In 2021, the Agency celebrated 25 years of work with its member countries to improve education systems. To mark the anniversary, the Agency revisited its position on inclusive education, reflecting on the wealth of work and experience gained in the last 25 years, together with developments in thinking around inclusive education. These reflections resulted in an update to the Agency’s position paper, which is now available to download in all Agency member country languages.
The Agency’s vision for inclusive education systems remains the same as it did in the original 2015 position paper:
All learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers.
However, other elements described within the position paper have been updated. These updates are based on an analysis of Agency work since 2015. The analysis included influential publications, such as 2021’s Key Principles – Supporting policy development and implementation for inclusive education, which brings together many aspects of the Agency’s work.
The updated position paper stresses that inclusive education legislation and policy must include ALL learners. This involves actively working to prevent discrimination, stereotyping and marginalisation, particularly for those learners who are vulnerable to exclusion from education. Alongside Agency work, the position paper builds on evidence provided by the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report on inclusion in education and aligns itself with its member countries’ commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. It touches on the importance of certain aspects of education systems, such as personalised learning, flexible and equitable resource allocation, and collaboration.
Download the updated position paper in any of the official Agency languages from the Agency website. A Background Information Paper outlines the reasons for the update in more detail. The Key Principles web area presents all the Key Principles reports, including the 2021 report.