The Agency’s 2020 autumn bi-annual meeting took place on 3–4 November. Bi-annual meetings allow the representatives from Agency member countries to agree on work programmes and budgets and make decisions in relation to the Agency’s future. The meetings also give country representatives the opportunity to exchange information, ideas and practices in inclusion and allow Agency staff to present current Agency projects and activities.
Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Agency meetings and events up to April 2021 have all been cancelled or moved online. As a result, the autumn bi-annual meeting, which was due to take place in Bratislava, Slovakia, took place through a series of online sessions. This follows on from the spring bi-annual meeting, which also took place online earlier this year.
During the bi-annual meeting, Agency staff presented updates on several on-going activities. These included the Supporting Inclusive School Leadership, Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion and the Changing Role of Specialist Provision projects.
Staff also introduced the current Key Principles activities. Key Principles identifies recurring key messages from the Agency’s work that stakeholders can use to improve inclusive education in their countries. The Agency team has examined all Agency outputs since the last Key Principles document was published in 2011, which have focused more specifically on supporting countries with policy development activity. As a result, the 2020 Key Principles work will focus on Key Principles for Policy Implementation. Work is on‑going, and the final document, including translated versions in all Agency member country languages, is expected in 2021.
For more details of all Agency projects, visit the project pages of the Agency website.