Attendees: Erman Erkuş (Teacher), Fazilet Demiralay (teacher), Neda Deniz Keskin (Guidance Teacher), Murat Kurt (Headmaster), Zafer Çınar (Senior Officer)
2nd mobility of the project called “I.D.E.A.! Together We Can!” has been implemented in Poland – Bytom between 04.03.2019-08.03.2019. Three different levels for special education schools have been visited.
4th of March 2019, Monday
We gave a visit to Szkola Podstawowa Mild and Moderate Level Primary School in Bytom – Poland in the 1st of the program. School teachers separated us as groups in order to see all areas of the school. Then, we entered to the classrooms which are designed specifically for the partner countries.
In Turkish classroom, there were historical places, traditional clothes and foods of Turkey on the board and we were asked to teach a regional Turkish Dance to the students. Then, we performed within the common hall where all the countries have met.
The host country made a presentation regarding Polish Education System for us. They underlined that there are no special syllabus for mild and moderate level. If the students need a special treatment/therapy, they just need to take a session regarding physiotherapy, biofeedback, sense education or speaking therapy as groups. There are 8 hours of classes between from 8.00 to 15:30 and students are allowed to go to their house for lunch. Number of the students for mild level is 15, 8 for moderate level and 4 for the autism classes.
We also decided that biofeedback therapy is not suitable for our school (Turkey) as the necessary circumstances are not ready. Besides, we observed that students who have disability on mild level in that school are almost at the same level regarding academic success with the students who are going for mainstream schools with low academic degrees in our country.
5th of March 2019, Tuesday
We gave a visit to Warsztat Terapii Zajeciowej PSONI Kolo (Adult Disabled People Vocational School - Bytom) on the 2nd day of our trip. We were divided into groups in order to attend to the activities within woodcraft and ceramic workshops after we had a tour of the school with the headmaster. We observed that activities and implementations in this school are quite similar with the ones at Family and Social Ministry of Turkey. Some of the individuals in the school were highly disabled regarding physical but on the mild level regarding mentally. We also seen that participants use “dangerous” and sharp objects in order to create beautiful products within woodcraft and glass workshops.
6th of March 2019, Wednesday
On the 3rd day of our visit to Poland, we visited Krakow, the cultural heritage of Poland.
7th of March 2019, Thursday
We observed the vocational school of SEN students age between 16–24, Brazzowa Szkola I Stopnia within Bytom.
There are 3 years programs in order to gain a profession for the students in that school. We have been told that there are classes regarding design, butchering and car repairmen and cashiering at markets. The group only visited the classrooms of stich and cookery. Students who are trying to graduate from this school after primary supposed to take 2 different exams at the end of 3rd year and if they succeed, they can start working. There is also a second chance for the students who failed on both of the exams. They can chose a new profession and get a 3 more years for education.
8th of March 2019, Friday
We participated to the closing ceremony of Szkola Podstawowa Mild and Moderate Level Primary School on the 5th day of our mobility. Project coordinators handed one of the themes of the project, baby dolls and the diaries, to each other. Then we visited the coal mine, Guido.
To sum up;
Profiles of the students that we observed during school visits were quite different than our students in Turkey. Students who have high disability situations like our students in Turkey cannot go to SEN schools, but they can get education from special and caring centers. We also have seen that methods and techniques that are being use are quite same with Turkey. The only difference was biofeedback therapy and we believe that it is not suitable to our students.
Besides, Bytom has a population of 160.000 approximately and less developed, small city. Therefore, we think that comparison of schools is not smart as there is a huge difference socio economically between Istanbul and Bytom.