P.E.rfect

“An Autism and Behaviour Management training for P.E. school teachers” with project acronym P.E.rfect aims to empower physical education teachers to support the effective inclusion of children with autism in education, by providing them with appropriate skills, knowledge, effective strategies and locally-appropriate training. The project will learn from what is currently taking place within partner countries.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROJECT ARE:
● To map current good practice and scope areas needing development with regard to the physical education class in mainstream schools of children with autism in partner countries;
● To develop a model training programme and materials for physical education teachers teaching students with autism in mainstream schools;
● To train trainers for physical education teachers;
● To use these materials to pilot the professional development/training programme for physical education teachers;
● To develop a handbook for physical education teachers regarding autism students;
● To develop an e-learning platform;
● To develop a toolkit for physical education teachers;
● To evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of the materials and the impact of the training using quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis;
● To share the programme, tools and materials with stakeholders and make recommendations to national policy-makers in these countries and more widely within Europe.

This is an important project, the need for which was highlighted within previous Erasmus+ projects. The main priority addressed is the development of relevant and high-quality skills and competencies (in this case relating to developing the competencies of physical education teachers). This project will produce a training programme designed to meet the needs of physical education teachers teaching children with autism in mainstream schools, locally adapted to meet the needs of diverse Central/Eastern European/Balkan countries. Supporting physical education teachers in these countries to understand autism and effective evidence-based approaches and strategies, and develop their skills to effectively include children and young people with autism in education will have significant benefits and impact on educational and social inclusion, educational achievement, equality of opportunity and teachers’ professional competence.

OBJECTIVES:
● To identify the gaps and map current good practices related to physical education of students with autism in primary schools;
● To develop a model blended training programme and materials for physical education teachers, providing them with skills to effectively support the inclusion of students with autism and also to effectively manage inappropriate student behaviour;
● To pilot-test the developed materials and training programme to physical education teachers of the partner countries, and evaluate their appropriateness and effectiveness, and their impact;
● To share the programme, tools and materials with stakeholders and make recommendations to national policymakers across Europe and the Balkans.

RESULTS:
1. The ”P.E.rfect” Educational Package including a Curriculum (PR1), Handbook (PR2) for physical education teachers and Toolkit (PR3), all interconnected.
2. An e-learning platform (PR4) on which the outcomes of PR1, PR2 and PR3 will be uploaded in order to be used by trainers that will train physical education teachers (C2). The e-Learning platform will also work as an online open educational source for all interested parties.
3. A set of 2 e-Learning courses, will provide training to trainers to gain the knowledge, skills, and competencies for training primary school, and physical education teachers, on evidence-based teaching approaches (based on ABA, TEACCH and sensory Integration) to guide and support children with autism and help them get integrated into the mainstream classroom.
4.18 + 5 trained (C1) trainers (3 from each country + minimum 5 at the local level), on how to train physical education school teachers through the use of the Educational package and the e-Learning platform
5. 30 + 5 primary school teachers (5 from each country + minimum 5 at the local level), trained by trainers on the Educational package and through the e-Learning platform
6. Multiplier events to promote the project, its intellectual outputs and its outcomes among trainers, mentors, academics, physical education teachers, individuals with ASD, their families and caretakers, organisations involved in ASD, researchers, policymakers and reformers and relevant stakeholders) (E1-E6).

With these objectivities and results, this project will influence on better inclusion of students with autism spectrum disorders in schools and in sports also. By training P.E. teachers this project will influence their key competencies for working with students with ASD and, training a group of P.E. teachers will have a big impact on other P.E. teachers in each partner country. This will have an impact on raising awareness for sports activities for people with autism in the EU.

The project “An Autism and Behaviour Management training for P.E. school teachers” with project acronym P.E.rfect is implemented with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European union and in cooperation of partners from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ireland, Spain, Poland, The Republic of North Macedonia.