Let's EMBRACE the inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities
The European Commission data spells out that in the EU 54% of children with disabilities were cared for by their parents, alone, as compared to 32% of nondisabled children. This means that in early childhood education and care (ECEC), often, children with disabilties are left out. The EMBRACE Project wants to influence this reality and will develop tools to foster the inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities on early childhood education and care
On 9th and 10th February EASPD joined the kick-off meeting, together with partners from Cyprus, Greece, North Macedonia, and Poland. During the meeting, partners discussed the main objectives of the project and the Project Results. In addition, the consortium elaborated on the matters related to Quality Assurance, Evaluation and Dissemination.
The project’s main objectives are:
- To develop inclusive values and attitudes among ECEC educators,
- To equip ECEC staff and leaders with the needed tools and knowledge to foster a culture of inclusion.
- To raise awareness about the importance of inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities in ECEC
- To increase the visibility of children with intellectual disabilities and deconstruct stereotypes
The next steps will be about research: by identifying opportunities for informing ECEC staff on topics such as inclusive ECEC for children with intellectual disabilities in each county. The following tasks include the development of an ‘E-Learning Course’, an ‘Inclusion Handbook’ and an ‘Awareness-raising Toolkit’.
EASPD will work on the development of the awareness-raising Toolkit on the inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities in ECEC, and will host the final conference of the project in the Autumn of 2023.