A European and International Approach to Inclusive Education

European level guiding principles

At the European level, there are a number of documents that outline member states’ objectives in relation to supporting learners with special needs that imply a degree of commitment on the part of EU countries to implementing agreed priorities. Many of these are statements of Council priorities relating to education generally – for example the Report from the Education Council to the European Council ‘The concrete future objectives of education and training systems’ (2001) and the Communication from the Commission ‘A coherent framework of indicators and benchmarks for monitoring progress towards the Lisbon objectives in education and training’ (2007).

However, there are also a number of key documents that focus specifically on learners with special educational needs and their inclusion in mainstream education. The first of these dates from 1990 with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Education concerning Integration of children and young people with disabilities into ordinary systems of education. Following this, EU member states ratified the United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993).

Subsequently, in 1996, the Commission published a Communication (a statement asking for Council action) on Equality of opportunity for people with disabilities. 2001 saw the European Parliament Resolution Towards a barrier-free Europe for people with disabilities. The 2003 Parliament resolution Towards a United Nations legally binding instrument to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities was followed by the Council Resolution of 2003 on Promoting the employment and social integration of people with disabilities as well as the Council Resolution, 2003, on Equal opportunities for pupils and students with disabilities in education and training. These are two of the main EU level statements that guide member states policies for special education.

The views of learners with special educational needs are presented in the Lisbon Declaration: Young People’s Views on Inclusive Education (2007), which outlines a number of proposals agreed upon by young people with special educational needs from 29 countries attending secondary, vocational and higher education. The young people state in the Declaration that: We see a lot of benefits in inclusive education … we need to have and interact with friends with and without special needs … Inclusive education is mutually beneficial to us and to everyone.

In 2007, the European Council of Education Ministers identified special needs education as being one of the 16 priority objectives to be considered within the Lisbon 2010 Objectives work (European Commission, 2007). Within the proposals for the 2020 European Community objectives for education, learners with special educational needs are again seen as a priority (2009).