The European Agency Statistics on Inclusive Education (EASIE) data tables and country background information for the 2014/2015 school year are now available on the Agency’s Data web area. This is the second EASIE dataset to be published.
The current EASIE work has built upon a series of Agency activities conducted since 1999. This was when the Agency first collected comparative quantitative data, which focused on the percentage of pupils identified as having special educational needs (SEN) and the percentage educated in separate special schools. Additional questions were formulated later about the number of pupils with SEN in special classes in mainstream schools and the number enrolled in inclusive mainstream settings. The quantitative data was accompanied by qualitative background information from countries, including the description of the compulsory age phase, clarification of public/private sector education and the country’s legal definition of SEN.
The EASIE work has shifted away from the emphasis of the Agency’s past data collection. Instead of focusing on pupils with SEN in segregated settings, it examines all pupils in compulsory education and enrolment in inclusive settings. The agreed goal for the EASIE work is to provide comparative and aggregated individual country data that informs country-level work on learners’ rights issues and informs debates on equity and participation in inclusive education. In order to make country data comparable, the Agency team and data experts identified and agreed on operational definitions for an official decision of SEN and for an inclusive setting.
For further information about this activity, please refer to the EASIE Methodology Report and explore the country data tables and background information. The cross-country report for this most recent dataset is due to be published in 2018. The report for the previous dataset was published recently.