Implementation Criteria

PROJECT implementation / Award criteria

The project addresses broader, specific and operational objectives of LLP and Grundtvig Programme as set out in Article 1.3 (f), Article 29.1 (b), Article 29.2 (c-f) of the Programme Decision. Target group of project is teachers and parents of children with Cerebral Palsy (aged 03-18).Parents of CP children in many countries suffer from bureaucracy, poor transport alternatives, less mobility, inadequate support resources, lack of information and difficulty to access, negative attitudes in the society. Teachers are important in educational life of CP children however they don't have adequate knowledge, experiences, competencies on how to cope with CP children in classroom by considering actual abilities, skills and problems of them. Although parents and teachers of CP children need support in different areas to cope with CP children, unfortunately, there aren't adequate and efficient supportive instruments in education such as training modules, web-based information tool, trainings,meetings/seminars etc. Therefore, aim of CP-PACK project is to improve actual approaches on supporting parents and teachers to cope with children with CP.

Objectives;

• 1. to obtain reliable data on the needs of parents and teachers regarding CP.

  2. to improve actual approach on acceptance of CP children with actual abilities, skills and problems of them among family members and teachers.

  3. to be acquired parents and teachers of children with CP vital knowledge and competencies in order to assist these children in a right way at home and at school,

  4. to develop an information platform, web-based, providing support for teachers and parents according to general needs of parents and teachers of children with CP,.

  5. to contribute to raise awareness on decision-makers in education, parents and staff in education.

Training modules, project website,web based information platform,e-needs analysis reports, e-newsletters, articles and leaflet will be outputs of project that addresses priority 3 and 5 of the Grundtvig Multilateral Project.

Quality of the Work Programme

The project sets out to develop training modules for parents and teachers of children with CP (03-18) which fosters knowledge and competences of them in order to cope with CP children. The methodology used to develop these training modules are innovative, cooperative and active learning methods in adult education will be used. Partners of the project are different types and dealing with parents and teachers of children with CP from different perspectives. The project has 7 different partners; 2 partners are strong universities; one is assistive technology and special education department, the other one is department of health sciences, psychotherapy and rehabilitation CP clinic. Applicant institution is a big local public authority in education has plenty of schools and teachers, one is a network of educational schools, the other one is adult education provider, the other ones are very effective NGO (CPC) in Greece and has many contacts in Europe related to CP, the last one is very specialized and experienced research institution on CP. The work program of the project; state of art and deep needs analysis, development of training modules for parents and teachers of CP, piloting them with test groups, development of web-based information tool as well as development and realization of dissemination and exploitation plans. Internal and external evaluation of the project including monitoring process will prove high quality of work performance. All experts have sufficient specialization and experience to perform work program proposed in the application form. Time is suitable for planning, needs analysis, developing, getting feedbacks and revision of outputs of the project. Effective communication and monitoring will be provided among partners by e-mail group i.e yahoo or google. It will be transparent and provide participation of all partners in the project by forming contact database. In addition, web site, dissemination outputs, symposium, seminars will contribute participation of end-users.

Innovative Character

Children with CP are representative of many disabled children as they have a range of physical, intellectual, hearing, vision and communication impairments; and there is a wide range of severity. Therefore, parents and teachers of children with CP (03-18 age group) encounter many difficulties at school and at home because of nature of this disorder. It is obvious that parents and teachers of CP children need support from State, society, family members, school in some contexts to cope with these children at home and at school in many EU countries. Although there are some support sources in education on CP in some of the partner countries, there aren't any materials, books, guide books, information platform on CP reflecting European dimension. Meanwhile, there isn't any training group specialized on training of parents and teachers of CP children at international level. Trainers will get responsibility in trainings of parents and teachers in their own regions as well as training courses that will be opened with several sessions in 2013 and in future as 'trainer'. First time training modules will be developed in EU standards according to needs of parents and teachers of CP children by contribution of partners taken into consideration their expertise, experiences, studies, recommendations, materials, booklets performed beforehand in partner countries and in Europe. Teachers and parents of children with CP, academicians, trainers, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, technicians, staff in education dealing with CP as user groups can utilize from training modules according to their needs.

They can also be used in training activities for teachers and parents of children with CP by related institutions. Web site including information platform, trainings as well as training course included Comenius/Grundtvig In-Service Database will provide learning opportunities, acquisition of competencies and access to information for user groups.

Quality of the Consortium

Consortium consists of 2 higher education institutions, 1 adult education provider, 1 NGO, 1 research institution, 1 public authority and 1school association from 7 partners from 6 different countries. AMEM has ‘Special Education, Guidance and Consultancy Services’ department that is responsible for managing, monitoring, evaluating and supporting special education, psychological counselling services at schools and 15 guidance and research centers. ESE/IPP has a unique Special Needs Evaluation Unit and a very strong Special Education Department, it also has a good set of resources in what concerns assistive technology. Europole has a network of schools, teachers, researchers, associations and educational institutions at national level working for European social and educational integration. CPG has a wide range of services for diagnosis, medical care, therapy treatment, rehabilitation, education, social integration, recreation and vocational training of children and adults with CP. H.U. is a reference center on CP for all Turkey. It has a primarily role in psychotherapy and rehabilitation programmes for CP children and their parents as well as training of parents. CPPC provides trainings for adults especially in culture, ICT, management and human resources. HEC is a research institution aiming at initiating research and development on CP as well as developing best practice and golden standards in relation to intervention strategies for CP based on most recent knowledge and evidence based methods. Therefore, the consortium represents different institutions working in education which allows to bring various expertise and thus meet needs of target group. All partners have relevant experience in material development and training of parents and/or teachers. Most of them have been and are being involved in national and international educational projects. Many partners have close relationship with authorities in education in its own country and Europe so high level of dissemination and exploitation of project results will be provided.

