Development of a professional developmental package to support professionals in implementing Communities of Practice to promote interprofessional collaboration and students’ agency with the help of established Community of Practices in inclusive educational settings
After the first year of the Erasmus+ project I CO-COPE the project team is in the middle of Work Package 3, which aims to develop a professional developmental package around the four key concepts of the I CO-COPE project: Inclusive Education, Interprofessional Collaboration, Students’ Agency and Communities of Practice.
The online training will consist of four modules, dealing with
the theoretical background of the these four key concepts,
recommendations on how to establish Communities of Practice and facilitate interprofessional collaboration and students‘ agency to promote inclusive education,
good practice examples of how secondary schools in the partner countries are promoting inclusive education through interprofessional collaboration and students’ agency
and a toolbox with useful instruments to implement COPs in schools as a means of interprofessional collaboration and students’ agency.
The training activity in Porto as an important milestone
In order to test the first drafts of the training modules and to deepen the expertise of professionals from selected schools of the four partner countries Belgium, Austria, Portugal and Slovakia, the Portuguese partners welcomed the participants and the I CO-COPE project team for a teaching and training activity on interprofessional collaboration, student participation and communities of practice methods to promote inclusion at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP).
During this training, the participants from the partner schools were provided with the theoretical background and useful tools to facilitate Communities of Practice on inclusion issues in their respective schools during this school year. Over the course of the three days, there was also time for a lively exchange of experiences, inspiring practical reports and gathering feedback from the participants on the training. We also visited a local secondary school and were able to see first-hand how the inclusion of pupils with disabilities is implemented there.
Preparing for the upcoming Communities of Practice in the partner schools
Apart from piloting the training modules, the training activity was of course aimed at preparing the future facilitators of the eight partner schools (2 per country) for the implementation of Communities of Practice in their school communities. These CoPs will meet at least three times during this school year and will provide a structured format for professionals from different areas of expertise to address school-specific issues related to inclusive practices.
