<< Background >>For many PwLD, most leisure activities take place in a segregated form. Various examples like this accumulate into the social marginalisation of many PwLD & eliminating all of these are crucial to supporting social inclusion & diversity. Moreover, pandemic-induced restrictions have severely limited the few previously existing leisure opportunities, which exacerbates such social marginalisation. So, rebuilding community-based, participatory activities becomes an even more important social necessity. The need for reducing marginalisation of PwLD related to their leisure time will be met by developing the ACCESS to Leisure training manuals and courses. The key to better participation rates is improving access, involving both human & technical innovation. There is a need for professionals & informal helpers to be better equipped to help PwLD access services (e.g. using supported decision-making, online & offline tools) & improve their community participation. The need to increase the community participation of PwLD will be met by working together with the three target groups and strengthening their cooperation regarding the leisure time of PwLD. Also, digital devices offer many opportunities that could help PwLD spend their free time in a more inclusive, freely chosen way. During the ACCESS to Leisure training, we help to consciously expand the possibilities and forms of leisure by exploring new opportunities. The methods and good practices developed reinforce active, inclusive leisure of PwLD. Participation in leisure time is a healthy alternative for positive behaviour that leads to learning & living a balanced & socially inclusive life (Nkwanyana, 2020). The new European Disability Strategy 2021-2030 emphasises that PwD should have equal opportunities, equal access to participation in society & the economy. We believe that supporting leisure activities in this way contributes to increase the social inclusion and participation of PwLD.<< Objectives >>We believe that PwLD have the same preferences for leisure time activities as their non-disabled peers. Empowering PwLD, enabling them to organise their leisure independently & making it possible for them to enforce their rights described by the UNCRPD are very important issues for all partners. Based on Article 30 of UNCRPD, we want to empower PwLD to participate to the fullest extent possible in cultural life, recreation, leisure & sport. We attribute a crucial role to ICT tools in this process. Due to the prolonged presence of the coronavirus pandemic, a variety of social deficits have emerged that substantially affect the lives of PwLD. In order to remedy these, it is crucial to promote innovative ways of encouraging PwLD to spend their leisure time within local communities. The partnership with our wider stakeholders will develop the ACCESS to Leisure methodology & training package that helps to strengthen the supportive network PwLD need for spending their free time as inclusive as possible, taking advantage of online opportunities. During the training & methodology, we are committed to developing the social & digital competencies of PwLD, related professionals & informal local supporters, as well as expanding/teaching knowledge transfer methods. Our aim is to develop new opportunities for PwLD to become 'leisure facilitators', helping both their learning disabled peers access leisure facilities as well as also the wider community. This will involve new training & qualifications, curricula, training for professional assistants & training for local informal supporters. In doing so, PwLD become leisure facilitators in the local community, while related professionals & local informal supporters will be co-facilitators. It is crucial to work together with a supportive natural environment to effectively support social inclusion & diversity, so we involve the local community members & professionals in this adult learning process.This project aims to develop the competencies of PwLD, as well as of the informal supporters & professionals working with them. Teaching & learning materials will be made available for everyone (in an easily accessible form & as an e-learning curriculum). Following the principle of lifelong learning, this project enables them to participate in flexible, inclusive & collaborative training courses. Leisure is a significant part of the lives of PwLD, & its development by experiential experts in an informal way can contribute greatly to the improvement of their quality of life. Regarding adult learning opportunities, we undertake to develop the digital & social competencies of the three target groups, who will be provided with an innovative, collaborative teaching environment based on the leisure activity needs of PwLD. The adult learning process based on joint learning & research at an international level provides an opportunity to create a shared knowledge base from a European perspective. An international co-operation can be realised, in which national best practices will be shared & used in order to develop a global version of the ACCESS to Leisure training program. Global versions would be localised by each partner organisation, based on local needs & individual factors. The partners have solid knowledge in working with PwLD within community settings & they are also experienced in providing & developing adult learning courses. Sharing the country specific views brings an added value to the project. Moreover, by involving PwLD in the phases of the development we create social opportunity for them to find friends from other countries.