Working Together for Better Communication in Inclusive Classrooms
How can effective communication be achieved in classrooms where hearing as well as deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils learn together – and how can future teachers be prepared for this?
These questions are at the heart of the ERASMUS+ project SWING CAMPUS, coordinated by the FAU Competence Center Education. Partners from Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Belgium are working together to develop practical solutions for teacher education.
At the project meeting in Fürth, the partners came together to plan the next concrete steps in the project. Throughout the discussions, one guiding question remained central: what do our target groups actually need?
Concrete Benefits for Students and Teachers
SWING CAMPUS is developing a free digital training programme for teacher education, aimed at student teachers, practising teachers and other interested users, and designed to prepare them for inclusive classroom situations.
At its core is the question of how communication can be effectively managed in classrooms that include deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils.
To this end, the project develops practical materials that can be used directly in both university teaching and school practice. These include digital video dictionaries, digital flashcards, everyday classroom phrases, and scenario-based sign language videos illustrating typical communication situations. The programme is complemented by interactive training modules that reflect real classroom scenarios and support the development of practical communication skills.
As coordinating institution, the FAU Competence Center Education and Learning contributes its particular expertise in the needs-based didactic design and media production of training materials.
A tour of the video studio provided insight into how these materials are produced and refined. The close integration of pedagogical design, technical implementation and practical experience ensures that the materials are both academically sound and directly applicable in teaching practice.
More than Language: Understanding Perspectives
An important impulse for the further development of the training content came from the stakeholder workshop, where experts from schools, higher education, research and the Deaf community contributed their perspectives.
The discussions made clear that teaching individual signs alone is not sufficient. What is needed is to prepare teachers to manage communication in real classroom situations and to raise awareness of the perspectives of deaf and hard-of-hearing learners.
This also involves engaging with Deaf culture and developing a deeper understanding of how communication can be structured in inclusive classrooms so that all pupils are able to participate actively.
Why This Matters for Higher Education
Addressing concrete barriers in educational contexts – for example when teaching is predominantly oral, when several people speak at the same time, or when content is not visually accessible – highlights how easily communication can become challenging for deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils. These challenges are often compounded by limited sign language skills and uncertainty in dealing with different communication needs.
For universities, this means preparing student teachers specifically for such situations. This is precisely where SWING CAMPUS contributes, by developing materials that can be directly integrated into teacher education programmes and that support the development of practical communication skills.
In this way, future teachers can acquire competences early on that are essential for enabling all pupils to participate actively in classroom learning.
Outlook
The materials are being developed on the basis of an approximately one-year research phase, during which key vocabulary and typical communication situations in the classroom have been identified. The didactic design and media production are carried out in close collaboration with educational experts, representatives of the Deaf community and other stakeholders, and are continuously supported through formative evaluation.
In a subsequent phase, the materials will be tested with the target groups and evaluated summatively before being made freely available to universities, teachers and other interested users.
Working Together for Greater Participation in the Classroom
The meeting in Fürth demonstrated the importance of close collaboration between higher education institutions, practitioners and international partners in developing effective solutions for teacher education.
Our guiding principle is the consistent orientation towards the needs of the target groups and the preparation of teachers to consciously shape communication in the classroom so that all pupils can be actively included.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
