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“Education is a human right with immense power to reform. On it's foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable development... there is no higher priority, no mission more important, that that of Education for All”
Kofi Annan (1998)
Editorial
EENET
News
Focus on Policy: Language and inclusion, Lao
PDR
Inclusive education and parents' involvment
in Mongolia
Working children and
education
Post-primary education, Kenya
Focus on Salamanca
Editorial
Promoting
inclusive, learner-friendly environments in the Asia-Pacific region
An inclusive approach to EFA: UNESCO's role
Moving towards inclusive teacher
education
Inclusive education through community
development, Bangladesh
Developing inclusive
environments, Oriang, Kenya
Including deafblind
children
What is the culture of inclusion
?
Focus on policy development, Sri Lanka
C-EMIS as a tool for inclusive education for all
Inclusion in Central Java, Indionesia
UNESCO's useful publications
Parents promote change in Tanzania
Andrew's Story, St Lucia
Including blind ichildren in St Lucia
Networking in the Caribbean
Fostering partnerships for education policy and reform,
Vietnam
Regional News
Your
Letters/Emails
Useful Publications
Download newsletter 8 as PDF (386k)
At a
recent conference in Hong Kong, the Australian academic Roger Slee argued that
the idea of inclusive education is showing signs of jetlag: it is losing its
freshness and is being used to mean too many different things. He went on to
explain that at its point of origin, inclusive education was essentially a
radical idea that rebelled against medical and psychological explanations of
educational difficulties. For him, many of these explanations are part of the
tradition of special education that has to be challenged.
So, if we are to make progress we have to be very clear what inclusion means. For EENET it involves efforts to reform policy and practice in education in ways that respect the right of all children to take part, whatever their personal characteristics.
In this edition of ‘Enabling Education’, we continue to report on the way that many friends around the world are taking up inclusive education as a radical idea. We also celebrate the tenth anniversary of UNESCO’s Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education.
EENET has promoted the inclusion of marginalised groups in education through information sharing and networking during the last seven of those ten years. This special edition newsletter has been produced in collaboration with UNESCO in order to promote reflection internationally on the changes which have taken place in education systems and in communities since Salamanca.
By creating conversations about the way in which inclusive practices can be developed in particular contexts and cultures – even with very few material resources – EENET provides opportunities for practitioners to share ideas and reflect on their own practice.
This growing collection of stories, in the newsletter and on the website, is a source of inspiration. Although carefully written policies, rights-based legislation and international declarations are extremely important, people need to know how to implement inclusive education. In this sense, EENET is a post-Salamanca initiative which aims to provide guidance and support to individuals and organisations struggling to promote inclusion.
Mel Ainscow, UK
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10/09/2004