OVERVIEW

The course aims to encourage the acquisition of basic skills useful for designing inclusive educational interventions for children with special educational needs and their families in early childhood educational contexts (0-6). For this purpose, knowledge will be provided concerning the most appropriate relational, observational,  methodological and methods for adapting materials and contexts.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Course aims to illustrate the epistemological criteria that form the backdrop to the construct of inclusive teaching, understood as quality teaching for all, and not only for students with disabilities or special educational needs. The training objectives consist in enabling students to know inclusive educational design models, didactic methodologies and technologies capable of enhancing and capitalizing on individual differences, with particular reference to situations where these differences are related to barriers to learning and participation in social life.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the students will be able to:

1. Describe the theoretical and methodological principles related to the identification and promotion of the concept of Inclusion and Special Educational Need
2. Analyze the inclusive dimensions contained in the Pedagogical Guidelines 0-6
3. Define the principles for establishing and promoting relationships with children with special educational needs, families, and local authorities
4. Explain the reference legislation that regulates inclusion within educational services for children
5. Defining the observational and planning tools (ICF, ICD, Pei, Life Project) and their application principles and the main intervention methodologies aimed at promoting communication processes (CAA) and autonomy (behavioral; cognitive-behavioral interventions)
6. Identify the main approaches to inclusive design with particular reference to Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
7. Analyze the child's environment and functioning according to the ICF perspective, and understand their emerging needs by identifying possible facilitators and barriers
8. Adapt materials and contexts to encourage full participation of the child with disabilities
9. Apply inclusive education methodologies and technologies to encourage the preparation of adapted play activities 
10. Carry out inclusive educational projects for the child and educational continuity projects

At the end of the course students will also acquire:

1.    Ability to communicate effectively in relation to the context, use sources and aids of various kinds, use critical thinking, process and evaluate information, discuss content.

2.    Ability to identify one's own abilities, ability to concentrate, critical reflection on a task, management of complexity, autonomy in decisions. 

3.    Ability to develop one's imagination and creativity, strategic thinking.

4.    Ability to manage social interactions with a collaborative attitude and the use of constructive communication, to respect others and their needs  to express and understand different points of view.

5.    Awareness of one's preferred learning strategies, organization and assessment of personal learning as understood and learned by students

PREREQUISITES

None

TEACHING METHODS

Dialogue lessons are foreseen (supported by slides) in which the problems connected to special education and the educational relationship in situations of special educational need will be discussed. The course will also provide practical (group) exercises, case study analysis, world café, simulations and video analysis.

 The exercises will have the aim of helping the student to apply in practice what has been learned on a theoretical level. These activities will allow attending students to acquire an OPEN BADGE which will certify participation in a course aimed at acquiring soft skills relating to the following key competencies: functional literacy (advanced level); personal (basic level); social (basic level); learning to learn (basic level); project creation (basic level).

Aulaweb is the course workspace where the slides used by the teacher will be inserted (at the end of each lesson), in-depth materials, applications to encourage interaction and active participation by students. Students will also have the opportunity to upload materials they deem relevant to the topics of the course.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

FORM 1 - THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Nursery as an inclusive context

Birth and development of the concept of inclusion

Legislation supporting inclusion

The Concept of Special Educational Needs

The Universal Learning Project (UDL) 

FORM 2 - THE INCLUSION DESIGN

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF)

The Individualized Educational Project as a tool for inclusion

Observation: strategies and tools

The analysis of functioning in the ICF perspective, the detection of needs, and inclusive planning

FORM 3 - INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ACTION: STRATEGIES AND METHODOLOGIES

The care of the inclusive relationship with the families, the child, the institutions, and the territory

The care of space, time, and the environment

The adaptations

Augmentative Alternative Communication

The management of problem behaviors

Principles of the ABA method

The playful activity adapted to the technologies

Educational continuity as a vehicle of inclusion in the 0-6 perspective

The curse contributes to the achievement of the following sustainable development goal of the UN 2030 Agenda:

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Attending students

1. Pennazio V. (2017), Il nido d’infanzia come contesto inclusivo. Progettazione e continuità dell’intervento educativo per il bambino con disabilità nei servizi educativi per l’infanzia, Franco Angeli Milano.
2. Pennazio V. (2015), Didattica, gioco e ambienti tecnologici inclusivi, Franco Angeli, Milano.
3. Lesson material uploaded to aulaweb

Non Attending students

1. . Pennazio V. (2017), Il nido d’infanzia come contesto inclusivo. Progettazione e continuità dell’intervento educativo per il bambino con disabilità nei servizi educativi per l’infanzia, Franco Angeli Milano.
2. Pennazio V. (2015), Didattica, gioco e ambienti tecnologici inclusivi, Franco Angeli, Milano.
3. AA.VV. (2021) Bisogni Educativi Speciali al nido e alla scuola dell'Infanzia. strategie efficaci per educatori e insegnanti, ERckson, Trento (excluding chapter 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11).
4. Lesson material uploaded to aulawebb

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

VALENTINA PENNAZIO (President)

DAVIDE PARMIGIANI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The lessons will start in the second semester. Students are invited to consult aulaweb of the course to view the calendar of meetings and respective contents

Class schedule

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Attending students

At the end of each module, an activity is expected to investigate the skills acquired on the topics covered, evaluated out of thirty.

During the lessons, the realization of a group project will be foreseen and aimed at investigating the ability to work in a team and to design a path for people with disabilities. The project will be evaluated out of thirty.

The exam will be aimed at evaluating the knowledge acquired. It will take place in written form (multiple choice test, 31 questions assessed, each 1 point) with the possibility of oral integration. It will focus on the contents of the program and on the material uploaded to the "aula-web".

The average of the marks achieved (in the end-of-module activities, in the project, and in the exam) determines the final grade.

Non Attending students

The exam will be aimed at assessing knowledge and will take place in written form (multiple choice test, 32 questions evaluated, every question 0.5 points + three open questions of a theoretical-application nature, each considered 5 points). It is possible to integrate the written test with the oral one. The exam will focus on the 3 texts indicated in the program and on the material uploaded to the "aula-web"..

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The successful learning of the discipline is certified by the competence demonstrated by the student to have acquired a knowledge of the subjects consistent with the expected results and in accordance with the training objectives declined according to the Dublin descriptors.

The tests completed at the end of the module are aimed at detecting the acquisition by the students of the ability to apply in practice, on an individual level, what they learned during the lessons

The realization of the project is aimed at evaluating in the student not only the planning ability but also the ability to work in a team, discuss, debate, and compare in choosing the best intervention strategies

The final exam is aimed at evaluating the knowledge acquired during the course.

In each test, the quality of the presentation, the correct use of the specialized vocabulary, and the capacity for critical reasoning in the study carried out will be taken into account. 

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

All students are invited to periodically consult the page for this course on the AulaWeb e-learning portal (www.aulaweb.unige.it) to find all the information and materials relating to this course, appropriately updated.

Students with DSA, disability or other special educational needs certification are invited to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course to agree on teaching and exam methods that, in compliance with the teaching objectives, take into account individuals learning methods  and provide suitable compensatory instruments.