Digital Literacy for the Labour Market

Escola Superior de Educação de Santarém (Portugal) launched the first inclusive higher-education training programme for people with intellectual disabilities in Portugal, adapting a curriculum that the Autonomous University of Madrid has run for 12 years. The initiative followed the Erasmus+ project 'TV T21 COMmunity e-Skills' (2017), after Portuguese ministers challenged the school to turn that project into an ongoing training course.

Enable young people with intellectual disabilities to work in different work contexts; equip them with tools to adapt to different business cultures; promote acceptance and equality for people with intellectual disabilities; and build teamwork and reflective-practice skills through workplace involvement.

A two-year, four-semester course combining classroom training with work-based internships across public administration, professional centres, schools, companies, insurance and hospitality organisations. Curricular units are adapted from the Autonomous University of Madrid model.

The first edition (2018/19) enrolled 11 students, all with intellectual disabilities. Graduates went on to work in Public Administration, Professional Centres, Schools, Companies, Insurance, Auxiliary Services and Hotel Entities. An e-book documenting the model was published to support replication by other higher-education institutions.

The record itself states 'Evaluation: No' — there is no independent outcome evaluation; the record is a self-reported description of the first cohort and its handbook/replication materials.