Hospitality Europe is a partner in the “BE WATER” project, in which Sisters Hospitallers collaborates, with the aim of contributing to the promotion and dissemination of its innovative activities in Europe.

The San José Institute Foundation, the co-ordinator of the European BE WATER project, has set about adjusting work on the project to take account of the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus emergency.

Last March, the first training course was run remotely with the Irish partners (the Order) and the Portuguese partners (the Sisters Hospitallers) by video conference. This session discussed the various operational modes of water-learning: the Halliwick method (the precursor to aquatic learning), physiotherapy, speech therapy, logopaedics and occupational therapy in water. Practical cases were illustrated, according to the different degrees of disability of the pupils (children and adolescents).

The partners also began to work on producing intellectual products (primarily the teaching manual to apply this teaching method also in other care centres), the project’s web page, and materials explaining the project.

“BE WATER” project

Financed in 2019 in response to the Erasmus+ call for strategic partnerships for school education, the initiative is entitled: “Transdisciplinary project based on Building Experiences on WATER through an educational and inclusive approach for students with intellectual disabilities” – with the acronym BE WATER.

It is a two-year partnership, with an EU grant of 195,000 euro. The purpose of the project is to promote a transdisciplinary teaching system in an alternative environment to the traditional classroom: in this instance in an aquatic environment (swimming pool), to enhance the learning process for pupils with intellectual disabilities while simultaneously promoting greater autonomy and quality of life.