VETREALITY

The upskilling of teachers and trainers’ competences for fostering inclusion has been identified as a high policy priority by the EU in the Council Recommendation on promoting common values and inclusive education (EC Com2018/23), by the UN Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities (2016 Report on the right to inclusive education) and by the UN AGENDA 2030 for Sustainable Development (Goals 4 and 8). Moreover, the 2018 EC Report “Education and special needs: policies and practices in education, training and employment for students with special needs in the EU” confirms that to integrate SEN students in education and training, there is a need to prepare teachers and trainers to use digital and innovative tools, such as virtual learning environments (VLE). In the frame of VLE, the use of VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) is considered valuable and profitable for SEN students in initial VET when applied for facilitating their access to work-based learning (WBL) at local and international or mobility level. VETREALITY represents a reply to the mentioned needs as it will provide the target group – VET teachers/trainers – the required digital competences for tackling this innovative change in SEN students' learning process. Main objectives . To foster innovative learning approaches and methodologies and provide digital skills for teaching and training, as outlined in the EU Digital Education Action Plan • To increase technological competences, both on VR applications to facilitate SEN students’ access to WBL; • To promote VR in the frame of Mobility as a means to encourage the participation of SEN students and assure equity and inclusion in all VET environments