European Added Value

Many parents in EU countries need support on participation (improving their life situations), improving physical (mobility,transport), social (support to/for parents) and attitudinal (attitudes in society, family, school etc.) environments to cope with their disable children. This is not the problem of one country, it is the problem of many EU countries in some contexts. Meanwhile, teachers are important actors in educational life of children with CP in order to increase quality of life of these children. Nevertheless, they need to acquire required knowledge and competences, to share needs and experiences with other colleagues in partner countries, to observe good practices in partners to cope with them at school. There are many parents and teachers who suffer from this disorder in many EU countries so EU cooperation and collaboration are necessary to assist these parents and teachers to cope with CP children at home and school. Training modules will be produced in English and also their own languages of partners. Therefore, they can be used in other EU countries after project has finished. Training modules, project meetings, project web site, information platform will provide parents and teachers of children with CP improve knowledge and competences; share experiences from different perspectives with other families, colleagues coping with same problems in the other EU countries. Meanwhile, CP-PACK project will strengthen cooperation and collaboration between public bodies, research centers, educational institutions, NGOs, universities and associations dealing with CP. Awareness will be raised by the project on decision-makers, parents and staff in education related to CP to get attention on the need of support pack and put into effect across the countries. Staff working in the project will develop and share knowledge, experiences and skills on CP, usage of ICT, practice communication language of the project and learn cultural, social and historical background of partners.

The Cost-Benefit Ratio

In order to achieve a high level of value for money, the consortium decided to subcontract only the activities which cannot be fulfilled using the regular capacities of an organization (translation of regular and draft works, printing, external evaluator etc.) . Also, the consortium have decided to realize some of the psychical outputs (printed promotional material) in a single country, where the cost is at a lower level (TR). Another measure to reduce the total cost for the project implementation is the decision to use to a large extent the internet and other new media tools for promotional purposes. Also, the partners will use as much as possible their own, regular activities to integrate the project activities.

Impact

Target group of CP-PACK project is parents and teachers of children with CP (03-18 age group). Some of them will be involved development of training modules and trainings in each country. Parents and teachers of children with CP need support from professionals, society, family members, school to struggle with children with CP. Supportive packages will be developed by CP-PACK project for them and outputs of the project will be training modules produced in English and own languages of partner countries, project web site, web based information platform, meetings, symposium with stakeholders and target group of the project, leaflet, e-newsletters and articles. In addition, pilot trainings will be performed by using cooperative and active learning methods to train parents and teachers of CP children and test training modules. Moreover, they'll find a place to share their needs with the other families and colleagues in their own and partner countries so they'll get answers of the questions. Furthermore, they'll get assistance and support about their needs to struggle with CP children. They'll learn different life situations in partner countries. All of them will provide parents as a disadvantaged group and teachers of children with CP get information about project and its results, improve their knowledge and competences on coping with CP children, usage of ICT in adult education. Staff working in the project will have an experience on project management, learn different approaches, strategies, methodologies, good practices on coping with CP from different project partners. Trainers will share their knowledge and competences with other trainers in the project partners on CP so they will improve their knowledge and competences on this issue and usage of ICT in adult education. Both of them will develop close communication and cooperation with target group of the project because struggling with CP children needs collaboration of several actors such as parents, teachers, therapists, psychologists, support staff, technicians etc.

Quality of the Valorization Plan (Dissemination and Exploitation of Results

Valorization plan will include valorization of project results among project partners, target group and end users of the project. End users of CP-PACK project is parents and teachers of children with CP (03-18 age group), therapists, clinicians, technician, support staff, psychologists, researchers and academicians related to CP so interested sectors are formal and non-formal institutions, universities, NGOs and associations related to CP. CP-PACK project will provide end users support in order to cope with CP children. Although parents and teachers of children with CP need support in different fields, unfortunately there aren't adequate and efficient supportive instruments for end-users of the project. Some of parents and teachers of CP children will be involved National Team in each partner. Most of the partners have close relation and cooperation with Ministry of Education in their own country especially AMEM, CPG and HEC, it will offer an opportunity to integrate the results on a wider scale. Formation of contact data base for key staff, list of recipients related to stakeholders, e-newsletters, press releases, web site, meetings, leaflet, articles, reports will contribute dissemination of project results.

Distribution of developed training modules to decision-makers in education, institutions related to special education, NGOs, parents and teachers associations performing activities for CP children and teachers and parents of CP children in each partner country, selection of at least one of the pilot schools to be used developed training modules in trainings of parents and teachers of children with CP in the school, usage of developed training modules in its own in-service teacher trainings or trainings for parents or both in each partner country, opening teacher training course with several sessions in 2013 at international level, development of web based information tool, 'Valorisation Symposium' will provide usage of project outputs among end users of the project and exploitation of project results.