Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

The sixth incluD-ed network meeting took place on 8 and 9 June 2015 in the city of Paris, after two field visits to key international institutions. This time it was the turn of the French founding partner Association des Paralysés de France (APF), to host again the partners’ meeting, after the previous ones held in Madrid, Prague, Paris and Helsinki, since 2011, at the premises of Fundación ONCE, the leading network partner, Rytmus from Czech Republic and Kynnys from Finland.

The network combined this meeting with a field visit to the OECD and the UNESCO.

The sixth meeting of members of the European Network of Inclusive Education and Disability (incluD-ed), led by the Fundación ONCE with co-financing from the European Social Fund (ESF), took place on 8 and 9 June 2015 in the city of Paris. incluD-ed’s main purpose is to promote, identify, exchange and disseminate good practice in the field of inclusive education for people with disabilities in Europe, and in this way influence policies and programs with the ultimate aim of improving opportunities for employability and labour inclusion. The network currently consists of four founding partners in four European countries: Fundación ONCE in Spain, Kynnys ry in Finland, Rytmus in the Czech Republic and the Association des Paralysés de France (APF), which hosted the event. The network has six additional associated partners from other European countries.

The objective of the event was twofold. The incluD-ed network delegation was able to meet and discuss with two renowned international institutions the topics of disability and inclusive education. The delegation members could directly ask the responsible representatives of OECD and UNESCO how they integrate those topics into their work and research and which challenges they do encounter by doing so. Next to interesting insights and exchanges, both institutions have been interested in the work done by the incluD-ed network. Especially, the current pilot study on “Quality Factors on Inclusive Education” with its related questionnaire has aroused major interest. The OECD and UNESCO, both see working synergies with the incluD-ed network, and the UNESCO already offered to co-organise an online discussion on the topic of inclusive education with UNESCOs worldwide online and knowledge community on education. 

The field visits to the OECD and the UNESCO

In the morning of the first day of the event, the incluD-ed delegation composed by incluD-ed founding members Fundación ONCE, APF and Kynnys as well as representatives of ONCE and the European Disability Forum have been welcomed by the OECD. There, Yuri Belfali, Head of OECD’s Early Childhood and Schools Division and her team presented and discussed several aspects of OECD’s current and future work on PISA, Education at a Glance, Early Childhood Education and Care, School Resources Review and PIAAC. Even if the OECD currently has no thematic project on disability or inclusive education, the disability dimension is included in different OECD programmes, mainly by the concept of Special Educational Needs (SEN) students.

In the afternoon, the incluD-ed delegation has been invited by the UNESCO. Florence Migeon, Programme Specialist in the Section of Learning and Teachers and Focal Point for Inclusive Education at the UNESCO together with her colleagues Keith Holmes (UNESCO Youth and Literacy Section) and Adrien Alain Boucher (UNESCO Section of Learning and Teachers) presented UNESCOs vision on inclusive education. UNESCO understands inclusive education as a broad and general concept where disability included as another aspect of diversity. A child can be included in a school but marginalized and/or excluded by its peers, fees, health issues etc. For UNESCO, inclusion is also a process that needs to go hand in hand with equity.

The 6th annual incluD-ed network meeting

The second and main day of the event saw incluD-ed network members convene at the headquarters of their French partner APF in Paris for the network members’ annual meeting. They communicated the latest developments made by the network such as the work on the “Pilot-Study on Quality Factors on Inclusive Education” and incluD-ed’s participation in the High level meeting on Disability in Riga under the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council. incluD-ed had been the only project on inclusive education invited to this high level meeting with representatives of national governments and institutions.

Furthermore, the Secretariat gave an update on the Written Declaration on “Promoting Inclusive Education Systems in Europe” to be launched in September 2015 by MEP Rosa Estaràs Ferragut at the European Parliament and which is based on incluD-ed’s Statement on Promoting Inclusive Education Systems that has been presented at the first Conference on Inclusive Education celebrated in April 2014 at the European Parliament. A video with impressions and testimonies of the event can be seen here.

During the 6th annual network meeting which is also the last before the networks’ official closing in December 2015, the Network Secretariat and the partners shared the variety of activities they have done in the last months. The partners shared good experiences and presented challenges of their national activities. Furthermore, they discussed the outputs and next steps towards the network’s end in December 2015 including the work on the pilot-study, the next incluD-ed position papers (on article 24 of the UNCRPD in the EU and on the importance of teacher training) as well as the launch of the Written Declaration in September 2015. September will be also a good moment since the UN CRPD report on its implementation in the EU will be published.

The valorization of the incluD-ed network

The partners concluded their last meeting by a valorization of the incluD-ed network as well as their personal experiences of the last five years of collaboration. All stated that they share same ideas on inclusive education and all appreciated the fact that there have been always new questions that arose from the discussions and meetings to think about and to work on. They underlined the fact that for improving the quality of education partnerships such as the incluD-ed network are important since they give confidence and create the tools and materials needed. They stressed that the sustainability of such collaborations is crucial since changing education is a long process. All agreed on looking for ways to continue the good work of the network and to maintain the good connections, also with the EU, the European Disability Forum and other stakeholders.

Philippe Miet from APF stressed that in the last five years, all partners have also seen the benefits of working locally as well as nationally with the LPG method to advance inclusive education. The incluD-ed network has been active locally, nationally, on EU level and at the end also internationally with the visits at the OECD and UNESCO reminding them that disability is an important and pressing issue in education.

Aulis Mäkkinen from Kynnys stressed that incluD-ed has been an extra-ordinary possibility and wonderful opportunity for him and his organization to collaborate with partners from all over Europe and to build a network in his city Jyvaskyla and in Finland over the years which helped him a lot in his work on promoting inclusive education.

Carla Bonino, Transnational Cooperation Coordinator at the Department of European Programs at Fundación ONCE and leader of the network thanked all partners for their contribution. She underlined that the network received a very strong personal and professional support and commitment by Aulis from Kynnys who had not such a strong structure behind and who was nevertheless always fighting to advance the project. Aulis Mäkkinen inaugurated the first LPG meeting in Jyväskylä in 2011.

Fundación ONCE would also like to continue working with Kynnys and all other partners since incluD-ed feels after the years of working closely together like a family.  All fight for establishing inclusive education systems in Europe and all contribute to change lives of many people! Furthermore, the network strengthened the EU scope of actions in a topic that six years ago was not so solid. The incluD-ed network is a very important tool at national and European level where there are not many actors in the field. For Fundación ONCE incluD-ed is also embedded in a wider network of in total three ESF funded networks that contributed to a very European scope of action of Fundación ONCE and disability movements in general.

Maria Tussy from Fundación ONCE concluded that the network changed minds within Fundación ONCE and the European Union, also thanks to the diverse thematic position papers and the involvement of many stakeholders. The messages spread by the network have a real impact and it is necessary to continue the fight for inclusive education at national as well as European level.