Inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in schools

Investing in the education and well-being of children has always been a bedrock of the work of Enel Cuore. It is also one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs established by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda. Specifically #SDG 4 – "Quality Education": with the "Inclusione scolastica degli studenti con bisogni educativi speciali (BES)" call we have set ourselves the goal of supporting the non-profit sector, in partnership with schools, to facilitate and implement projects aimed at children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

The beneficiaries of this initiative are lower secondary schoolchildren throughout Italy who require special assistance with their learning as a result of temporary difficulties, developmental issues, or motor or cognitive disabilities. Children who not only have the right to actively participate alongside their peers in school life, but that through an alternative approach may acquire skills and tools that will enable them to face and overcome their limitations and difficulties in creative ways.

In order to facilitate the inclusion of these students, it’s necessary to adapt the environment to suit their individual needs, using a variety of different means and measures: at the structural level (e.g. converting the support classroom into a resource room, creating communal areas and digital laboratories), at the technological level (IT equipment and specific teaching aids) and finally, at the social level, facilitating sporting, cultural, artistic and recreational activities designed for students with SEN, but which can ensure that the entire class can take part.

The project for the inclusion of students with special educational needs in schools directly involves the children, their teachers and the school management as well as, indirectly, the families, local communities and municipalities.

Associations operating in the non-profit sector, working in partnership with lower secondary schools, were invited to respond to the call for ideas, and the deadline for proposals was 15 February 2017. Of the many project proposals that were put forward, 15 were selected and financed.

Discover all of the projects from the call of ideas on the theme of inclusion.