<< Implementation >>Based on the three chosen objectives, we would like to implement the following activities during the ACCESS to Leisure project:1 - SOCIAL INCLUSION & DIVERSITY: to improve social inclusion of PwLD & diversity in society by: 1a) setting up an inclusive project team in each partner country, through which the target groups of the project develop the training materials together; 1b) based on the developed ACCESS to Leisure methodology and training materials, 15 leisure facilitators, as well as 15-15 professionals and local informal supporters as co-facilitators will be trained during the international training; 1c) during the pilot cycle, 75 people will be involved in the inclusive leisure cooperation1d) during the first multiplication event, the already trained leisure facilitators and co-facilitators will impart their knowledge to 100 people during the local training, who will also become leisure facilitators and co-facilitators in their communities1e) during the second multiplication event, 200 people will learn about the developed materials and experiences of the ACCESS to Leisure project.2 – DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: to contribute to the digital transformation by developing the digital skills and competencies of the participants by:2a) collecting good practices where digital tools help PwLD to spend their free time2b) mapping and expanding the methodology of digital devices in the field of leisure of PwLD2c) developing an e-learning course based on the ACCESS to Leisure methodology.3 – NEW, INNOVATIVE CURRICULA: Improving the availability of high-quality learning opportunities for adults by:3a) creating the ACCESS to Leisure training method: developing 3 training manuals for the 3 target groups3b) organising 3 types of international training for the 3 target groups3c) preparing a local adaptation of the training3d) organising local workshops based on the developed curricula3e) transforming the training into an e-learning format.During the ACCESS to Leisure project, we help to consciously expand the possibilities and forms of leisure by exploring new opportunities in a specific community. The methods and good practices developed reinforce active, inclusive leisure of PwLD.<< Results >>The main result of the project will be the establishment of the conditions required for the preparation of the production. The first exploratory phase (PO1) will be divided into three parts: (1) we will analyse the specificities of leisure time for PwLD, (2) we will collect & analyse good practices in the partner countries involved, (3) we will implement a photovoice project to collect & analyse visual material on the specificities of leisure time in the partner countries. These will be the starting points & parts of the content of the training manuals, which we will prepare in the next phase. These are training manuals (facilitators’ guides) for (1) PwLD (facilitators), for (2) professionals (co-facilitators) & (3) informal local supporters (co-facilitators) containing the methodology of teaching the three different stakeholders. Besides these, the collection of practical methods & tools (PO5, PO6) will help support the leisure time activities of PwLD with practical tools & easy-to-read guides. We will also produce an e-learning version of the training materials (PO7), making the developments more widely available (in English). All training manuals will have English, German, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch & Finnish versions & each will contain country-specific information besides general information (PO8-13).We train 9 leisure facilitators, 9 professional assistants as co-facilitators and 9 local community co-facilitators during the international training sessions. The people who participated in the international trainings will pass on their knowledge to further 15 local people (5 per target group) in each partner country within the frames of local workshops (pilot cycle). After the workshops, as a first multiplier event (ME1), a local training will be organised by members of the three target groups (20 new people involved per country). So we will train 9 Leisure facilitators and 18 co-facilitators in the international training, and then 100 more leisure facilitators and co-facilitators in the local training (ME1). The final products developed will be presented to a wider audience at a conference (ME2). Other benefits of the project include: a proven change of attitude to better involve PwLD in leisure activities and changes in the quality of life of those involved. Finally, every partner organisation will investigate if the training can be accredited or officially approved by their national body as an extra curriculum, & if so, start the accreditation process. The successful accreditation could guarantee the open accessibility of the teaching & learning materials & the training itself.

