On 14.02. at the SOSU Østjylland school (https://www.facebook.com/sosuoj) in the city of Aarhus, the last transnational meeting within the framework of the “A-class” project was held, attended by partners from Macedonia, Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Italy and the host from Denmark. At the meeting, the latest changes to the materials and the online educational platform were agreed upon, which will soon be available at the link https://theaclass.eu/

As part of the visit, we attend the “A-class” conference (15.02.2023) where we had the opportunity to hear about the latest statistics on the number of people with autism, adult diagnostics and opportunities in terms of education, work and independent living in Denmark.

Kristien Bro, who is an external professor at Aalborg University, spoke about the dilemma “If the intentions are good, why is it so difficult to integrate children/young people/adults into education/society?”. Then two girls Silke and Naja who are part of the autism youth organization “Autime Ungdom” created by people with autism aged 13 to 30 spoke from their personal experiences about the path of education, vocational, job training and employment of young people on the autism spectrum in Denmark.

Then two girls Silke and Naja who are part of the autism youth organization “Autime Ungdom” created by people with autism aged 13 to 30 spoke from their personal experiences about the path of education, vocational, job training and employment of young people on the autism spectrum in Denmark. Then, Anie Smedegaard, a school psychologist and teacher, paid attention to greater “presence” of teachers during class in order to improve the work in the class where the child with autism studies. She mentioned that integration depends a lot on the teacher and his desire to succeed. The project coordinator, Niels, besides introducing everyone to the project at the beginning, also spoke about the NEST classes in Denmark, as a new model of integration where 4 children with autism are joined by 16 peers with neurotypical development in a special class for autism. Finally, the teaching profession was discussed, how school management depends on the number of children attending school and what needs to be done to improve education and make it more inclusive, in order to increase the number of children, which will lead to an increase in school budgets and thus improve resources and teaching conditions.

On 16.02. we had the opportunity, thanks to the host, to visit schools in Denmark.

In the beautiful Mercelisborg forest, overlooking the Kattegat Sea, there is the special boarding school Egmont (Egmont Højskolen), which accommodates about 250 students, half of whom are students with special needs. The school, which has all the conditions for children with special needs, includes activities necessary for everyday life, such as music, ceramic and glass art, multimedia production, cooking, a woodworking workshop, a computer games room, a film library and a sports hall and a yard completely adapted for practicing different types of sports.

Characteristic of this school is that, apart from children with disabilities, there are just as many children-high school students without disabilities who themselves “chose” to spend 6 months in this educational institution, to study and at the same time take care of their peers with disabilities. All children, in fact, study, work and live together in single (children with disabilities) and double rooms equipped with everything they need for an independent life. 3 children without disabilities have an obligation to take care of and befriend 1 person with disabilities for 24 hours, which would mean joint classes, sports activities, free time, listening to music, social games, etc.

To the question “Why did you choose to spend part of your education in this school and to live and take care of your peer with special needs? Do you want to become a nurse or a social worker in the future? Or maybe a special educator and rehabilitator?” the answer to these questions was negative. The real answer was “Because what I do makes sense”. The school feels the energy of the youth, the readiness for challenges, for fun and socializing. By involving high school students in the school, through their enthusiasm and positive energy, the possibility of professional burnout of the school staff is overcome.

When you mention boarding school and special school, you immediately think of exclusion. But the school seems like a fairy tale, like something impossible, and yet real and true. The school is ready and already has international cooperation with schools from Europe and beyond.