Our second Key Action 1 Erasmus+ Project

Our school’s vision is to become a hub of professional excellence and innovative practices in education and bringing Broadening Perspectives to a successful end was another step in this process.

The project owes its inception to a motivated group of Learning Support Educators (LSEs). They expressed an interest in attending professional development courses as part of an E+ project targeting children with special needs following a dissemination event held as part of another E+ project. In line with an external audit report on special needs and inclusive education in Malta, by applying for this project we also wanted to provide “support for teachers and other staff through specialist services that focus on upskilling school personnel by providing training in inclusive education for all education stakeholders” while broadening our staff’s perspectives.

The project had 2 main objectives. The first was to develop competences related to diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense with a focus on children with special needs. The second objective supported the personal and professional development of participants as they engaged with other professionals, bridging cultural difference to create networks, sharing good practices while actively engaging and modelling the competences we would like to develop in our learners, including life-long learning.

Throughout summer 2021, 12 members of staff took part in 8 different courses offered by 6 different course providers. Working within restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, dissemination activities were organised at school level through informal networking and through focused initiatives promoting the experience and competences developed. More dissemination activities are planned for the future.

The project is yet another success story for our school community and we very much look forward to the next.