As part of the joint EU/CoE project "Building Capacity for Inclusion in Education - INCLUDE", Module 1 “Disability and Inclusive Education” of the capacity building programme for Resource Centres, aiming at increasing competences to support students with special education needs, has been accredited by the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). The second Module “Planning for individual education” is also under preparation and will be used to further train Resource Centres’ staff in early 2022.

The MESTI has already accredited the following training programmes since the beginning of the project in January 2021:

• The training on Democratic and inclusive learning community – comprising three parts and addressed to the whole school community, from managers, to teaching staff and school parents.
  Part 1. Introduction to competences for democratic culture
  Part 2. Addressing bullying in schools
  Part 3. Contributing to environmental protection.

• The Teacher Training Programme on Inclusive Education. Originally developed by the UNICEF regional office for the Western Balkans, the training programme was adapted to the needs of teachers and now contains additional modules on the International Classification of Functioning (ICF), as well as on Individual Educational Plans (IEP) for children with special education needs. The MESTI accredited the Teacher Training Programme for two years and more than 500 teachers from 50 pilot schools will be trained by the end of 2023.

The joint EU/CoE project INCLUDE supports the MESTI in improving access to quality education for all children, with a particular focus on increasing the participation of children with special needs and children from disadvantaged groups such as Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian children.