The consortium consists of 7 organisations from 4 countries – Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye.

PLOVDIV UNIVERSITY “PAISII HILENDARSKI”, Pedagogical Faculty, Plovdiv, Bulgaria – project coordinator

Plovdiv University is one of the leading higher-education institutions in the Republic of Bulgaria. It is the largest University in Southern Bulgaria and the second biggest in Bulgaria. Plovdiv University was initially founded in 1961 as a Higher Institute of Pedagogy for Natural Sciences and Mathematics. It was declared a University in 1972. The University has received official state accreditation (2013), which allows it to confer each form of educational degree i.e. specialist, bachelor, master and doctor. Teaching and research activities are carried out by over 598 highly qualified full-time lecturers, including 95 Full Professors, 206 Associate Professors, 181 Senior Assistant Professors, 116 Assistants Professors, and other lecturers. Approximately 13 000 full-time students and more than 5 000 part-time students are trained in more than 100 bachelor and 130 master courses including natural, humanitarian, social, engineering and economic sciences.

More information at: www.uni-plovdiv.bg ; https://pfpu.bg

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACION A DISTANCIA, Spain

UNED is one of the largest campuses in Europe and has developed great technological innovation from its creation to the present. From the use of classic media such as radio and television to own and innovative platforms and the introduction of Artificial intelligence and big data for the personalizationof learning.At present, the uned is committed to digitization and innovation in its strategic lines.

Undoubtedly, one of the areas of greatest growth of the UNED has been its academic offer, which increases every year with new degrees, adapting to the demands of the Knowledge Society with the creation, to name a few examples, of the Combined Degrees or the recent Micro-Degrees, pioneers in Spain and that respond to the European commitment to Short Learning Programs.

More information at: www.unedmadrid.es

ASOCIACIÓN MADRILEÑA DE PROFESIONALES DE LA ATENCIÓN TEMPRANA, Spain

AMPAT, Madrid Association of Inclusive Education Professionals, was born in 2004 due to the need to create an association of qualified and specialized people in inclusive education and production of supportive training materials to ensure their proper educational and societal inclusion. AMPAT has the official qualification of “social interest”, granted by the Community of Madrid. AMPAT is currently made up of more than 50 associates from the most important specialties involved in an Childhood Intervention process, such as health, pediatrics, education, psychology, pedagogy and technology. The professionals who participate in our association have extensive experience of many years of practice, most of them having obtained the academic degree of doctor in their respective specialties. Many of them are also university professors who teach at the Complutense University of Madrid and other universities or teaching centers, with which AMPAT maintains close ties in the field of research, as well as regular collaborations in projects of all kinds. AMPAT maintains relations with institutions and organizations such as EURLYAID, GAT, SIPOSIO, POLIBEA, Secretary of State for Social Services and Secretary General of the Royal Board of Trustees on Disability, national and international foundations, and universities. Its members form part of scientific and professional committees such as the Commission for Children and Adolescents with Disabilities of the Community of Madrid, or the Educational Inclusion Network, and participate in specialized university master’s degrees, conferences, seminars, and continuing education courses, as well as in conferences on current affairs and social interest. AMPAT organizes sessions for the exchange of experiences and interdisciplinary sessions, as well as congresses. It also publishes reports and technical documents in its field of action with the results of the research it carries out.

More information at: https://ampat.org.es/

BULGARIAN INCLUSION SUPPORT TEAM, Bulgaria

The Association organizes activities related to the implementation of inclusive education, wellbeing via non-formal activities as well as labour market support for young people with disabilities in terms of successful implementation in Bulgaria of inclusive school education, vocational education and training, supported employment, inclusion and sustainability in the labor market and implementation of social inclusion in culture, sports and society as a whole. The team of the organisation consists of leading experts in the field of inclusive education, psychomotor physical education, supported employment by
Carl Rogers model, recognition of prior learning, recognition and validation of learning outcomes. Their team members are frequently invited as guest speakers at major national and EU conferences in the field of inclusive education, career guidance and counselling, validation of learning outcomes as well as in the Committees to the Ministry of Education & Science and National Agency for Vocational Education & Training.

