Results International Conference:
Reaching the marginalised – How to approach Inclusive Education
Düsseldorf, Germany, 10. – 11. September 2009
International Conference 10.-11. September 2009
Children and young people from ethnic minorities, children and youth living in impoverished urban and rural regions, such affected by child labour or suffering from disabilities are just a few of the many marginalised groups that are excluded from participating in education in many societies. International education experts are convinced that schools and other education opportunities offering inclusive education for all are the most important prerequisite for children from marginalised groups to enjoy equal access to education and training in the countries in which they live. This holds true from pre-school through primary and secondary education to vocational and tertiary education.
At the invitation of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Development Cooperation (GTZ), the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) and the Peter Ustinov Foundation, 80 experts from all over the world and representatives from various supra-national and national organizations met at Schloss Garath in Düsseldorf on September 10 and 11 to develop recommendations for inclusive education as a future focus of cooperation in the field of education. It is hoped that inclusive education initiatives will help to reach the goal set out in the UNESCO “Education for All” program of achieving quality education for children by 2015. The conference delegates were of the opinion that the family social background and the education requirements of the children and young people concerned must also be factored into the measures.
“There is as yet no binding definition of the marginalised groups not included in the various school systems around the globe,” Karin Kortmann (MP), Parliamentary State Secretary at BMZ, commented. “That is why it is extremely important for this conference to reach agreement on the children belonging to the most important marginalised groups and the problems that make it difficult or even impossible for them to access the education systems in their countries. We should also agree on model concepts for overcoming these obstacles.”
It has been recommended in the conference to develop guidelines and strategies for realizing inclusive education for all children and young people in cooperation with the partner countries. These instruments must be adoptable to the differing conditions in the various countries in order to guarantee relevant and qualitative education 2/3 opportunities for all forms and at all levels of education. The delegates agreed that the recommendations drawn up at the conference should be implemented to facilitate a comprehensive development of the education systems in three pilot countries, one each from Africa, South America and Asia.
Karin Kortmann, Joachim Prey, Igor Ustinov
As the International Conference on Inclusive Education came to a close, the PETER USTINOV FOUNDATION, which has already been involved in helping disadvantaged children and fostering better education opportunities for ten years, announced its intention to initiate the first trial measures under the action plan agreed at the conference. Three sample inclusive schools on three continents will be initiated and supported. The Peter Ustinov Foundation is therefore once again living up to its claim to implement ideas in projects swiftly and directly. “Our personal commitment and our flexible structure give us the opportunity to support people directly where help is needed,” Igor Ustinov, Chairman of the Foundation Board and a delegate at the conference, said.
Local problems are extremely diverse. Various financial burdens placed on families as a result of educating their children are often an important factor in preventing access to education: “40 percent of the poorest families in developing countries have to use 10 percent of the family’s income to send their children to school,” Dina Craissati of UNICEF New York explained. She added that it is difficult to exactly quantify costs because there are no standardized statistics. The costs include school fees, books, school uniform or participation in specific school programs. “In some countries, parents also have to contribute to the teachers’ pay,” Craissati said. Experience in Africa has shown that the number of children attending school increases when these costs are lowered or even abolished.
The presentations at the international conference highlighted the different challenges facing disadvantaged groups in the different regions of the world. Matthias Brenzinger of Cologne University explained that communication difficulties play a key role in school life in Africa. 2,000 languages are spoken on the African continent. In many cases it is still unclear which of these are used during lessons, how children from other language groups are integrated and how linguistic impoverishment resulting from the introduction of general education can be avoided.
With reference to children and young people from urban slums, Alex Erich of AVEDIS Social Development Consultants reported that over half of these groups live in Asia, particularly China, India and Pakistan. One of the reasons these slums are growing is that the chances of survival in the rural areas are even slimmer. It was pointed out that investment in urban areas could exacerbate the problems because such investment would only intensify the influx to these urban ghettoes.
Child labour is an issue closely linked to urban poverty. According to Patrick Quinn of the International Labour Organisation, the education biographies of working children are characterized by a late entry to and early exit from the education system, as it is usually not possible to combine work and school. The creation of free and mandatory education programs flexible enough to adapt to the mobility of working children is therefore crucial for preventing child labour and reducing its scope.
Children and young people with disabilities would also benefit from inclusive education systems in the general education sector. Jamie Gentile from South Africa described how 40 of the 115 million children and young people who do not attend school have some form of disability. Even though the top priority is the greatest inclusion of as many of these children as possible in the regular education system, the delegates were of the opinion that some children and young people with very special needs still require special education institutions.
The basic model of UNECSO’s “Inclusive Education” will not only be implemented in developing countries and threshold countries. It is also suited to highly industrialized nations with mature school systems, thus achieving a better education for
disadvantaged groups of society. Pirjo Koivula from the Finnish Ministry of Education in Helsinki reported that Finland is currently reforming school legislation based on the ideal of inclusive education. The aim of the reform is to improve the integration of children with disabilities in particular by means of a just and efficient educationsystem.