The School Social Support for Students with Disabilities - 4StuDi project - aims at improving the social inclusion of Students with Disabilities (SwD) in school units and communities in all participating countries. It is also expected that via the dissemination actions and sustainability activities, along with the targeted effort to align this project with previous projects undertaken from all partner countries, the national initiatives for tackling early school leaving and disadvantage will be reinforced. In addition, the 4StuDi project will foster social inclusion by engaging learners to innovative practices of raising awareness of the needs of students with impairments in schools. Digital practices will go hand in hand with real life situations, depicting the real difficulties students with impairments face in their everyday life within the school community.4StuDi aims at tackling intersecting drivers of exclusion that may be invisible to the school community by hearing the voices of the actual learners with disabilities, traditionally excluded or silenced and informing teachers and peers about new pathways to embrace learners with disabilities and advance, in this way equity in education, which is essential to sustainable, inclusive and democratic participation in all spheres of life. Teaching SwD in mainstream schools presents unique challenges for SwD, but also for educators and classmates. The ultimate aim of the 4StuDi is two-folded: First, to investigate the impact of disability education/information programs on teachers and school-aged children/adolescents. Second, to make school education for students with disabilities more fun, more inclusive and just. To achieve the aims of the project 6 intellectual outputs, 3 multiplier events, 32 tasks and 17 activities will be delivered.Participants will involve at least 100 teachers of primary and secondary education, 400 students without disabilities and 120 SwD with visual, hearing, physically/mobility impairment and learning disabilities (30 students per disability). The first part of the research will be conducted on groups of SwD and will investigate what types of social support they expect from teachers and classmates without disabilities and the types of support they consider most important. The second part of the research involves students without disabilities and teachers. The students will respond to a pre- and post-knowledge assessment about the social support they can provide to SwD. Between the two assessments, the students without disabilities will participate in the education/information programs which will take place in the school environment with the instruction of their teachers. An educational digital game will also be an additional component of those programs. Moreover, teachers of primary and secondary education will participate as subjects in a similar pre- and post-knowledge assessment about the social support SwD need and in a multiplier event aiming at informing a significant number of teachers who are expected to spread the knowledge received and at diffusing the knowledge to students without disabilities. Teachers and students without disabilities will also be involved in the pilot evaluation of both the educational material and the educational game. The 4 StuDi project will deliver the following results:1) Identification and classification of the types of social support that SwD need in their school environment from their classmates and teachers.2) Understanding the existing knowledge of students attending primary and secondary schools and teachers regarding the social support they provide to students with disabilities. 3) Educating the school community about concrete types of support students with disabilities need during their presence in school. 4) An improvement on the quality of support given to students with disabilities. Τools and didactical-pedagogical solutions will be emerged to make educators and students realize the ways they can help SwD.5) Dissemination (via e-learning sessions, videos, newsletters etc) of the type of support SwD need in order to provide them with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities. It is envisaged that the findings of the 4StuDi project will be the basis for the design and implementation of new research in the field of inclusiveness, analysing the impact of interpersonal relations, social media, inclusion in the school community, and the dynamics between the members of a school community with a specialized focus on SwD. Consequently, the findings of the 4StuDi could form the basis for the development of school curricula, or enrichment of the existing ones, and digital educational games and programmes. New research findings advancements in the scientific community concerning the identification of concrete ways of helping SwD, making things that are invisible and can influence the school progress of SwD, visible and tangible, and in this way, resolvable.

The project aims to produce a model of, and tools for, engaging young people aged 14+ to minimise Early School Leaving (ESL), as an answer to the pan-European challenge of youth unemployment and strategy to reduce Early School Leaving, identified in Europe 2020. The need for this has been identified at local level, by the partners’ own experience of the lack of up to date and high quality materials that motivate and support young people at risk of ESL, and that include information on opportunities available throughout the EU. The need has also been identified at national and EU levelSpecific objectives of the project are:• Initial and continuous education for education staff: To promote a better understanding of ESL, both in initial education and professional development, for school and VET staff. • A strong and well-developed guidance system: To strengthen guidance to ensure that young people are aware of the different study options and employment prospects available to them. • To develop counselling systems that provide young people with both emotional and practical support: The materials will identify various means of guidance, including mentoring, coaching and work placements• Co-operation with the world of work: The materials developed will identify how to provide opportunities that allow young people to experience the world of work. Using the partners’ range of employer networks, the viewpoint of the employer will be considered, so that the ideas presented are both practical and useful. The project will work with 800 young people at risk of ESL and 165 educators (teachers and career counsellors), who will be trained to identify and support young people at risk of ESLThe project plan will be the key tool that drives activities, subdivided into work packages, with each partner having clearly defined roles and responsibilities with target timescales. The project will take place over two years from December 2015 to December 2017. Implementation of the project and development of the intellectual outputs will involve• Programme management – which will run throughout the project• Research into existing materials and pedagogies around preventing ESL, including any existing good practice and the limitations of existing materials. • Development of new materials in relation to career advice/counselling and activities for young people to increase their motivation and employability skills. There will be a particular focus on ensuring that opportunities across Europe are included in the materials. • Translation and adaptation: Once agreed, materials will be translated into the four languages of the partnership.• initial testing and assessment of materials on approximately 15 education and career counselling professionals and 200 young people, The work will be evaluated by the young people, using the standard forms developed at the kick-off meeting.• Review of the quality of the materials within each partner country. Each partner holds a workshop to discuss results of the testing, the quality of the materials, and the platform’s functionality and usability. • Revising and rolling out materials: Workshop results and feedback will be presented to partners at Management meeting in Bulgaria. The adapted materials will be delivered by the partners to teachers/counsellors and to young people within partner countries. • Final updating of materials; final in-country seminars and workshops, to which key European and national stakeholders will be invited. Results will include:• A methodology for identifying young people at risk of ESL• manual of training materials and activities for young people at risk of ESL, • A common core of policies and procedures for high quality work-based VET across Europe • A model for developing and strengthening links between schools, VET, HE and the labour market • 800 young people and 165 educators will be trained• A pan-European partnership of organisations involved in reducing Early School Leaving, including schools, • The impact on stakeholders will take several forms, from individual students participating in the pilot who develop the confidence, skills and motivation to remain in education to access career opportunities, to education staff who need to increase their knowledge and awareness of opportunities available across the EU, to encourage young people to grasp opportunities in countries both inside and outside EU boundaries. The longer terms benefits envisaged will be to feed the lessons of the project into policy development at national and European levels. Future funding is expected to be acquired through mainstreaming and multiplying the project both at national and European levels.