Agency eBulletin June 2022

This eBulletin brings news of new materials that are available on the Agency website, including a celebratory book examining changes and developments in inclusive education in the last 25 years, launched to mark the Agency’s 25th anniversary. There is also a video outlining the Key Principles for supporting policy development and implementation for inclusive education and a report on Inclusive Digital Education.

It includes an update on the Agency’s latest bi-annual meeting in Athens, Greece, which included a conference on the Changing Role of Specialist Provision. There are details of a recent webinar hosted by the Agency and UNESCO on fostering stakeholder dialogue. The eBulletin also provides information about an event to raise awareness of immigration that was hosted at the Agency’s Brussels office and a forthcoming meeting to present the results of the Agency’s work with the Portuguese Ministry of Education in the framework of the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Programme.

Finally, the newsletter gives an overview of Agency participation in recent member country events, including an online policy forum from Northern Ireland, a seminar from Portugal and a French Ministerial conference.

Agency bi-annual meeting of country representatives

Agency staff and representatives from its 31 member countries met in Athens, Greece on 15–20 May 2022 for the Agency’s bi-annual meeting of country representatives. The first bi-annual meeting to take place in person since November 2019 due to COVID-19, it allowed colleagues and country representatives to meet, sometimes for the first time in real life, and discuss upcoming work.

Find out more about the meeting on the news page.

Peer learning exercise in the CROSP conference

The Agency’s Changing Role of Specialist Provision (CROSP) project was completed with a conference held during the bi-annual meeting. The conference aimed to enhance peer learning, focusing on an experience exchange between representatives from 31 countries. They discussed a forthcoming tool that aims to help countries develop a continuum of support for inclusive education.

Read more about the CROSP conference in the news item.

Towards a shared vision of inclusion in education: Fostering stakeholder dialogue on legislation and policy – webinar

The Agency and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held a joint webinar on 28 April in which participants overwhelmingly affirmed the importance of including the voices of stakeholders in inclusive policy development and implementation. Almost 200 people from countries across the world attended the webinar, which was entitled ‘Towards a shared vision of inclusion in education: Fostering stakeholder dialogue on legislation and policy’.

Find out more about the webinar and its outcomes on our webpage, which includes links to full recordings of the webinar in English, French and Spanish.

‘The art of welcoming’: Agency hosts learners and teachers raising awareness of immigration

The Agency hosted a meeting of learners and teachers in its Brussels office at the end of May as part of L’arte dell’accoglienza. Lampedusa porta d’Europa (‘The art of welcoming. Lampedusa door of Europe’). The event was a collaboration with Comitato 3 Ottobre, an association that works in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Education to raise awareness of immigration. Following a discussion of Agency work and Comitato 3 Ottobre projects and activities, the delegation took part in a conference at the European Parliament.

Find out more about the event in the news item.

'The art of welcoming. Lampedusa door of Europe' attendees

Monitoring the implementation of the Portuguese law on inclusive education

The Agency, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support and the Portuguese Ministry of Education will present the results of the work to design a monitoring system to assess the effectiveness and implementation of Portugal’s Decree-Law on inclusive education in a meeting on 1 July in Lisbon. The work took place under the Commission’s Structural Reform Support Programme.

Read more about the meeting on the news page.

The Agency participated in the following events:

• Northern Ireland Independent Review of Education: Online Policy Forum examining the next steps and priorities for the education system in United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and its Independent Review of Education. 
• Review of Inclusive Education in Portugal seminar on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ‘Review of Inclusive Education in Portugal’. 
• French Ministerial conference on European action towards persons with disabilities, which aimed to explore how EU Member States can build on the European Disability Strategy 2010–2020 and looked ahead to the 2021–2030 Strategy.