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Exchanges of experiences among children with mentally and physical diffuculties
Start date: Jun 1, 2015, End date: May 31, 2017 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The Municipality of Jönköping has an ongoing project to find forms of cooperation in education and social service, in order to capture students with low school attendance. Teachers at Solåsskolan attended a seminar 2015-02-24 when representatives from social services, schools and school health care, met on this issue. Also at national and European level, this is a recent focus group. 2013 gave SKL (Swedish County Council and Municipalities) the publication "Turn the Absence to Presence" with explanations and practical action hints for handling the issue. Another study has described this target group and causes of school absence. Bullying, exclusion and poor treatment in schools are mentioned as the three main causes of dropouts from secondary schools. Neuropsychiatric disorders, not detected in schools, is another cause. “Education 2020” describes targets for all Member States in Europe. The first is to reduce the share of early school leaving to below 10%. We believe that our project fits in well, with both regional, national and European action plans and objectives. Pupils with neuropsychiatric problems need to meet a school situation, well responding to the strengths and difficulties they have. Knowledge exchange with other hospital schools and special schools are for us a great addition to theoretical studies and practical applications in everyday practise. Five teachers and one headmaster will visit and receive visitors from four partner schools in Europe. Invitations have come from hospital schools in Italy and Ireland, and from special schools in Estonia and the Czech Republic. The purpose of the project is mutual experience and joint development of educational approaches to increase school motivation of the students we meet. Broadening the horizons, to look beyond the local platform, we believe will inspire not only us as educators but also will benefit our students; students having many friends on Internet but who themselves do not come beyond the small context of their lives. In addition to informal talks, during the visits, we will use observation and structured questionnaires. The interview questions will be sent to the partner schools prior visits. The first visit is scheduled for a medical school in Turin, Italy, and gets the role as pilot project. This school is therefore visited twice and is planned both to start and finish the mobility project. The outcome of the project will mainly be presented at regional hospital teachers meetings and to special schools in our region. Vice Chairman in Child and Education Council of Jönköping, Anna Carlsson is contacted and will receive feedback after project implementation. Furthermore, we will contact local newspapers and a magazine which turns to special education teachers in Sweden. The most long-term impact of the mobility project will hopefully benefit both hospital schools/special schools, students in Jönköping Municipality ( through Child and Youth Health and Children-and Adolescent Psychiatry) and in the European cities with the same kind of work. We hope that European students with neuropsychiatric difficulties will meet an educational situation, better meeting their needs and opportunities to complete their studies and opportunities to shape their future and abilities to reach a good working life.

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