and educational communities of the physical, communication and social barriers faced by people with different profiles, in order to promote inclusion and foster accessibility through solutions in areas such as science, technology, engineering, art and math.

It was based on cooperation between partners and collaborators for an international view on problems and, at the same time, the sharing of good practices, which strengthened working methods to develop technological solutions that were created during the three years of collaboration.