More information at: www.inclusionteam.org

WINSS: World Innovative Sustainable Solutions, Turkiye

The NGO’s staff members have been working over 14 years in the youth sector. The purpose of this parent association is to contribute to cultural transformation in individuals and society for a sustainable life; to offer creative solutions to the complex problems of our time with a systemic and holistic perspective; to raise awareness, inspire and support a sustainable life for social, ecological and economic sustainability. It offers inclusive, innovative and sustainable solutions in the field of education, career guidance, green economy, STEM technologies, etc. It carries out academic studies and publications in educational studies on educational, social and cultural issues. Part of the staff of the organisation is consisting of mentors and job coaches, who will provide expertise in the field of this project. The organisation is working also intensively with parents of marginalised youth through provision of further guidance and support on educational and labour market inclusion. WINSS will be the leader on development of pilot plan for the organisation of the blended trainings of youth NGO’s disability moderators. They are representing more than 500 parents of youth with disabilities and their collaboration with them will be beneficial for the finalisation and appropriateness of the project results.

More information at: www.winssolutions.org

Eyüpsultan District Directorate of National Education (EYUPSULTAN ILCE MILLI EGITIM MUDURLUGU), Turkiye

Eyüpsultan District Directorate of National Education (Eyüpsultan MEM) manages the formal and non-formal education institutions in Eyup province depending on the basic principles of Turkish National Education. Eyüpsultan MEM is the highest educational authority in its region. The directorate manages the activities of 259 educational institutions in its region. In this context, it conducts many projects and activities in the field of education. It organizes various courses for teachers, students and parents: vocational training courses, social skills courses, business training courses,youth education project writing and management courses, European Union training programs courses, entrepreneurship courses etc. The
institution also conducts projects in local, regional, national and international areas. With an experienced project team, local and international projects are carried out in the field of entrepreneurship education. This project continues the work done in the scope of funding programs such as Istanbul Development Agency and Erasmus +.

More information at: https://eyupsultan.meb.gov.tr

INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DE BRAGANCA, Portugal

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) is a higher education public institution with a defined mission in creating, transmitting and diffusing technical-scientific and professional knowledge through the articulation of study, teaching, applied research and experimental development. IPB belongs to the European Network for Universities of Applied Sciences (UASNET), which main objectives include the transferability of professional skills and the integration of applied research in their professional and technological education mission.

Founded in 1983, IPB is presently composed by five schools. Its activities embraces a wide area of knowledge and technology, namely, arts, communication and multimedia, business sciences and law, education and teachers training, agriculture sciences and natural resources, health, tourism, sports, technologies and engineering. The IPB has an internationalization programme with widely recognized success, including the annual mobility of more than 1000 incoming and outgoing students and 300 teaching and non-teaching staff members, as the result of the cooperation with several European HEIs and with universities from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and all over the World (www.ipb.pt/iro).

Taking into account its dimension (more than 9000 students and 420 full time equivalent teachers), IPB is placed in the first line of the international mobility. Considering the latest governmental data, 26% of IPB graduates had an international mobility experience during their study programme, which remarkably places IPB above the objective established by the EU for 2020 (20%). IPB also distinguishes itself as partner in European projects, including 14 Strategic Partnerships, 9 former Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Tempus and Erasmus-Mundus, and 30 Intensive Programmes. The IPB is one of the few Portuguese HEIs awarded with both the ECTS and the DS Labels, thus assuring the quality and the transparency of the management and the fair academic and professional recognition of its qualifications (www.ipb.pt/ectsguide, www.ipb.pt/sd).

IPB is a certified institution awarded with ISO 2001:2008 standards certificate, our Planning and Quality Management Office implements mechanisms of quality control in order to improve quality of services and follow financial implementation of projects.

More information at: https://portal3.ipb.pt/index.php/en/ipben/home

Bulgarian teacher’s union, Bulgaria

The Bulgarian union of teachers (BTU) was founded in 1990 and nowadays has about 80 000 members (teachers). It is the largest Bulgarian trade union organisation in terms of membership and defends the civil rights and freedom, the social, economic, labour and professional rights and interests of its members employed in the area of secondary education. The organisation has 28 Regional offices and 250 offices in each municipality in the country and enjoys good relationships with all social partners at national and regional level.
The SEB is a key member of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB, one of the officially representative workers’ organisations in Bulgaria) and a key player of the Sectoral Council for Tripartite Cooperation in the secondary education system in Bulgaria. It is also affiliated to the world’s largest teachers’ organisations, Education International (EI) and European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE).
BTU has implemented and applies a quality management system with the scope: Training for raising the qualification of teachers and employees in the education system – Certificate ISO 9001:2015.

More information at: www.sbubg.info