New Initiative to Use Proven Evidence-based Education in School Inclusion

June 11, 2015 - PRLog -- What is the best way to assess the elements which compose inclusive and high-quality learning environments using evidence-based education (EBE)? The forward-thinking new Erasmus+ project “Evidence Based Education – European Strategic Model for School Inclusion” (EBE-EUSMOSI)” has set out to develop the great potential of EBE in inclusive educational approaches in schools across Europe.

Taking their cue from the recommendations made in many international studies supporting evidence-based policy-making, EBE-EUSMOSI will address problems in assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of school inclusion practices. Furthermore, the project will work to overcome the difficulties in promoting methodologies suitable for special education and inclusion.

As any good decision-making should be based on empirical research, EBE-EUSMOSI plans to integrate procedures based on such to develop a European reference model to evaluate the quality of school inclusion, especially regarding EBE. The project will also create and validate a tool to assess school inclusion strategies in different organisational and cultural contexts.

In order to ensure the long-term impact of its efforts, EBE-EUSMOSI will foster a research network to integrate, define, and disseminate specific training models internationally, including open educational resources and practices.

EBE-EUSMOSI is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme, promoting education, training, and sports in areas of mobility, cooperation, and development. The main active project phase started in January 2015 and will last three years.

Project partners include seven renowned universities with the University of Perugia as coordinator. The University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and the Open University of the Netherlands are contributing their expertise with online open educational resources and their distribution and will maintain the project’s communication channels. The other partners are the University of Udine in Italy, the University of Barcelona in Spain, the University of Zagreb in Croatia, and the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, who will ensure implementation and testing in their countries.

New information will become available as the project progresses. More detailed project descriptions and a list of partners can be found on the official project website (http://www.inclusive-education.net/).