Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

The incluD-ed network founding partners started to work together in 2010 in a European transnational initiative led by Fundación ONCE and co-funded by the European Social Fund: the European Network for Inclusive Education and Disability, incluD-ed. Since then, a lot has happened! incluD-ed transformed itself from a network fostering the exchange of good practices in Europe into a European network of reference on the topic of inclusive education. incluD-ed has contributed to EU policies, advocated for inclusive education, met with international key institutions such as the OECD and UNESCO and was invited by EU policy makers and key stakeholders to European high-level conferences on disability and inclusive education.

After five years of successful collaboration, the incluD-ed Technical Secretariat invited all founding network members to speak about how they see the work achieved by incluD-ed network in 2015. Fundación ONCE, APF, Kynnys and Rytmus share their views.

Five years of valuable mutual learning, at organizational, professional and personal levels

All network members representatives in incluD-ed – Phililipe Miet – APF, France, Aulis Mäkkinen – Kynnys ry, Finland, Pavla Baxová – Rytmus, Czech Republic, as well as Maria Tussy and Carla Bonino – Fundación ONCE, Spain - stated that after the 5 years of successful collaboration, they share the same ideas on inclusive education: inclusive education is not only a right but a key pillar to participation in the labour market and social inclusion. It is essential to create a more equal and cohesive society. Over the years, thanks to the regular exchange of experiences, discussions and meetings, they got to know different education systems, approaches and ways of thinking. Some recent experiences, such as the field visit to Helsinki and various educational institutions in May 2014, or the field visit to OECD and UNESCO celebrated in June 2015 together with the annual partners’ meeting brought the opportunity to consolidate common views, identify challenges and point out the growing importance of inclusive education.

All partners agree that working in such a partnerships like the incluD-ed network where every partner shares the same objective is important since it brings positive experiences and confidence to advocate relentlessly for the rights of people with disabilities. It also helps to jointly create the tools and materials needed that will help to include people with disabilities better into the mainstream education systems and in society, also contributing to European and national agendas, policies and programmes.

During the years, incluD-ed has built a wide network of contacts (organizations and experts working on the topic of inclusive education), including the Local Promoting Group method to advance inclusive education at national, and local levels. Furthermore, thanks to its advocacy work, incluD-ed has collaborated and contacted with important European institutions, including the European Agency for Special Needs and inclusive Education, the European Parliament, the European Disability Forum, OECD and UNESCO at international level, to give some examples.

For all partners, the conference on Inclusive Education "A Dialogue on Inclusive Education and Disability in Europe" celebrated at the European Parliament in Brussels in April, 2014, was a very special event and one of the milestones in the networks’ history.

The press room of the incluD-ed website provides a complete overview of the networks’ activities and disposes equally of an impressive database of experts and professionals working on inclusive education as well as more than 50 good practices, over 250 resources and other relevant information.

 

FOUNDING PARTNERS' TESTIMONIALS

	"We have contributed to putting inclusive education high on the European agenda. The activities developed by the incluD-ed network have made it into a leader of inclusive education in Europe." Maria Tussy (Fundación ONCE)
	“incluD-ed has become a strong partnership experience with the years. We all value inclusive education systems and work for creating a more cohesive and equal Europe. The network strengthened the disability dimension in education and its importance in the EU” . Carla Bonino (Fundación ONCE)
	“The major challenges for inclusive education that need to be tackled in the next years are to work on the different educational and pedagogical approaches as well as available ICT and communication tools » Philippe Miet (APF)
	“The Network meetings have been useful and fruitful. I have got new experiences and views on inclusive education and the possibility to travel to Spain, Czech Republic and France. It has been one of the most important things during these years to meet each other and discuss about different issues, to get advice and different kind of help.” Aulis Mäkinen (Kynnys)
	“I'm very happy that we were invited to cooperate in this network because the situation in my country is not very easy with inclusive education. We can receive some ideas and share also good examples of our country which we are proud of!” Pavla Baxová (Rytmus)