Creating together, but what next?
On May 21, 2024, support specialists from vocational schools across Estonia gathered – counselors, psychologists, social pedagogues, dormitory administrators, and many others. The purpose of the gathering was to empower each other, share experiences, and find out how support specialists can reach out and, if not, what they need to be able to achieve that.
The day began with a presentation by the Ministry of Education and Research’s senior specialist in inclusive education, Ave Szymanel. In her presentation, Ave explained how to mark the educational special needs indicator in the EHIS system (Estonia’s national registration system for education and students). Due to a change in the regulation, supporting students with special needs in vocational schools will become even more transparent for families, schools, and the students themselves. Now, the state plans to introduce a preparatory year to help students make more informed career choices. This “kutsevaliku õpe” or skills-readiness elective year, is already in place in several vocational schools across the country.
In the second part of the day, there was a presentation by Liine Maasikas – Support Centre Manager for Tartu Vocational College – on how the success of a student with special educational needs can be achieved when they have specialists who understand and know how to support them.
Viljandi Vocational School’s Strategic Partnership Manager and Teacher, Ryan Sandberg, then spoke about how to notice and be there for the student when vocational school ends and they enter the labor market. He discussed the creation of materials that will be useful for everyone to read. Thanks to the DysinEduProWork Erasmus+ project, where team members from Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Estonia, and Italy are addressing specific learning disorder-related challenges. Difficulties are being mapped to create a toolkit and course, helping students transition smoothly into the labor market. The deliverables will include best practices, various observations, challenges from different countries, and quotes from interviews. The reading is suitable for everyone, as it broadens horizons, and if we all have better skills to support young people in entering the workforce, we all benefit.
At the end of the day, we went together on a dance journey at Vana-Võidu Manor, where we had to trust the dance instructor and allow ourselves to be. Listen, move, and feel gratitude and self-satisfaction. Being a support specialist next to a student is important, but for that, we need to know how to find time for ourselves and value ourselves as well.
