Project description
GovInEd
All European countries have signed the UNCRPD (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and, as a result, they are challenged to “develop an inclusive education system at all levels” (Art. 24). The Erasmus+ Project GovInEd aims to foster the dialogue between European countries on educational reforms towards inclusion, change-management strategies, the structure and constellations of actors in the governance systems and their role for an inclusive education reform and to increase the quality and coherence of governance in inclusive education reforms in European countries.
The goal of the project is to empower and professionalize relevant agents and stakeholders in the European education systems, to enact reforms towards an inclusion reform by understanding the means of efficient and effective governance strategies. It is expected that the implementation of the project activities and the production of the project results will lead to an improvement of transnational, inter-level and inter-actor cooperation in the field of educational governance of inclusive education reforms.
The research goals of the project are to explore how and why coordination or implementation does or does not work in all levels of the governance system (multi-level-analyses of governance) and to gain knowledge and expertise that can be shared through professionalization of stakeholders on governance of inclusive education.
Example for an Actor-Network-Mapping; Drawn by Merz-Atalik 2023
The project started on 01 January 2022 and has a duration of 36 months and it is implemented in four European countries, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain. The consortium consists of higher education institutions and representatives from regional school-authorities/ organizations. Other important stakeholders from the different countries will be included through the communities of practice which will be organized on regional level. The project is financed by the Erasmus+ program under the Key Action: Cooperation Partnership In the field of higher education.
What we do
Objectives and Results
The project focus is on network analyses and involvement of all relevant actors and stakeholders in the context of inclusive education transformation processes and ongoing reform efforts in the participating countries. The governance constellations, processes, coordination e.g., and the individual experiences of the actors involved will be analyzed and compared. The differences between the 4 participating countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain) in terms of the development-stage of inclusive education, the actor constellations in governance and the strategies for the reform-processes represent a significant resource for GovInEd due to the possibility of comparing, discussing, exchanging and reflecting upon examples and experiences in the field of inclusive education governance.
The following project results and outcomes are expected:
(O1) Multilevel network analyses of international governance systems, structures and strategies in inclusive education reforms
The goal of the first project results is to work out the relevant factors for success in the implementation of inclusive education reforms based on the international comparison. In the first phase of the project, surveys of the networks of the governance of inclusive education in the four regions/ countries will be conducted. The surveys will provide an overview of the structures, the actor constellations and the coordination infrastructure in the different regions/ countries. Outstanding inspiring practices will be documented and made available to the public on the project’s homepage.
(O2) Curriculum/ Module for training and professionalization "Governance of inclusive Education/ International"
Based on the research findings from the first project results, a curriculum and a teaching module will be developed. The curriculum as overarching framework for the module will explain the content of the module, the goals and required learning processes containing four courses. These courses should enable students to gain insights into the policy and governance level of educational systems, offer them the opportunity to complete an internship in this environment, and reflect on the experience. Students, moreover, do not only learn about their own country’s system, but also the systems of the three other countries in the project.
(O3) Web-based e-Learning and information platform providing AI-supported access to materials and OER on governance of inclusive education
Based on the research, summaries of inspiring practice from the regions involved, shared principals and structural or systemic aspects in the governance of inclusive education reforms, and other findings should be made accessible for other key players in other regions in EU. With this goal web-based e-Learning and information platform will be developed with the aim to offer a barrier-free platform with information on the different reform processes, the ways they are structured and coordinated between all key players involved. Based on the project findings, the platform will offer OER as a structured experience (e.g., as online courses) to learn about inspiring practices of governance of inclusive education.