A flagship conference held as part of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has explored inclusive education policy across Europe. The conference took place in Warsaw, Poland, on 17–18 March. It aimed to enable dialogue and share information and resources on inclusive education systems.
The conference began with an opening address from Joanna Mucha, Secretary of State for Education in Poland. She reinforced the Polish Presidency’s commitment to fostering dialogue on inclusive education across Europe and stressed the benefits of inclusive education for active participation in society and the labour market. She also presented several Polish initiatives and examples of European Union funded projects and collaborations with international organisations, such as UNICEF, that promote inclusion.
Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission, highlighted the importance of countries joining forces and working together to make education systems more inclusive. Opening words also came from Monika Horna-Cieślak, Ombudsman for the Rights of Children, and the event organisers, Mirosław Marczewski, Director-General, Foundation for the Development of the Education System, Renata Kaznowska, Vice Mayor of the city of Warsaw, and Robert Firmhofer, Director of the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.
Following a keynote speech from Agata Roczniak, President of the Diversum Foundation, who provided information on her personal journey through education as a disabled person, EASNIE Director João Costa addressed ways to bridge the gap between inclusive education policy and practice. He described how nearly all policy-makers agree with the idea of inclusion, but that the difficulty often lies in how to implement it. He also stressed the importance of intersectionality, and how it is essential to view each learner as an individual, rather than labelling them and allocating them to specific groups.
Dr Costa discussed four main challenges in translating policy into inclusive practice in the classroom, including ensuring teachers have the training and support to meet the needs of all learners, and the need to collect and use relevant data. Finally, he provided some recommendations, based on EASNIE work such as the Key Principles. These included using EASNIE and its resources, linking inclusive education with global issues such as climate change and technological advancement, and using specialist provision as a resource in mainstream education.
The final keynote speech on the first day came from Professor Maciej Jakubowski, Director of the Educational Research Institute in Warsaw. He focused on the importance of evidence and data in implementing inclusive education, and called for European-level co-operation to develop and use data collection systems to improve knowledge.
Following the keynote speeches, there were a number of parallel expert sessions on different topics. EASNIE Activity Manager Anthoula Kefallinou took part in a session on inter- and cross-sector collaboration. She presented key findings and insights from EASNIE’s Changing Role of Specialist Provision activity and outlined the on-going Collaborative Action for Inclusive Education activity, sharing country-specific examples gathered as part of this work.
In addition, EASNIE Activity Manager Annet de Vroey participated in a session on inclusive early childhood education, discussing the importance of teacher education at all levels for all education staff. In particular, she stressed the relevance of inter-professional learning in inclusive early childhood education contexts, and highlighted EASNIE’s Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion and Inclusive Early Childhood Education activities.
The second day of the conference focused on mental health and emotional well-being. The keynote speech came from Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, who stressed the vital role schools play in supporting learners’ mental health. She also highlighted the importance of teacher education and well-being, to enable them to support learners.
The plenary sessions on the second day included a presentation of the European Education Area working groups. Representatives from the European Commission, the University of Latvia and the OECD presented frameworks, practical tools and key considerations to support learners’ well-being. Finally, representatives from education ministries in Romania, France and Poland presented systemic examples of inclusive education in their countries.
To close the event, Dr Costa participated in a question and answer session, in which he reaffirmed the need to use data and evidence to translate inclusive policy into practice, ensuring teachers and schools have the practical tools to enable all learners to receive a high-quality, inclusive education.
More information on the conference, including videos of the keynote speeches, is available on the conference website.
