Agency country representatives gathered in Warsaw, Poland, on 6–7 November 2024 for the Agency’s autumn bi-annual meeting.
Bi-annual meetings bring together the Representative Board members and National Co-ordinators from Agency member countries. Over 50 representatives attended the meeting in Warsaw to discuss Agency work and exchange on inclusive education policy and practice in their countries.
The Polish Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, opened the meeting. She stressed the importance of inclusive education for all learners to ensure active citizenship and ethical societies:
Our schools are a catalyst for social change, guiding all learners to develop positive relationships and a sense of belonging to their community, and shaping the values of young citizens.
The Minister also explained how inclusive education will be on the agenda during the upcoming Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), and how the experiences and exchanges from the bi-annual meeting will be used to develop discussion topics for the Presidency.
In addition to the Minister, Agency Chair, Don Mahon, and Director, Cor J. W. Meijer, welcomed participants to the meeting. They also introduced João Costa, who will be taking over as Agency Director in January 2025. This was the last bi-annual meeting for both current Director, Cor J. W. Meijer, and Assistant Director, Amanda Watkins, who will step down from their duties at the end of the year.
Agency representatives provided updates on on-going work, including the Country Policy Development Support activity and Technical Support Instrument actions. Representative Board members approved the annual work programme and budget for 2025.
The second day of the meeting focused on the Thematic Country Cluster Activities (TCCA). Country representatives met in their TCCA groups to discuss upcoming activities and work within their clusters.
Finally, the Polish Ministry of National Education held a seminar, entitled ‘Implementation of high quality inclusive education. Resources, working trends and progress towards outcomes’. Representatives from the Polish Ministry, the Educational Research Institute (IBE) and the Agency opened the seminar. It consisted of a series of workshops in which participants discussed topics around inclusive education, such as inter- and cross-sectoral co-operation and measuring the quality and effectiveness of inclusive education. The Ministry will use the outcomes of the workshop discussions to enhance its work towards the Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The next bi-annual meeting will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in spring 2025.
