Inclusive Education : An international perspective

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Inclusive Education An international
perspective

• Dr Cor Meijer, director
• www.european-agency.org

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Member 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

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The Agency

• 13th year of operations
• Main secretariat in Odense, Denmark and European
  Liaison office in Brussels, Belgium

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Funding

• 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

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The 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

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International 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)

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UN 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

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Map of signatures and ratifications, 03.02.09
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Ratification 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

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Selection 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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Agency 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

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European 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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European 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

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Inclusion in Europe

• Developments and challenges

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Percentage of officially registered SEN-pupils
across countries
 
 
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Percentage of children with SEN in segregated
settings

 
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NEW COMPETITIONTHE EUROVISION INCLUSION CONTEST

• Pays Haute 12 points
• Itamenie 10 points
• Anglemagne 9 points
• Norvebourg 8 points

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Financing

• The differences between countries can be
  explained by population density and funding
• Funding explains differences between policies and
  practices

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Inclusion Developments in Europe

• Progress
• More continuum of services
• Funding
• Resource centre 
•  
• Challenges
• Output and SEN
• Secondary education
• 2 in separate settings
•  

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Zorg(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.

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Zorg (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.

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Zorg (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).

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Zorg (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

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Classroom Practice

• The main question How can differences in the
  classroom be dealt with?
• Two studies primary education and secondary
  education

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CP 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

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Some 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

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Effective 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

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Effective 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

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Effective 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.

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Effective 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

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Effective 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

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Conditions Teacher

• Develop positive teacher attitudes
• Introduce appropriate pedagogical skills and time
  for reflection

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About Conditions School

• Implement a whole school approach
• Develop leadership within the school

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Conditions external

• A clear national policy
• Flexible funding arrangements that facilitate
  inclusion
• Visionary leadership on the level of the
  community
• Regional co-ordination

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We deal with differences!
Climb the tree!
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Contact Us

• www.european-agency.org
• European Agency for Development in Special Needs
  Education
• Østre Stationsvej 33
• DK-5000 Odense C
• Denmark
• Phone [phone]
• secretariat_at_european-agency.org