WorkAble

National Star Foundation

National Star College is a specialist further education, training, and personal development provision, for 16–25-year-olds, with physical and/or learning disabilities.  A team of specialist tutors, personal learning coordinators, facilitators and therapy staff support people with disabilities to realise their potential as equal and active citizens in control of their lives, by raising aspirations, challenging stereotypes, and changing attitudes.

Work Outcome courses run from 6 months to 3 years.  Students gain hands-on, internal work experience placements in StarBistro, customer services, student shop, Art Factory, horticulture, and a printing enterprise.  Working with a designated Job Coach they apply their skills to external work placements in catering, health and beauty, landscaping, administration, security, facilities management, finance, childcare, retail, hospitality, and construction.

Școala Gimnazială Specială

Şcoala Gimnazială Specială – Centru de Resurse şi Documentare pentru Educaţie Incluzivă/Integrată was established in 1993 in Cluj-Napoca.  Our school’s mission is to prepare students with special needs for the world of work and for an independent living. Our main goal is to enhance students’ strengths in order to prepare them for their adult life.

It caters for about 220 students with mild and moderate mental deficiencies as well as other types of challenges such as motor and emotional disorders. Students are aged from 6 to 18.  There are about 80 teachers and therapists in our school and 25 teachers working in mainstream schools as assistant teachers for student with special needs. Along with our teachers there are a social assistant worker, a psychologist and a pediatrician working in the school.  All staff is highly qualified in working with students with special needs.  The school’s building provides classrooms for primary and secondary students, speech therapy rooms, a sensory room, a physiotherapy room, an art room, a PE hall, a science room, a library and a cafeteria.  We have a long tradition in cooperating with schools and other institutions from Europe as we believe in sharing philosophy and good practices in special education.

ΕΚΕΚ ΑμεΑ Θεσσαλονίκης

EKEK AMEA of THESSALONIKI is a vocational school for disabled people who have completed their compulsory education. It is located 20 km outside the urban center and serves students in the greater area of Thessaloniki. The students of the school can choose between five different specialties such as computer science, carpentry, tailoring, weaving and geotechnics.

In addition to vocational training, students participate in language, math, visual arts, music, and theater classes. The school gives great importance to the psychological and social support of students as well as their connection to the labor market which is promoted through the job centers that operate in each specialty.

Zespół Szkół Budowlanych w Rybniku

ZSB is a public Vocational Education and Training school. We teach students in the following professions: IT, building construction, photography and multimedia,  geodesy, landscaping and computer programming. There are 675 students in our school including students with special needs (learning needs, health needs; 6 of our students have Asperger syndrome, 1 student with central hearing loss, 2 students with aphasia). One of our priorities is to help special needs students graduate, support them in their learning process.

ZSB has a good experience of delivering European projects around disability inclusion. Majority of our students look for work after school. As a school we organize regular meetings with a career advisor, and classes with a career advisor; individual meetings – on request, during those meetings students discuss their career prospects;- workshops are held with career advisors who work in the regional centre for employability.