All countries in Europe under-perform with regard to the percentage of persons with disabilities participating in employment. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be supportive in VET and in getting and maintaining employment. But if professionals in vocational education, training and support are not sufficiently equipped with ICT skills and competences, or even deny the relevance of digital tools for both their own professional work as well as for the development of the competences and skills of their learners, they may obstruct the future of those for whom they are responsible. BELVEDERE will address professionals who support young and adult people with disabilities on their way towards employment. The organisations in which these professionals work are facing the challenge to provide meaningful in-service training, to exemplify with real world examples how digital tools can enhance their work and to deal with the large diversity in the clients’ population, to render the processes towards employment more inclusive and to encourage all staff to move forward in this direction all at once.The OBJECTIVE of the project is to equip professionals who assist and support disadvantaged young people and adults at different stages in a qualification and placement process with the ICT skills needed both to increase the quality of their work as well as to empower their learners so that they are better prepared for working life. To achieve this, BELVEDERE aims at strengthening their digital literacy and provide them with relevant pedagogical, methodological and organisational strategies. Professionals will explore available tools and appropriate them to their specific requirements, will describe the use cases and develop teaching and training materials and courses for other professionals from a practitioner's point of view.The PROJECT CONSORTIUM consists of seven partners from Germany, Austria, UK and Spain. Five of them are employers to approx. 250 members of the target group of professionals responsible for implementing guidance, training and placement for disadvantaged clients and hence can ensure their involvement in the project. The consortium’s expertise is complemented by a university as an expert in the development of online media and by a research institute as an expert in digital transformation processes. With regard to ACTIVITIES and the applied METHODOLOGY, the projects will develop a shared understanding of a high-quality professional support process, followed by a detailed requirements analysis in the four participating countries within the first six months. On the basis of the analysis results, the project will then test ICT tools in real-life scenarios by the project’s target group and develop practice-oriented descriptions, transferable use scenarios, and supportive learning resources in four loops each lasting for six months. In the final phase of the project, results will be consolidated and disseminated in multiplier events in all four countries.KEY RESULTS are:* A set of approx. 40 tested ICT tools and respective descriptions of the use cases* A BELVEDERE Course Curriculum for awareness-raising and qualification for a modern, inclusive vocational training and placement * Flexible digital teaching and learning materials for courses for selected tools and topics (approx. 20 in total) * Micro learning units or bits (approx. 40) like quizzes, videos or online exercises * One BELVEDERE-MOOC* Digital readiness self-assessment tool* Recommendations for organisations to shape their digital transformation The IMPACT ENVISAGED is that the level of digital literacy of professionals in vocational education and training will increase, and that they experience an increased access and confidence to use digital tools in vocational settings. Technical and organisational barriers will have been identified and can therefore be removed, so that professionals have access to effective tools to support their clients. Finally, clients with disabilities will use digital tools to gain professional qualifications in the general labour market. On an organisational level it is expected that organisation active in VET feel confident to introduce digital tools to improve their performance and level of quality. The POTENTIAL LONGER TERM BENEFITS are seen in frontline professionals in vocational education and training who continue to use the tools identified, described and trained in the project, and that they will be able to work with digital media and increase their own digital skills and competences. Ultimately, it is also expected to open new opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged groups of job seeking clients, e.g. through new ways organisations use technology in the Supported Employment Sector.

"BackgroundICT tools in ECEC services targeting vulnerable children (approx. 