From School to Resource Centre: A Comenius 1 School Development Project
Year One Report
Introduction
The delivery of an appropriate and effective education for children and young people with a visual impairment has been dominated for many years by the debate between those who wish to place pupils exclusively in the mainstream environment and those who believe that some form of special school provision should continue to be available. This School Development Project aims to move beyond this by maintaining a role for special schools for those for whom such a placement is the most appropriate and preferred and at the same time suggesting ways in which the schools can extend their role to support the mainstreaming of pupils with visual impairment.
Project Partners
The partners for this project are:
Ekeskolan Resourcentre, Orebro, Sweden
St Josephs School for The Visually Impaired, Dublin, Ireland
The High School for Visually Impaired Students, Prague, Czech Republic
The Royal Blind School, Edinburgh, Scotland
All the partners are active members of MDVI Euronet, a Network of professionals dedicated to improving knowledge and practice in the field of the education of children and young people with multiple disabilities and visual impairment.
Project Aims: Year 1 (2002-2003)
Background Research:
Web based research for articles related to the theme of special school resource centres.
Needs Analysis:
Identify services that could be demanded from a special school resource centre.
Study Visits:
Identify good practice in Europe in the delivery of selected services through Senior Management Team and Head Teacher visits.
Model:
Develop a European resource centre model based on the needs analysis and good practice established during the study visits.
Dissemination:
Results of the project disseminated via a Web site.© Comenius 2003