Title: Inclusive Education : An international perspective
1Inclusive Education An international
perspective
- Dr Cor Meijer, director
- www.european-agency.org
2Member countries of the Agency
- Presently, the Agency has 27 full member
countries Austria, Belgium (French), Belgium
(Flemish), Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
(England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales). - We expect that Romania, Slowak Republic and
Bulgaria will soon join us
3The Agency
- 13th year of operations
- Main secretariat in Odense, Denmark and European
Liaison office in Brussels, Belgium
4Funding
- The Agency is financed by
- The member countries Ministries of Education
- European Commission as one of the 6 organisations
supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme
5The Agencys Mission
- Member countries platform for collaboration in
the field of special needs education (SNE) - Our ultimate aim is to improve educational policy
and practice for learners with special
educational needs
6International Policy Context for SNE
- UNESCO Salamanca Statement and Framework for
Action in Special Needs Education (1994) - UN Convention on Rights of People with
Disabilities (2006)
7UN convention on the rights of people with
disabilities (2006) Article 24 - Education
- States parties are requested to ensure an
inclusive education system at all levels - 139 signatories to the Convention
- 82 signatories to the Optional Protocol
- 50 ratifications of the Convention
- 29 ratifications of the Optional Protocol
8Map of signatures and ratifications, 03.02.09
9Ratification of the optional protocol by European
Agency member countries
- Austria - 26 September 2008
- Hungary - 20 July 2007
- Slovenia - 24 April 2008
- Spain - 3 December 2007
- Sweden - 15 December 2008
- Germany February 2009
10Selection of Agency Priority Themes
- Early Childhood Intervention
- Provision of special needs education
- Financing and inclusion
- Transition from school to working life
- Classroom Practice to support Inclusive Education
- Assessment of learners with Special Educational
Needs - Immigrants and Special Needs
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12Agency Work 2009 - 2013
- New Priority themes
- Teacher Education for Inclusion
- Organisation of Provision for SNE
- Vocational Education - policy and practice in the
field of SNE - Information Provision
- Qualitative and quantitative indicators
- Key Principles for policy and practice
- Higher Education Accessibility Guide
13European Hearing in Portugal
- European Hearing of Young People with Special
Educational Needs organised by the Agency, in
co-operation with the Portuguese Ministry of
Education. - The event took place in Lisbon within the
framework of the Portuguese Presidency of the
European Union and the European Year of Equal
Opportunities.
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15European Hearing in Portugal
- The Lisbon Declaration Young Peoples Views on
Inclusive Education is the main result of this
event. - We see a lot of benefits in inclusive education
we acquire more social skills we live more
experiences we learn about how to manage in the
real world we need to have and interact with
friends with and without special needs. - Inclusive education is mutually beneficial to us
and to the others
16Inclusion in Europe
- Developments and challenges
17Percentage of officially registered SEN-pupils
across countries
18Percentage of children with SEN in segregated
settings
19NEW COMPETITIONTHE EUROVISION INCLUSION CONTEST
- Pays Haute 12 points
- Itamenie 10 points
- Anglemagne 9 points
- Norvebourg 8 points
-
20Financing
- The differences between countries can be
explained by population density and funding - Funding explains differences between policies and
practices
21Inclusion Developments in Europe
- Progress
- More continuum of services
- Funding
- Resource centre
-
- Challenges
- Output and SEN
- Secondary education
- 2 in separate settings
-
22Zorg(plicht) voor leerlingen
- Finland wet is erop gericht om leerlingen met
SEN in reguliere klassen op te vangen op die
school waar ze anders ook gezeten zouden hebben
als er geen sprake was geweest van SEN - IJsland beleid is er op gericht om speciale
klassen en scholen op te heffen en leerlingen
hebben het recht op plaatsing in de gewone school
in de buurt.
23Zorg (plicht) voor leerlingen
- Noorwegen De wet schrijft voor dat leerlingen
met SEN op de lokale school in de wijk geplaatst
moeten kunnen worden in het bijzonder in de klas
waar ze gezien hun leeftijd anders in zouden
zitten. Leerlingen met SEN hebben recht op
onderwijs dat is aangepast aan hun behoeften en
omstandigheden.
24Zorg (plicht) voor leerlingen
- Zweden volgens de wet moeten scholen zich
aanpassen aan de omstandigheden en behoeften van
leerlingen elke school moet leerlingen met SEN
ondersteuning geven (bij voorkeur in de gewone
klas).
25Zorg (plicht) voor leerlingen
- Estland elk kind (ook met SEN) heeft recht op
onderwijs op de dichtstbijzijnde school. - Spanje wet geeft aan dat alle leerlingen recht
hebben op onderwijs op de dichtstbijzijnde school
26Classroom Practice
- The main question How can differences in the
classroom be dealt with? - Two studies primary education and secondary
education
27CP documents
- The Inclusive Education and Classroom Practices
section of the Agency website www.european-agency
.org - International Literature Reviews on Classroom
Practices (two E-books) - The Reports of the Exchanges (7 5)
- The Country Reports (15 14)
- The Summary Reports
28Some general conclusions
- What is good for pupils with special educational
needs is good for all pupils - Behaviour, social and/or emotional problems are
the most challenging - Dealing with differences in the classroom forms
one of the biggest problems
29Effective practices within the context of
inclusive education
- Co-operative teaching
- Teachers need support from colleagues
- Students get their support in the classroom
- Teachers learn from each others approaches and
feedback. Thus, it also meets the needs of
teachers
30Effective practices within the context of
inclusive education
- Co-operative learning
- Peer tutoring is effective in both cognitive and
affective areas - Moreover, there are no indications that the more
able pupil suffers from this situation
31Effective practices within the context of
inclusive education
- Collaborative problem- solving
- Clear class rules and a set of borders, agreed
with all the pupils (alongside appropriate
incentives and disincentives) - Rules are negotiated with the whole class and are
clearly visible in the classroom.
32Effective practices within the context of
inclusive education
- Heterogeneous grouping
- Students of the same age stay together in mixed
ability classrooms, to respect natural
variability in characteristics of students. - Heterogeneous grouping is effective when dealing
with a diversity of pupils in the classroom
33Effective practices within the context of
inclusive education
- Home area system
- A common area consisting of 2 or 3 classrooms
where nearly all education takes places - A small team of teachers is responsible for the
education in the home area
34Conditions Teacher
- Develop positive teacher attitudes
- Introduce appropriate pedagogical skills and time
for reflection
35About Conditions School
- Implement a whole school approach
- Develop leadership within the school
36Conditions external
- A clear national policy
- Flexible funding arrangements that facilitate
inclusion - Visionary leadership on the level of the
community - Regional co-ordination
37We deal with differences!
Climb the tree!
38Contact Us
- www.european-agency.org
- European Agency for Development in Special Needs
Education - Østre Stationsvej 33
- DK-5000 Odense C
- Denmark
- Phone 45 64 41 00 20
- secretariat_at_european-agency.org