In December 2019, Autism-Europe got involved in the Erasmus+ project IPA 2, aiming at decreasing difficulties that students on the autism spectrum face, specifically during the transition from primary to secondary school, in order to tackle early school leaving and disadvantage.
Funded by the European Commission, the outputs of this project target both teachers, and autistic students and their peers in order to implement prevention measures and reduce risks of social exclusion, school failure, and school early leaving.
In order to achieve this objectives, IPA 2 will develop and pilot an online training course, and an e-learning platform, for teachers developed by a co-created methodology involving end-users to identify their curricular and training requirements. In order to improve relationships between autistic students and their teachers and classmates, guidelines and videos will be also produced for a more inclusive, emphatic and supportive school environment.
Autism-Europe will be working on the project with five other partners from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Serbia, including a research institute, three autism NGOs founded by parents and/or professionals, and one technological company.
The kickoff meeting of this project was held in Valencia on December 18- 19, held by project coordinator Polibienestar. During this two-days meeting, 7 partners gathered at the facilities of the University of Valencia to share understanding of the purpose of the project as well as to ensure the project’s viability and success in the long-run. IPA 2 partners will meet again on May 2020 in Belgrade, Serbia. The project foresees four transnational meetings over its two-years lifespan and a final international event to be held by Autism-Europe in September 2021 in Brussels.
IPA2 is complementary to the Erasmus+ project IPA+, that released in 2018 a reference point for training all professionals working with persons on the autism spectrum, independently of their area of knowledge. With IPA2, the partnership aims at keeping promoting an inclusive society for people on the autism spectrum with a co-creating approach by focusing on teachers and autistic pupils, their families and peers to improve their quality of life and wellbeing.