Project of the General secondary school “Kosta Susinov”:
Diversity Makes Us Equal

Specific project’s objectives

• To improve relationships of pupils and communication in relations: teacher - pupils, teacher - parents and school - community.
• To enhance the Professional development of teachers and management staff will induce the necessity of inclusiveness to be the most important part of the community.

Project’s main activities:

 Inclusive Classroom

• Inclusive Classroom will be the crucial point of project’s activities. All pupils can take part in everyday activities, but special focus will be on pupils of vulnerable categories. Every day, three groups with 15 pupils each, will work together on themes determined by previously created curriculum, by defined time schedule. Three teachers will be responsible for project activities within their regular working classes. Teaching will be supported by the provided equipment: necessary technology, among which LCD, TV, lap-top computer, and printer will support creative teaching leading to progress, furniture.  The room will be open at any time during the working day.

Activities for multi-ethnic collaboration

• Macedonian, Turkish and Roma pupils will cooperate in joint activities what will contribute to improving school climate and relationships. Teachers can implement some of good examples of multi-ethnic collaboration in regular classes as well.

Class community lesson

• The pupils will disseminate experiences from “Inclusive Classroom”. While sharing with others, they will open door for friendships, enable other pupils to recognize themselves in somebody who is not like them. The goal is for them to understand the diversity as an art of different thinking.

Workshops for pupils

• Workshops will be the result of pupils’ ideas and suggestions. They will perform workshops transparently and openly, in the school yard or in the centre of the town. All pupils and all citizens are invited to take part.
  The messages of these workshops are:
  • - Respect each other
  • - Give your hand to everybody who needs it
  • - Freedom to the scared

Workshops will contribute to pupils to become more open to freely discuss dislikes and barriers with their teachers, to be beyond prejudice and stereotypes. That will give a great contribution to democracy and individuality development.

Professional trainings for teachers and management team

• Several employees will attend trainings and share their knowledge with others, afterwards. Trainings will be on themes:
  • - Development of techniques, approaches and policies for coping with all the difficulties pupils have during learning,
  • - Transparent cooperation with parents of children at higher risk of marginalisation and exclusion,

They will be, as well, trained how to involve of parents in everyday school and out-of-school activities.  

Exchange of  knowledge, practices and experiences

• A group of carefully chosen pupils with two teachers will exchange knowledge, practices and experience with pupils and teachers of school from another country, where inclusiveness is on much higher level. For several days, they will attend activities of other school and share these practices with pupils and teachers of their school.

Raising awareness

• Media coverage  by local televisions
• Printing leaflets with slogans
• Organising tribunes, open discussions and forums where everyone can ask a question, express his/her own opinion and give suggestion for further steps of inclusiveness

Project’s target groups

• Direct beneficiaries: Pupils aged 15 - 19 with diversity, their parents, teachers, management and technical staff, 14 pupils with categorized physical disabilities, 360 pupils with weaker intellectual abilities, their parents 72 teachers and other 13 employees of the school.
• Indirect beneficiaries: all other pupils (484), their parents and local community.