What does an inclusive education mean, according to our understanding? In short, it means that:
1. every child is there for the learning process
2. every child is active, aware and involved
3. every child makes process in his or her learning process

Truly inclusive education is not satisfied with the first two levels of inclusion. Therefore, we aimed to reach for the highest levels of inclusion with the “Inclusion means learning for everyone” project.

The focus has been, even internationally, to bring all children to school, however it has been concluded that their sheer presence in class does not guarantee progress. Children who are only physically there, cannot learn. Furthermore, children who are not properly stimulated to make progress will eventually sense, alongside their parents, the uselessness of school activities, and that is when the danger of school drop-out comes in.

Relevant learning supposes change: it is an intimate process, taking place in the depth of our being, that simultaneously needs to be reflected in what we do – in other words, we need to see results, besides the transcript we get from school. Our actions mirror our thinking, our values, our beliefs, our understanding. When we truly learn something, it will be visible in the way we act and reason, with respect to ourselves and to others, it will be visible in what we say, what we do, what we think.

School has the ultimate responsibility to give relevance – personal and local – to what it teaches. It is here that the national curriculum is translated into learning activities for children. In order for the learning process to be perceived as relevant by children and their parents, it needs to be based on authentic life experiences of the students, that are mainly learnt at home, in social groups, in the community. Furthermore, the results should have and cause an impact on the life of the student, on his family, on the groups he belongs to, ultimately, on the community.

Relevant experiences for children in 6 rural areas
These are the reasons why our aim in this project is to offer children in 6 rural areas learning experiences that are as relevant as possible. To reach this goal, we need to approach the adults that surround the children: parents, families, teachers, and other participants to the school life.

The first activity to start the project in 2018 was:

• A training workshop for the management teams of the 6 partner schools: if school leaders understand inclusion and how they can focus their efforts, they can develop the capacity to direct the efforts of the teachers, parents, as well as those of other interested parties from the community. The change process of inclusion needs dedicated and skillful leadership.

Then, we focused on the parents:

• 60 parents participate every month – for almost the entire duration of the 2-year project – to meetings initiated by the school, where they learn to have constructive conversations about school development, about the learning and wellbeing of all children in the school. Our intention is to ally ourselves with parents, who can in turn bring other parents, who are skeptical or fearful, closer to the school. It is difficult to overstate the importance of parents in the school life, in activities that target their children’s learning. A community school facilitator supports school management in these actions of active involvement of parents.