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Our Organisational Structure
The Agency - with a Secretariat based in Odense, Denmark and a European Liaison Office in Brussels - was established in 1996. We are currently supported by the Ministries of Education of the European Union countries, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. We are also supported by the European Institutions (Commission and Parliament) as one of the six organisations active in the field of education and training under the Jean Monnet Programme: (External) http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/ajm/supportinstit/ support_institutions_en.html
The Agency is essentially a network of member country representatives and experts nominated by the Ministries of Education in our member and observer countries. We aim to provide policy makers and professionals with access to relevant information in the field of special needs education by providing mechanisms and services that facilitate contact and exchange between different users.
We facilitate transfer of accurate and reliable information and offer our member countries a unique opportunity to learn from each other by drawing upon our ability to provide different types of real-time and virtual opportunities for exchanging knowledge and experience. We offer our member countries a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience in such a way that quality in special needs education provision is promoted.
More detailed information about the Agency's identity can be found in our Articles of Association. These articles have been revised as of September 2007. The revised articles are available here either in MSWord or pdf formats (both files open in a new browser window).
Articles of Association MSWord
Articles of Association pdf
With this aim in mind, we have the following strategic objectives:
• To promote quality in the field of special needs education through the maintenance of a long-term framework for extended European collaboration
• To provide a reliable reflection of the reality of special needs education across Europe with up to date information that can be related to individual countries’ national contexts
• To identify key factors that hinder or support positive experiences
• To facilitate effective exchange of knowledge and experience among as well as within member countries
• To make it easier for policy makers and professionals to access relevant information by providing mechanisms and services that enable sharing of information and facilitate contact between different users.
We are implementing these objectives by providing an effective system for the collection, processing and distribution of information regarding new and innovative measures in special needs education, as well as by focusing on subjects of high priority for the further development of special needs education.
We focus on subjects of importance for the further development of special needs education. Our member countries identify priority themes and special attention is devoted to educational policy and the way it implemented in practice. Other focal points are new and innovative measures, research and development and EU support programmes. These subjects are always considered in such a way as to promote a broad concept of “special needs education” within a framework of high quality of education for everyone.
Overall, our ambition is to consolidate the European Agency as a key European resource and information broker from which it is possible to access information relating to a variety of main topics in the field of special needs education.
At all times, we endeavour to highlight and promote the principles of Equal Opportunities in terms of genuine access to learning experiences that respect individual differences and Quality Education for All focused upon personal strengths rather than weaknesses.
Key reference documents relating to disability discussions and issues at the EU and international levels can be downloaded in
MSWord
and
pdf
versions.
In all aspects of our work, we take into consideration key international statements on special needs education. These are considered a major focal point for our work - a keystone in our conceptual framework and crucial to the establishment of our knowledge base.
The main international statements guiding our work are:
- The
Salamanca Statement
- The UNESCO Dakar Framework for Action Education for All: Meeting our Collective Commitments (External)
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001202/120240e.pdf
- The
key EU Council Resolutions
concerning inclusive education
- The
Charter of Luxembourg
- The Madrid Declaration (External)
http://www.madriddeclaration.org
- The United Nations Standard Rules (External)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/dissre00.htm
The United Nations Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities (2006) (External)
http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml
is a major international directive that informs our work. A full description of the convention can be found at:
(External)
http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=12&pid=150
A list of countries who are signatories to the convention and who have ratified the convention and/or the optional protocol can be found at:
(External)
http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=17&pid=16
Co-operation with Other Organisations
We actively maintain co-operative and mutually beneficial relationships with other key European and International bodies and organisations in the field of general and special needs education. These include the European Commission (External) http://www.europa.eu.int/institutions/comm/index_en.htm and its associated bodies. This enables us to direct our users to relevant bodies who can provide information and expertise that we do not necessarily possess ourselves.
We have established collaborative working links with Eurydice
http:// www.eurydice.org
and EUROSTAT (External)
http:// www.europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/
The information we process is distributed by means of newsletters , publications , reports, seminars, conferences and events as well as our web site: with topic databases as well as specific web information services and National Pages of country specific information for each of our member countries.
The aim of all our outputs is to present a reliable reflection of the reality of special needs education across Europe with consistent information that can be related to individual countries' National contexts.
Our main target groups are the policy makers, experts and professionals who influence policy and practice in special needs education. As well as being able to use the Agency as a European knowledge centre, these target groups in member countries are able to call on us as an organisation that facilitates the process of professional learning and development through various forms of exchange of information and experience.
Member countries' involvement in the our project work and the development of various information products and outputs related to projects is as beneficial to them as being able to apply in practice the varied outcomes which they get access to.
Our organisation is based on this structure:
(below this sentence in the graphic version of the page is a diagrammatic representation of the Agency structure) You can download a Word document containing this information in the navigation at the
top of the page
.
A version of this image is contained in the
MS Word download
(62k) of this whole document.
Graphic - Agency structure available in Word document download
We have a distinctive structure. This is firstly because of the people involved in the European Agency - National representatives nominated by the Ministries of education in each of the member countries from the policy (Representative Board members) and practitioner levels (National Co-ordinators) who share a common understanding of key issues in special needs education and who work together to provide authoritative perspectives on special needs education in their country.
Secondly, these National representatives work together with the Agency staff to develop a common understanding of key issues at the European level.
With regards to the management of our work, all the bodies of the Agency work interactively with one another in a complementary and mutually supportive way in order for their collective work to be of maximum benefit to member countries.
Representative Board Members are appointed by their countries to act as the political level National representatives within the Agency. They are responsible for representing their country's interests in the Agency by ensuring their country's needs are accounted for in the Agency's activities.
A central task of the Representative Board is to nominate from within itself the Agency Management Board , which is delegated to make detailed decisions relating to a number of agreed tasks and for ensuring that the work of all Agency bodies can be effective and efficient.
The Chairman of the Management Board also acts as Chairman of the Representative Board.
The Management Board works closely with the Director of the Agency, Cor Meijer ( director@european-agency.org ) who is responsible for the overall management and day-to-day operation of the Agency in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Representative Board and Management Board.
At an operational level, National Co-ordinators are responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of work programmes for projects and activities. They perform a complementary role alongside Representative Board Members. They are appointed by member countries to act as National expert practitioners in the Agency's work. They are responsible for representing their country's interests by ensuring their country's perspective and situation with respect to special needs education is accurately accounted for in the Agency's work.
The day-to-day management and implementation of our work is carried out by the
Staff
members under the direction of the Agency Director and in close co-operation with the National Co-ordinators.
The files below provide a short presentation of the Agency's aims, objectives and work. MSWord files provide text only information. Adobe pdf files provide full graphics versions with illustrations.
DA
Logos for the European Commission, Education and Culture DG and Lifelong Learning Programme
The European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education is funded with support from the European Commission.
The information on this website reflects the views of the Agency and its member countries and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.