Education Ministry

The Center has an ongoing ministry for troubled youth and youth with special social needs. Economically disadvantaged young people (especially teenage men) frequently give up on secondary education as they often times find themselves as the sole providers for their families. In the context of this ministry, effort is being made to provide support to youth in the form of free tutoring at the Center for those in need, as well as the assessment of other educational needs. These activities have been a source of greater understanding of issues and have sensitized the pastoral and education staff of the Center to the need for special attention to those young people who have dyslexia. Within this context contact was initiated with the British Dyslexia Association, and in 2005 a joint project proposal was submitted to THE LEONARDO DA VINCI, Community Vocational Training Action Program, Second phase: 2000-2006.

The title of the proposed project which subsequently received support from the European Commission is “Overcoming Beneficiary Barriers to Dyslexia and Improving the Quality and Availability of Screening, Skills Training, Competency and Understanding.”

The aim of project is to develop a web-based tool which will identify dyslexics, their strength and weakness, skills and difficulties, to be used to inform an understanding of their learning style and help them progress via both training and employment situations to their maximum ability. This information, together with details such as interests and abilities, age, skills, background and learning methods, will help identify recommendations for ICT based vocational training, other modes of learning and career choice. Support services, including web cam and chat based eCounselling, mentoring and guidance will also be developed. Consequently, those previously disaffected by the system, with failure in education and seeking employment, will be encouraged and motivated towards development of those attributes necessary to secure employment appropriate to one’s skills and desires and to improve their skills.

The Copenhagen Declaration agreed, as a priority, to aim to increase voluntary co-operation in vocational education and training in order to promote mutual trust, transparency and recognition of competencies and qualification, include the implementation and rationalization of information tools and methods, strengthening policies, systems and practices. To enhance co-operation principles that will underpin that include initiatives to be focused on the needs of citizens and users organizations and measures that should be principally developed through bottom-up co-operation. This project addresses these issues and provides solutions by developing tools which will be made widely available to all. This will be achieved through building upon current activities of the project partners and the wider user group. The partners are chosen to represent the wide socio-economic and linguistic diversity across Europe, thus ensuring the best opportunity for wider valorization and adoption. Screening for dyslexia is important. It is not done systematically across the European Union. In some countries it is not recognized at all, in others there are a variety of methods. There needs to be some form of "systematic understanding". IT offers a relatively new way to screen on an objective basis and look to the development of some e-learning training tools. It is also a way that has yet to achieve universal acceptance.

Part of this project's aim is to test, look to consistency across Member States and assess the value of the tool. One role of the partners will be to put that aim to test. Each of the partners has an extensive network within their respective countries, and will develop country based user groups to ensure localization of the country-specific components, as well as feed into the wider international steering group. The project then goes further and looks to influencing policy makers in education and employment in terms of their understanding of dyslexia and their perception of this disability for post 16 year old people. The project is to carry out seminal research and practice to help overcome the barriers to employment and learning faced by people with dyslexia as a contributory factor to social exclusion. The parties will develop software packages, training materials and course documentation to enshrine good practice, disseminated throughout participating organizations and associated organizations, e.g. East-West Partnership and the European Dyslexia Association. The partners expect that the project’s positive outcomes will influence policy and practice across Europe with respect to dyslexia, and help to promote lifelong learning, and training and social inclusion for those who learn differently.

In order to successfully implement this new project, the Center of Panagia Philanthropini will recruit: dedicated clergy, educators, child psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and young people from the target population. This dynamic group of experts and advisors will be instrumental in the development of the curriculum that is specifically applicable to Greek young people who have dyslexia.