Our project: School
When inclusion
takes shape every day
Sometimes inclusion doesn’t need grand proclamations.
It needs time, consistency, a door that opens every morning, and a gaze that knows how to welcome.
For over 10 years, the Orizzonte Autonomia ETS Foundation has been carrying out a hands-on experience of inclusive schooling (held at different institutions over time), transforming a classroom into a daily laboratory of educational coexistence.
In the heart of the public school, a well-equipped and welcoming classroom has been set up, where a student with complex disabilities can carry out their daily activities. But it is not a separate classroom: it is an integrated, vibrant environment designed to foster interaction between different worlds.
It is here that an educational model takes shape every day, one that does not merely include, but is built together. At the center is Conductive Education, as the project is designed for a young person with severe disabilities, who benefits from and requires the method.
Every day, the Foundation’s Conductor enters the classroom as part of the school team. They work alongside teachers and educational assistants. Each brings a different expertise, but all share a common vision: inclusion must be real, personalized, and daily.
It is not about adapting the child to the context, but about building a context that recognizes their needs, values their potential, and supports them in their achievements, even the smallest ones.
The project includes a carefully balanced alternation between work moments in the equipped classroom and moments in the regular class with classmates. This flexibility is not theoretical, but applied daily, based on what is best for that child at that precise moment. It is precisely this ability to adapt that makes the project alive, effective, and sustainable.
Classmates are not mere spectators. They participate in shared workshops, common experiences, and moments of authentic interaction. They learn to observe, understand, and communicate. Teachers speak of transformed classrooms: more attentive, more collaborative, more open. Even the siblings of the students involved report profound changes, a calmer family atmosphere, and a school that knows how to be a valuable resource.
The Integrated School and Conductive Education Program demonstrates that true school inclusion is possible. Provided it is structured, shared, and nurtured every day through training, listening, and joint planning. It is a model that can be replicated, but above all, it must be experienced. Because inclusion, when genuine, cannot be taught: it is lived.
Support teachers observe results that exceed initial expectations, while educational assistants testify to how diversity transforms from a limitation into a valuable resource for the entire class group. Even families, while understandably concerned about transitions between school levels, recognize the effectiveness of an approach based on collaboration and professional competence.
These experiences show that high-quality inclusion fosters emotional and social skills valuable for all students, creating a more aware and welcoming school community.
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