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The TIPOTE project was launched in February 2024 with the organization of the first Training of Trainers and the official Kick-Off Conference. Since February, the Finnish-Mozambican team has organized a large number of activities with the main focus on strengthening the knowledge base and creating networks that will be needed in the next steps. Here is a selection of some highlights.
The second Training of Trainers (ToT) gathered most of the Key Experts in Maputo in early September 2024. We took a deep dive into the different dimensions of inclusive education and the characteristics of an inclusive teacher. As one participant put it in the feedback questionnaire:
There were several different approaches from the teachers involved in the project, and by being an interdisciplinary group, we all enriched our understanding of the fundamental concepts of inclusion.
During the ToT days, we also heard reports from interdisciplinary teams of Key Experts who had conducted benchmarking visits to Mozambican educational institutions in and outside Maputo in July and August. The purpose of the visits was to better understand the realities and challenges of inclusive and special needs education at the school level in different contexts. Interviews with school leadership, teachers and students enriched the understanding of what accessibility challenges mean in practice, what kind of capacities schools have to give support to students with special needs, what opportunities and barriers exist in the use of digital tools to support learning, and the importance of staff attitudes and different pedagogical methods, just to name a few.
Coordination of activities is a crucial issue in project implementation. TIPOTE has four output areas and four corresponding output groups. There is a risk that the four groups will develop into four independent small projects. Therefore, we spent quite a lot of time during the ToT giving space to all groups to share their experiences, definitions and plans. Ongoing inclusive discussion and joint planning of activities is something that we will need to pay special attention to also in the future, as one participant pointed out:
I felt that some of us still have conflicting ideas when it comes to understanding the end result of the project. But this [the ToT] is positive because it has given a feeling of being in the same space. However, I felt that some decisive points were not closed, in terms of reaching a common consensus on what we need to do, common steps.
At the end of the ToT days, the first meeting of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) took place, demonstrating the invaluable importance of networking and listening to people with first-hand experience and thus deepening the understanding of the different learning challenges. Some children and young people need support to physically access school, while others have difficulties seeing, hearing, or understanding the language used by teachers. And, as the representative of the LGBTQ+ association pointed out, sometimes it is the social norms that hinder learning as some young people are afraid to come to school for fear of not being accepted for who they are.
Photo: Project Advisory Committee members in the first PAC meeting at UP-Maputo
After the ToT in Maputo, the five members of the STEM output team travelled to Rovaniemi, Finland. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, and the team aims to develop more inclusive teaching practices, particularly to encourage more girls to study STEM subjects. Their visit to the University of Lapland inspired the team to think of many new ideas, such as incorporating the STEM approach for preschool children as a strategy to encourage entry and enjoyment of STEM courses at later levels.
In the final months of TIPOTE’s first year, 2024, teams of Key Expert will continue to travel to some of the neighboring countries to benchmark inclusive practices in sister universities.
Stay tuned for more news!
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