DEVELOPING A EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL’S NETWORK IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION:E LEARNING PROCESS AND OUTCOMES
Authors: Vrasmas Ecaterina , Vrasmas Traian 
Published: February 2023

Title: Developing a European professional’s network in Inclusive Education: E learning process and outcomes
Vrasmas, Ecaterina, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Panduri Street No.90, Bucharest; Email: ecaterinavr@yahoo.com
Vrasmas, Traian, Ovidius University Constanta, Faculty of Psychology and
Educational Sciences, Bd. Mamaia Street No.124
Email: traianvrasmas@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The context
The paper describes a European project focusing on using eLearning media, in order to
establish is quite an actual trend establish a European network for professionals. It is a new and
strong trend in education, particularly in inclusive education.
Inclusive education is one of the highest challenges in the field of education, for all
European countries. Each country had its own history, experiences, cultural conditions,
its own approaches, opportunities and challenges but common work and values are needed.
Short description
A group of professionals from national associations in England, France, Island, Italy
and Romania has decided, after the European Conference of Social inclusion (2008,
Clairmond Ferrand, France) to act for the implementation of the conclusions from this conference.
They have planned and started to build a network for inclusive education among those five
national organizations. They planned and implemented a Leonardo project called
“Partnership of professionals for inclusive education.” They implemented all the project working
together, in order to share experiences and debate on which are the most relevant barriers
in the European and each national context and find solutions to advance in inclusive
education. Aside of the direct meetings, in each country, most of the project preparation and
implementation was made via eLearning (email communication, site development, power
point preparation and presentation, reporting on a European data base etc).
The main objectives of the project were:
- To built a web site of the project;
- To work together for finding common barriers and solutions for inclusive education.
The project has reached these objectives by using eLearning media. During the process and as a result of eLearning we have produced important outcomes:
- A web site (http://inclusiveeducation-leonardo-professionals.blogs.apf.asso.fr,Utilisat eur: leo-nardoprofessionals, Mot de passe : leonardoprofessionals;
- A list of barriers and facilitators of inclusive education;
Additional outcomes were:
- A Guide for professionals on inclusive education;
- A lot of power point presentations, on international documents and policies on
national educational policies and inclusive education history in each country, study cases and ex-periences, lessons learned in different visits.
The project website was designed for all the partners and for all institutions dealing with educa-tion. It contains a glossary of inclusion, with the main concepts, in all five languages (English, French, Italian, Romanian and Icelandic). It describes the partners involved, some elements facili-tating the understanding of the European and international perspective on inclusive
education, based on the experiences collected in the project, on the results and documents
obtained.
The list of barriers and facilitators of inclusive education is a synthesis of the professionals work and a result of several debates. After listing barriers and the facilitating factors, the elements which can be barriers and facilitators as well, the list contains the synthesis of the discussion from each country, on the topic of identification of particular aspects: defining inclusion, the major
actors, the resources needed - just a few of the analyze points.
The Guide for professionals has been developed by the project professionals, as a
working tool, issued from the discussions during the school visits in the 5 countries, from the
synthesis of analysis and of conclusions (from international sources) regarding inclusive educa-tion. It defines inclusion, suggests a set o principles, identifies solutions for the barriers, and offers concrete examples from each country, regarding policies, practices, cultures and values. It is an open and positive point of view.
During the project more than 80 different power points presentation were produced, focusesd on in-ternational and national legislation, scientific arguments on inclusive education, each country policy and experiences. One of them is the Final slide show (album) 2009-2011. It contains photos which are presenting the countries that had participated (places, traditions, touristic attractions, art objects and towns architecture), as well as the "authors" involved in the project. The photos are proving the good collaboration during seminars, visits, during the attractive free time opportunities in each of the five countries. All these are posted on the website of the project, in order to become tools for inclusive education dissemination as eLearning instruments.

Conclusions
The process of eLearning using different media was vital during and for the success of this pro-ject. At the end it offered to all professionals participant the possibility to better understand the inclusion importance and issues and to promote a new perspective in education, via ongoing
collaboration between professionals, cultures and experiences.
Working in common for defining inclusive education in five national contexts and describing the barriers and solutions was very challenging. It was also necessary and rewording, in this moment of the European efforts for defending our common values.