Press information from the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education

The views and ideas of young people with special needs from 29 countries about their education presented the European Hearing in 2007 have led to the Lisbon Declaration - Young People’s Views on Inclusive Education. In this document the young people clearly state their views on their rights, the improvements they have experienced, the challenges they still face and their recommendations to achieve successful inclusion in education.

To present the Lisbon Declaration the Agency is organising an invitation only reception for key decision-makers at the level of the European Union at the Agency Brussels Office on February 27th, 2008. The Agency has invited representatives from the European Commission, members of the European Parliament, members of the Council Committee of Education, Youth and Culture, officials from the country permanent representations to the EU, as well as key players at European level. Officials representing the Portuguese EU presidency, the Slovenian EU presidency and the French EU presidency are also expected to be present.

To view the press release in English in pdf format please click here.

United Nations Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities (2006)

In the Guiding Principles for our work, on the About Us section of our website (http://www.european-agency.org/site/about/index.html#guide) you can now find links to the full 2006 convention, a description of the process and links to translations as well as a link to the United Nations Enable Secretariat giving the current listing of all countries who are signatories to the convention and who have ratified the convention and/or the optional protocol.

The first important outcome of the Hearing is the LISBON DECLARATION - Young People’s Views on Inclusive Education
This Declaration covers what the young people presented in Lisbon in the plenary session at the Assembleia da República concerning their rights, needs, challenges and recommendations in order to achieve successful inclusive education.

The Declaration is now available in 22 languages and downloadable as pdf files from here. Other formats (including html) are available from the dedicated European Hearing website
http://www.european-hearing-2007.org/

 New information now available

New information is now available on the Assessment in Inclusive Settings project web area
The country report on Assessment policy and practice for Finland is now available to download as a word file or access via the on-line database

A new information tool has also been developed - a Recommendations Matrix which has has been prepared as a in order to cross reference all the recommendations presented in the phase 1 summary report with the country reports.

“YOUNG VOICES: Meeting Diversity in Education”

Young people with special educational needs from 29 European countries met in Lisbon on 16th-17th September 2007 for the European Hearing “YOUNG VOICES: Meeting Diversity in Education”.

The European Hearing was organised by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education within the framework of Portugal 2007 – Presidency of the European Union.

After a full day on Sunday dedicated to debates and discussions in small groups focussing upon vocational education schools, secondary schools and higher education, the young delegates presented their views, experiences and ideas in the Portuguese Parliament (Assembleia da Republica) in front of national and European policy-makers.

Participating countries were: Portugal, Austria, Belgium (Flemish and French speaking communities), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

For all the information about the Hearing, please go to the dedicated European Hearing website: http://www.european-hearing-2007.org/
On this event website you will find an outline of the event, pictures, press releases, information on media coverage since the event and links for more information.
All information from the event will be posted on this website as it becomes available.
(This site also has a dedicated closed section for the event delegates.)

More information is available from:
www.eu2007.min-edu.pt/np4/en/26.html
www.eu2007.pt

You can download a Press Release of the event from here

For general information about the event, please contact:
European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education / Brussels Office
Av. Palmerston 3.
B - 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)2.280.33.59 /Fax: +32 (0)2.280.17.88
brussels.office@european-agency.org