6% in EU28) are available a) to directly increase the efficiency of child related learning and b) to organizational processes. Despite the availability of these tools and APPs (e.g. 800 for children with autism) OECD points out, that professionals in most EU28 do not use them sufficiently. Lack of structured training (60% report auto-didactic learning) , myths (danger of addiction), skepticism towards early usage and missing exchange possibilities (which tool is useful/which not) inhibit the implementation of ICT tools despite the EU digital agenda, findings which highlight supporting effects regarding academic skills and a huge number of APPS and tools to be used in ECEC settings. Existing product platforms mainly follow commercial motivation and do not allow professional exchange within a community of practice of the professionals.AimsLets try I(C)T aims to increase the quality of ECEC services by increasing the usage of available ICT tools, a) on the level of concrete support for disadvantaged and/or disabled children and b) on the level of service planning, documentation and assessment.This aim in terms of further lifelong professional training is reached1) by a community of practice, where professionals learn from he experience of others (comparable to a trip-advisor system)2) by blended training regarding available best practice examples and tutoring (professionals become ICT multiplier for other3) by learning events within multiplier events (also available for other professionals within mobilities)Target groups-Professionals in Early childhood Intervention -Kindergarten teachers-Parents of disadvantaged children or with special educational needs (SEN) Products/Intellectual outcomes1) SEN- APP-ADVISOR: Platform of common learning and exchange for professionals comparable to social platforms like tripadvisor2) APP and Tool Multiplier: Online learning regarding best practice 3) APP-Tutoring: Didactic guidebook for multipliers in ECEC services to address the training needs of professionals regarding ICT Impact:Increase of usage of available ICT tools in ECEC in order to increase quality and efficiency of services by better trainingPartnership:Multisectorial and multigeographical consortium (Early Intervention (HR, DE) ,kindergarten, research (PT, TR), training (AT), SME (AT) , NGOs), most with high experience in EU cooperation. Expertise in ICT (AT, BE), in specific research (PT), EU dissemination (Down Sendromu Dernegi) and training (AT). Cooperation with training Institutions in DE (Medical School Hamburg).SustainabilitySEN-APP-ADVISOR: It remains (self) sustainable if a critical mass of ""users"" APP and TOOL MULTIPLIER: Involvement of governmental structures (quality control) and parental organisation to increase mainstream usage of participative/transparent and time-efficient ICT planning and documentation tools in ECECAPP-TUTORING: Implementation of APP tutoring workshop in mainstream training"

"<< Background >>The digital divide exists, and people with disabilities are some of the worst affected and left behind without digital accessibility knowledge. This was confirmed in the European Parliamentary Research Service report titled ""Bridging the Digital Divide in Europe"" that stated, ""one in three persons with disabilities had never used the internet"". This project proposal aims to build on a pilot programme running at atempo in Graz for several years. atempo, they have been training young learners with disabilities to become school assistants for digital education and supporting them to work in elementary schools across Graz. This is a very innovative idea and one that is not replicated anywhere across the Eurozone.The project partners and associated schools all agree that the proposal provides real solutions to tackle two significant challenges they face. The first is the ""Education and Training"" need identified within the school community to support digital accessibility and inclusion among pupils and the school community. This project also provides innovative education and training opportunities for people with disabilities enabling them to share digital accessibility knowledge with students. The second challenge is the lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities. This project provides new roles that were not previously available in the education sector. Inclusion is the driver of this proposal, with all project elements co-designed with people with learning disabilities.<< Objectives >>The SAID project aims to train people with disabilities to become School Assistants for Digital Education within the school system. This project aims to show that all people are experts in certain areas and that in a community, all people can learn from each other and with each other on an equal level.Vocational inclusion is directly lived here through the collaboration with people with learning difficulties, who will be actively involved in the project and who will act as school assistants for digital education. This provides:A new innovative curriculum to produce School Assistants for Digital Education within vocational education and training.New employment opportunities for people with disabilities.A more inclusive society.People with learning difficulties will work directly in schools as experts and key personnel supporting digital accessibility in education. This makes a significant contribution in the area of professional digital transformation as they bring in new skills, accessible digital tools and a new professional attitude. Forming a curriculum and corresponding training provided for this professional field will be a vital objective of this project. The added value of having the active school assistants from Austria involved as consultants and co-designers will endorse the value of inclusion and support the project's success.