Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

The incluD-ed network is very interested and implicated in European policies and actions that affect people with special educational needs. Most of the European Member states are also part of the OECD and are co-financing the PISA programme.

The OECD responded to the demands of its member countries for “regular and reliable data on the knowledge and skills of their students and the performance of their education systems” (OECD PISA website) with the development of the PISA programme. In PISA, the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science literacy are measured. Literacy means the “students’ ability to apply knowledge and skills” (ibid.) in everyday life including problem solving skills. Students are also asked about their motivations, beliefs and learning strategies to see if they are becoming “effective lifelong learners” (ibid.). Furthermore, PISA gathers additional data from governments, principals, teachers and parents on public policy issues to reveal the effectiveness of the different education systems in preparing all students for adult life, including students with special educational needs (SEN students).

PISA was officially launched in 1997 and the first survey was conducted in 2000. Since then, assessments have taken place in more than 70 countries and economies in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012.

In the last 20 years, the inclusion of students with special educational needs in mainstream educational settings has increased, but the “actual inclusion of the students in standardized assessment and accountability systems” (OECD/ European Communities 2009, p.127) has not been keeping up with the development.

This position paper has been prepared with the aim of influencing the preparation of PISA 2015 and future editions of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment.

This position paper underlines the following points:

• - incluD-ed welcomes PISA’s ambition to be as inclusive as possible
• - incluD-ed wants to include more SEN students in the PISA samples
• - incluD-ed requests further clarification of common definitions and classification systems used
• - incluD-ed wishes to foster the use of the resource-based definition of special needs education
• - incluD-ed underlines the real added value of data and evidence
• - incluD-ed requests that PISA surveys be accessible
• - incluD-ed requests that an obligatory questionnaire on inclusiveness and accessibility of schools and the school system be included
• - incluD-ed calls for even closer collaborations with governments