Wren Spinney Community Special School

Kettering, Northamptonshire, England

Centrul Şcolar Pentru Educaţie Incluzivă Suceava, România

o In an ever changing society, the Romanian educational system needs to assume a new perspective regarding its functioning and evolution.

o The complexity of the educational act, of the contemporary human and social reality and the more and more difficult tasks that the educational process needs to fulfil, all these define the partnership as a priority of the strategies orientated towards the developing of the Romanian education.

o Partenership is a form of communication, cooperation and collaboration. On the level of the educational process, it requires an unity of requests, options, decisions and actions to support the child in order to achieve common goals.

o The schools can and need to turn the specific coordinates into assets that allow the initiation and developing of partnership. School needs to focus its entire action on students, which have to become the centre of interest, the main actors, in every partnership on school education domain.

Adopts a large scale of approaches, each partner joins in the activity with original contributions.

Partners use innovating methodologies trying to be reflexive, creator and dynamic teachers who accept the change, being able to work in partnerships, leading to success for the entire group of partners.

Cohesion and efficiency of such a type of group are conditioned by the assuming and promoting of the common values:

1. Egality of chances

2. Civic spirit

3. Promoting of dialogue

4. Encouraging of initiative and collaboration

5. Cooperation and participation

6. Discipline and responsibility

Parteners gain experience from each other

Communication and informational exchanges take place on all of the levels (students, teachers, parents etc.)

Extracurricular activities have an important role in education. They have to be varied, interesting, dynamic, entertaining, transforming. The quality of these activities develops if students are familiar with team work.

Team work teaches students to be tolerant, to cooperate, to communicate, to be responsible, to relate within their own group and also with other groups.

Extracurricular activities more often have a recreational goal, many of them being carried out as a game. This eases communication and involvement.

Existence of a partnership between different kind of special schools allows the quantitative and qualitative development of certain extracurricular activities and their successful finalization.

In the partnership group it is used an adequate communicational system

A variety of methods is being approached

Individual competences are being acknowledged and shared

Participation of all the members is being encouraged, preventing the isolation of the shy ones

Everyone involved has the possibility and even the chance to learn from each other

Extracurricular activities carried out in partnership bring an afflux of novelty, good mood, create the ground for promoting individual or common values

Existence of a partnership and joining group activities teach the students to live the joy of success, to enjoy the fruit of working as a team.

We’ve tried an explanation of the word partnership, letter by letter:

eople

cceptance

esults

est

eed

xercise

esponsibility

uccess

ope

nitiative

rocess

– every partnership involves different people who establish and develop partner, friendly relationships between themselves

– one of the basic term and condition in every partnership is represented by acceptance

of activities depend on the human and material resources involved, on recognition and respect for values, it takes responsibility in carrying out the purpose

– partenership is a continuous test of acceptance, cooperation, collaboration, creativity, responsibility to which all of the group partners submit

of collaboration in order to promote common values is highly implied by a partnership

– every partnership guides its members towards active and effective participation, thus being a veritable exercise of team work

– each member of a partnership has to assume responsibility for their actions, which might influence the other members involved

of activities depends on the human and material resources involved, on recognition of values and respect for them

– each member joins in a partnership with their own hopes and desires and work together towards the fulfilling of their common goals

– partenership asks for and offers possibility to manifest initiative

– partenership is a very complex process which involves commitment of students, teachers, parents, local authorities and a vast diversity of resources

Rosie and Sam

working on a production line,

packing items

Stephen and Luke

sorting items for recycling

Justin, Paul and

Lucie, Rosie leading

an assembly about

love and St.

Valentine

Petronela, Florin

and Marius

playing in The

Little Boots of the

Greyhound

Dora, Ana Maria and Raluca

making cards

Checkmate to discrimination

We are tolerant with our fellows

regardless of religion, gender, race,

wealth or poverty, age, political

orientation, physical or intellectual

development.

The first year of the project and the second, as well, which is still running, have concluded with the evaluation of the activities. These evaluations have highlighted the beneficial impact on all those involved in the project, both students and teachers, from Romania and the UK in our joint e-magazine with the same title: Happiness to make friends - http://e-book.wgz.ro/ and not only.

The students have participated with pleasure in the activities of the project engaging themselves actively and continuously along with the teachers team, at all stages. The students have learnt to work cooperating each other, have acquired the social competences or communication skills, have learnt to take responsibility and to solve given tasks.

All these led to a positive impact on student attitudes, more patience, better concentration, attitude of acceptance and care, better interpersonal relationships, increase self-esteem and self confidence. Everything was held under the slogan: Dare to be yourself!

Pupils have been highly motivated to learn. With each pupil having their own pen friend the experience has been very personal. The learning activities have been purposeful, linked to individual targets, and provided the opportunity for pupils to develop confidence, self-esteem and positive attitudes towards others.

Even for us, the teachers, the project has created communication opportunities through the expression of initiative and creative spirit. We have learnt to collaborate better as a team, to develop ideas or accept the ideas of those near us. The team members met regularly, had discussions and took responsibilities. Some displays with relevant aspects about our partnership were made.

We presented information in this respect on the e-magazine and our school magazine Smile and Colour, as well.

We all agree that each partner in the partnership had a valuable experience that have produced positive changes in behaviour and group relationships.