The AMUSE Erasmus+ KA2 CBHE project intends to establish active cooperation between the Ukrainian and European higher educational institutions in the area of inclusive education and special needs education.
The project will equip the pre-and in-service teachers with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methodology, required for successful learning of children with speech impairment. Based on this reliable methodology, our international initiative aims to positively affect the learning climate in Ukraine, particularly in terms of educators’ readiness and skills, and creation of a more inclusive educational environment.
The training of pre-service teachers, particularly in the field of natural sciences, will provide speech-impaired children with the knowledge and understanding of the fundamental ideas of the world in which they live, and which influences their lives. Our project will adapt and adopt EU higher education didactic and approaches to updating curricula, revising existing and creating new courses as well as content-wise – the use of AAC in teaching natural sciences.
Our national breakthrough will be an AAC-based textbook “World Around Us for Kindergartens”, which will be the first textbook for speech-impaired children in Ukraine. Another big contribution is the creation of the MOOC “AAC in Education” for in-service teachers. All the outcomes (courses for students, MOOC, and the textbook) will be extensively piloted and promoted in Ukrainian educational institutions of different levels and will hopefully remove some barrier from the Ukrainian system of education making it open to all.
Objectives
The specific objectives of the project implementation include:
Creating a consortium of experienced and motivated project partners from European countries and Ukraine to modernize the teacher training curricula by introducing AAC methodology.
Sharing, learning, adopting, promoting, and exploiting the EU know-how in AAC so that Ukraine can offer equal learning opportunities for children with speech impairment.
Developing new BA and MA courses on AAC and updating courses on methods of teaching natural sciences for preschool, primary, and secondary education.
Creating an open-source MOOC “AAC in Education” and promoting it widely to outreach educators across Ukraine.
Fact File
| Project full name | Comprehensive Introduction of Augmented and Alternative Communication Methodology into the Ukrainian System of Education |
| Project acronym | AMUSE |
| Project name in Ukrainian | Комплексне впровадження методології альтернативної й додаткової комунікації в систему освіти України |
| Grant | Agreement 101179404 — AMUSE |
| Project start date | November 01, 2024 |
| Duration | 36 months |
| Project coordinator | PAVLO TYCHYNA UMAN STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY (USPU) |