<< Implementation >>The project activities undertaken by the consortium will all lead to the successful execution of four project results. The initial efforts make up the Analysis Phase and will be led by Uni Graz with input from all partners. The team will gather the experiences from the assistants who have worked in schools and look at the support that atempo provided to establish and sustain the initiative. They will analyse the challenges and qualities of the school assistance program. Uni Graz will also explore the appetite in the partner countries and expose any barriers to success. These activities will provide vital information needed to support the other project results. The second set of activities are overseen by atempo, with each project partner designing and developing one of the modules producing the curriculum for the professional field “School Assistants for Digital Education. The first phase will heavily influence the development of the four concrete modules. The developed learning modules will run over 80 hours exploring general didactic principles, competencies to achieve with the training, and the job description will be defined. The already experienced school assistants (2-4 Peer Experts) act as consultants and test groups during the project and provide a sounding board. The board meets for training to prepare the experts for their tasks in the project. And during the development phase of the curricula, they will meet together at least five times to review the developing phase and to test the materials.Trycamp will lead the activities during the third result phase by creating the SAID methodological guidebook for pedagogical staff, which will be used as the basis for the local training of teachers. The activities of the third phase will be informed from the results of phase 1, the evaluation phase. This will be followed by the design and development of the guidebook on the curriculum and four modules. Other activities embedded in this phase will include the practical testing of the methodological guidebook and the adaptation & translation of the guidebook for partner organisations. The activities will include 2-3 teachers from 2-4 partner schools = 4-12Teachers and 4-6 PwLD to the deployment as school assistants of digital education in primary schools (SAID Methodology) within six months.The final set of activities directly linked to the project results will be the compilation of the Handbook for Schools. These activities will be led by SJOG and support the innovative roadmap to support the sustainability of the professional field of school assistance for digital education. The project consortium will share the instruments that enable this support role to become anchored in the education system. It will share the opportunities for higher inclusion standards and how the school Assistants for digital education can become an integral part of the school community, along with alternative recommendations for transfer to different contexts and managing expectations.Other vital activities engaged by the consortium include communication management, both internal with the partners and associated partners and the meaningful dissemination of the project updates with the broader community. Each partner will also take on the project management activities, e.g. timesheet and budget, and ensure the project governance is adhered to at each stage of the project. The final products developed will be presented to a wider audience at SAID conferences (Multiplier Event2). During the project, we will disseminate news and information about the curriculum and its content, the project itself, the partners’ work and other topics on the website and in newsletters (available in any language used by the partners). Other outputs of the project management and documents: e.g. partnership agreement, financial guidelines, templates for reporting, communication plan, dissemination plan, Project Delivery Plan, an interim and final report.<< Results >>The main outcome of the SAID project will be a new professional field of ""school assistants for digital education"" filled by people with disabilities and learning difficulties (PwLD) for children with disabilities and learning difficulties. Leading to more opportunities for PwLD in everyday work. The project will kick off with analysis, and the reports and papers (project result one) produced will help inform the rest of the three other project results. The second project result will be the creation of a formal training curriculum for school assistants for Digital education, including corresponding manuals and teaching and learning materials. The content of the curriculum is divided into four content modules (media competence, basic digital skills, toolbox, social and communication skills) and a general part with the didactic and methodic. The curricula and their content will be available in all partner languages.In a test phase, in which the developed curriculum is tested within the partnership in the context of a learning-teaching-training activity (LTTA -Train the Trainer), the project result three, a training concept with the SAID Methodological guidebook for pedagogical staff to support people with disabilities is created. As part of this training (Train the Trainer), a training team is formed in each partner organization to train PwLD and teachers from partner schools on-site afterwards.During and following on from the implementation phase, the fourth project result will be produced in the form of a Handbook for Schools. The handbook will provide vital recommendations and implantation guidelines for Schools on using and implementing digital school assistants and support for VET Providers. Other significant results include the local Multiplier events that will facilitate the partners to share the developed curriculum and project results with other PwLD and teachers. After completing the project, a new concept and a curriculum for the professional field ""school assistant for digital education"" will be available, and training for School assistants can be offered Europe-wide. Each partner can and will offer the VET training in their organization after the project duration, regardless of the partnership.The SAID project leads to a change in societal attitudes and a better integration of people with disabilities into the world of work, and a change in the quality of life of those involved."

