Inclusive Education : An international perspective

Transcription

1 Inclusive Education : An international perspective Dr Cor Meijer, director

2 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

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

4 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

5 The Agency s 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

6 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)

7 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

8 Map of signatures and ratifications,

9 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

10 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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12 Agency Work 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

13 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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15 European Hearing in Portugal The Lisbon Declaration Young People s 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

16 Inclusion in Europe Developments and challenges

17 Percentage of officially registered SEN-pupils across countries 0%-2% 2%-4% 4%-6% 6%-8% >8% Greece Italy Spain Sweden Austria Belgium (Fl.) Belgium (Fr.) France Portugal Netherlands Germany Norway Denmark England Finland

18 Percentage of children with SEN in segregated settings < 1% 1 2% 2 4% > 4% Cyprus Greece Iceland Italy Norway Portugal Spain Austria Denmark Ireland Lithuania Luxembourg Sweden UK Estonia Finland France Latvia Poland Belgium (F) Belgium (NL) Czech Rep. Germany Netherlands Switzerland

19 NEW COMPETITION THE EUROVISION INCLUSION CONTEST Pays Haute: Itamenie: Anglemagne: Norvebourg: 12 points 10 points 9 points 8 points

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

21 Inclusion: Developments in Europe Progress More continuum of services Funding Resource centre Challenges Output and SEN Secondary education 2% in separate settings

22 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.

23 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.

24 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).

25 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

26 Classroom Practice The main question : How can differences in the classroom be dealt with? Two studies: primary education and secondary education

27 CP documents The Inclusive Education and Classroom Practices section of the Agency website: International Literature Reviews on Classroom Practices (two E-books) The Reports of the Exchanges (7 + 5) The Country Reports ( ) The Summary Reports

28 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

29 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

30 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

31 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.

32 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

33 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

34 Conditions: Teacher Develop positive teacher attitudes Introduce appropriate pedagogical skills and time for reflection

35 About Conditions: School Implement a whole school approach Develop leadership within the school

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

37 We deal with differences! Climb the tree!

38 Contact Us European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education Østre Stationsvej 33 DK-5000 Odense C Denmark Phone: [email protected]