During the week, the Key Experts considered inclusion from various perspectives such as digitality and STEM education. During one session, six smaller groups analyzed various barriers of accessibility and inclusion. For example, girls’ school attendance is a multifaceted phenomen that has its roots in cultural traditions and gender roles. To change the situation, schools and teachers need to work with families and communities. Likewise, children with visible disabilities face discrimination in and outside of schools. School rules for appropriate clothing can hinder poorer children from accessing school, and hungry students may not benefit from teaching however good it might be.
article
Initiating Collaboration in the TIPOTE Project: Sharing Ideas on Inclusion
The TIPOTE project was kicked off during the second and third week of February 2024 in Mozambique. 14 Key Experts from Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo (UP-Maputo) and from Instituto Superior de Educação e Tecnologia One World (ISET – One World), five (5) Key Experts from Jamk University of Applied Sciences and three (3) from University of Lapland spent long days together creating common understanding on inclusive and practice orientated teacher education and defining activities for reaching this aim.
One key element of the week was to learn to know the other Key Experts. It was extremely motivating to feel the shared enthusiasm towards strengthening inclusion in Mozambican schools.
Visit to local schools
The Key Experts visited a primary and a secondary school to understand better the circumstances where teachers carry out their teaching. Collaboration with local schools is an important project activity that brings teacher educators, teacher students and members of the pedagogical community together in a Living Lab to develop new practices for inclusive education.
Kick-Off Conference
The first TIPOTE week culminated with a Kick-Off Conference on Friday, February 16, 2024. High level speakers from UP-Maputo, ISET-One World and the Finnish Embassy highlighted the potential of collaboration between the various actors in Finland and Mozambique.
The president of the Association of Disabled Mozambicans (ADEMO), Fárida Gulamo, and other speakers from associations of persons with disability emphasized the need to pay attention to both physical accessibility, teacher competences and general attitudes to improve inclusivity in schools.
The director of the Department of Teacher education at the Ministry of Education, Technology and Higher Education, Remane Selimani, brought in a personal experience of how persons with disabilities have to fight attitudes in their educational paths and expressed the wish that TIPOTE will work closely together also with the ministry.
Other speakers reminded TIPOTE actors of the need to take stock of what has already been done by others. Overall, the Kick-Off Conference was a good example of the need and benefit of collaboration and sharing widely with various educational, governmental and non-governmental actors.
Keywords
Innovative Learning
Share
