The first MIPIE project conference was held on 2–3 December 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. The event was co-hosted by representatives of the Ministries of Education of the Flemish and French communities of Belgium and the Agency. The conference was an event in line with the Belgium priorities for the Presidency of the EU, namely the promotion of social cohesion.
The aim of this conference was to identify what data and detailed information European policy makers need in order to map developments in the implementation of legislation and policy for inclusion.
During the conference in Belgium, policy makers from the participating countries reflected upon their current information collection and current and future requirements – the what of identifying and mapping developments towards inclusive education – and identified key issues, priorities and questions associated with such data collection.
Summaries of all of these sessions as well as an overview of country priorities for data collection and key messages for future work are presented in the Brussels Conference report.
The conference was attended by over 40 participants. The various inputs given during the conference Programme are available to download as pdf files in the section below.
Conference Presentations
Opening Session
Welcome and introduction to the topic from:
- Minister Marie-Dominique Simonet, French community of Belgium - message in English and French
- Mr. Wim Van Rompu, Cabinet member of Minister Pascal Smet, Flemish community of Belgium
- Ms. Belén Bernaldo de Quirós, Head of Unit Jean Monnet programme, partnerships and relations, DG-EAC
- Mr. Jørgen Greve, Chairman, European Agency for Development in Special Needs and Inclusive Education
Panel Session
Reflections on mapping education policy from different perspectives, chaired by Cor Meijer, Agency Director:
- Ms. Natalie Verstraete, Head of Unit International Relations, Ministry of Education and Training, Flemish community of Belgium: Improving policy making through benchmarking in education
- Message from: Mr. Zoltán Gloviczki, Deputy State Secretary for Education, Ministry of National Resources, Hungary: Improving education though the use of quality assurance procedures
- Mr. Lars Jakobsen, Analysis and Studies Unit, DG-EAC: Implementing the open method of co-ordination
- Mr. Jean-François Delsarte, Cabinet Member of Minister Marie-Dominique Simonet, French community of Belgium: Planning and monitoring legislation and policy
Plenary Inputs
Mapping the Implementation of Policy for Inclusive Education:
- Ms. Lene Mejer, Eurostat Education, Culture and Science Statistics: The current work of Eurostat in relation to the Council request for indicator information in the field
- Mr. Serge Ebersold, MIPIE Project Consultant: The added value of longitudinal studies involving data collection and analysis
- Mr. Harald Weber, Agency Project Manager: The Agency Indicators for Inclusive Education project work
- Ms. Amanda Watkins, Agency Project Manager: The Agency Special Needs Education Country Data collection
- The MIPIE Project Team: Overview of the project aims and objectives
Country Feedback Session
Plenary Feedback on initial themes emerging from country presentations and discussions.