<< Background >>More than half of the adult population is facing texts that are too complex for them to understand on a regular basis. They need information to be provided in an easier, more accessible way. The reasons for this need range from mental disabilities or learning difficulties to not being a native speaker. However, information is key. The current Covid-19 pandemic shows very well how important it is that everyone can perceive and understand information. We need information to fully participate in society, to know our rights and duties, to make our own decisions - in short, to live a selfdetermined life. That is why we need to make information more accessible and easier to understand, for instance by using easy-to-read language or by making sure that a digital service is accessible. It is an essential step on our way towards a more inclusive, more diverse society. capito developped an easy-to-read model for the German language with 3 different language levels, as unique within the easy-to-read context as capito's level of digitalisation. With this project, we want to contribute to a more inclusive society by transferring capito's easy-to-read model to English, Italian and French. We will use the transferred model to improve easy-to-read and accessibility trainings for adults. This way, we will help to give people the means to communicate more accessibly. Obviously, we cannot stop at our own national borders or languages if we want to live in an inclusive, European society. We applied for this transnational cooperation project so that important information will be understood by more of our fellow European citizens.<< Objectives >>Our goal is to help people communicate in a more accessible way and to help society change the current communication culture by promoting and improving easy-to-read trainings for adults. By exchanging our experiences and best practices, combining our expertise, creating new training material and establishing long-lasting partnerships beyond the project, we want to do our part for a more inclusive society across Europe.<< Implementation >>For the German language, there are capito's extensive, well researched and well tested criteria regarding accessible information and easy-to-read language. The criteria help tailor the information to different areas - such as public information, health information or private business communications - as well as to the target groups by providing rules for three different language levels (A1, A2 and B1). For these language levels, capito adapted the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, designed by the EU to describe achievements of foreign language learners. The distinction of different language levels as well as the level of digitalisation is unique in the world of easy-to-read. capito furthermore offers trainings for adults in easy-to-read and accessible information all across the German speaking area. In English, French and Italian, basic guidelines for easy-to-read language do exist. However, they are by for not as detailed, extensive and comprehensive as the German criteria and they do not contain rules for different language levels. This is why, in this project, we are going to lingustically transfer the easy-to-read criteria to English, French and Italian, taking into account the languages' and language groups' characteristics and needs. The scientific part will be done by linguists, while the criteria will be tested by professionals in the field of accessible information. They will produce texts according to the criteria and have the texts checked by people representing possible target groups. This might be people with disabilities or non-native speakers. This step is essential, since they are the only ones to judge whether a piece of information is really accessible. The easy-to-read criteria will serve as a basis for accessibility guidelines in English, French and Italian. They will be openly accessible and designed to be used in trainings for adults on accessible information as well as for everyday use to help people implement accessible communication a bit more everyday. Furthermore, we will develop and create training material for people who train others in the field of accessible information. The digital training material in form of a digital toolkit will help trainers design their accessibilty trainings in an even more effective way and will therefore make it easier for them to spread the idea of accessible information. We will also conceive a curriculum. This curriculum will be designed to co-trainers for easy-to-read trainings. Those co-trainers will be people who need easy-to-read language themselves such as people with learning difficulties, people with disabilties or non-native speakers. As co-trainers, they can add a valuable dimension to accessibility trainings by sharing their experiences, talking about the difficulties they face and showing people why accessible information is so crucial. In the creation process of the training material and curriculum, we will of course include people who are possible target groups, like people with disabilties. Both the training material and the curriculum will be translated to English, French, Italian and German. At the end of the project, we will organize multiplier events for every participating country: Austria, France, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. We will share our project results, create exchange and networking opportunities and enable people to use our project results as a way to improve their trainings for adults.<< Results >>The results of our project will help people across Europe - an inherently plurilingual community - to push ahead with easy-to-read language and accessible communication. We will produce guidelines on accessible information in English, French and Italian that will be based on a well researched and well tested catalogue of easy-to-read criteria. The guidelines will be designed in a clear, well structured way for trainers to use them in their easy-to-read trainings and for their participatns to use them on a daily basis. We will also produce a digital toolkit for adults' training in the field of accessible communication. The toolkit will comprise 4 to 5 tools for the trainers to design their workshops, lessons and trainings in a more effective, engaging way. Hence making the dissemination of the idea of accessible information easier and more sustainable. Furthermore, we will produce a curriculum for training people who need easy-to-read information to become co-trainers. This might be, among others, people with intellectual disabilities, learning difficulties, non-native speakers, bilinguals or people with mental disorders. The curriculum will enable organisations to design trainings for people with fewer opportunities and include them in their easy-to-read trainings as co-trainers. The sharing of their experiences and challenges will be a real added value to those trainings.With our project, we want to do our part to improve the quality of easy-to-read trainings, to create networking opportunities and hence to promote accessible communication - briefly, to make society in Europe more inclusive.