Abstract:

Purpose:
Given that students with Additional Educational Needs (AEN) have fewer opportunities to participate in changemaking educational initiatives, they often do not have the opportunity to develop social innovation competences, as students do in the mainstream schools.
In this context, the Promoting Inclusion through Social Innovation Education (SIE4P.Inc) project, funded by Erasmus+, aspires to address the issue of the lack of opportunities for empowering students with AEN to become agents of change by transferring and elevating the Social Innovation Education (SIE) model to special education systems in 5 European (EU) countries (France, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Romania). The main purpose of this Framework is to design an educational framework as comprehensive, accessible and flexible as possible, so that it enables the teaching and supportive staff of special education, such as teachers, speech therapists, social workers, etc. to introduce SIE in their classrooms and integrate it into their own teaching practices. In that way, teachers will be inspired to design participatory learning environments that will empower students with AEN to address social and sustainability issues in their local community by connecting and co-creating projects with other community members.

Design/Methodology/Approach:
SIE is a tried and tested model that has been developed for mainstream education where young people co-create with adults to address local social and sustainability issues through transformative social action projects. Through the collective and collaborative learning process of SIE, students develop a set of social and civic related competences that enable them to:
i) identify opportunities for social value creation,
ii) to form collaborations and build social relationships and
iii) take innovative action for more democratic and sustainable societies.
To transfer the SIE model in special education, a rigorous approach was undertaken that involved theoretical research combined with empirical evidence; desk research was used to explore the contextual factors for SIE integration across the 5 EU partner countries’ special education systems; online surveys and focus groups with 116 (in total) teachers, educators and other professionals working with students with AEN in formal (public and private schools) or non-formal education were conducted to identify their training needs and familiarize them with SIE model.

Findings:
Research findings indicated – among others – a lack of special education programmes that develop students’ with AEN social and civic competences, providing them with equal opportunities for co-creation of social innovation actions with other community members; also, empirical research brought out teachers’ lack of training opportunities, and educational resources to apply inclusive, social transformative initiatives, especially under the SIE approach.
This theoretical and empirical exploration of concepts, meanings and training needs offered inspiration for developing the SIE4P.Inc framework, including SIE’s philosophy and underpinnings, educational approaches and targeted competences for students with AEN.

Originality/value:
This Framework underlines the importance of SIE to engage students with AEN together with different community stakeholders into taking transformative action to drive social change and value creation for inclusive, more democratic and sustainable worlds.

Keywords:

Social Innovation Education (SIE), Additional Learning Needs (AEN), 21st century competences, co-creation labs, active citizenship, changemakers, local sustainability challenges.