The main objectives of the SIDE-project are:
* promoting active citizenship by including deaf youth aged 16 to 30 and making them protagonists in a process that can find solutions to their experienced marginalisation at social and working level.
* elaborating and experimenting a model for blended learning addressed to deaf youth, including “real” non formal training activities (e.g. outdoor training, coaching, …) and “virtual” training activities based on professional didactic modules developed trough videos and sign language in a virtual learning environment.
Through non formal learning methods, the model will provide the acquisition of high relevant key and transversal competences for empowerment and social inclusion. Through virtual learning they will acquire specific professional competences to valorise their attitudes and to have more opportunities for accessing the labour market.
* allowing the exchange of experiences by realising a preliminary training which puts together deaf and hearing trainers/workers. Results in terms of learning processes, approaches and methods are expected.
* Educational and vocational programmes should be accessible and should valorise the talents of deaf people. Since deaf people have specific talents in nonverbal creativity and the perception of their reality is linked to the importance of sight, visual languages and arts were chosen as a field for learning.
The steps that will be taken in order to achieve these aims are to
*implement an introductory study, analysing the motivation and barriers deaf youth find in accessing to training and labour market.
*development of a model for blended learning (as described above) and a SIDE platform
*preliminary training for deaf and hearing trainers, aimed at creating a tutor for deaf youth training and guidance to job opportunities
*piloting of the SIDE model with participation of deaf youth
Moreover, the SIDE project will continue to host annual workshops for trainers and the SIDE platform will stay available for the target groups to ensure the sustainability of the project results.