30 policy makers and partners from all 11 INDIE countries met in Berlin on 30 November and 1 December 2009 to celebrate successes, share best practice and build on the network for a future project.
Overall INDIE prooved very successful so far with regards to generating a Europe wide network of policy makers, practitioners, teachers and students. Inclusion is still a burning issue in many schools all around Europe and working jointly on the project raised awareness and induced change not only in schools, but also in teacher training, informal education and on policy level.
Aims and objectives of the policy maker seminar:
- Update and inform partners as to the state of play of EU policy thinking and INDIE
- Share and give examples of best practice through presentations by schools and partners
- Involve partners in discussion of BPG
- Involve partners in planning around a follow up project INDIE 2 / Connecting Classrooms
Special thanks go to our partners Vodafone Foundation and British Embassy, who supported this event.
We started off with a reception at the British Embassy in Berlin on 30 November. Welcoming words were spoken by Andrew Noble, Head of Political, Media and Public Affairs, British Embassy, Berlin and Dr David Deissner, Project Manager, Education and Educational Research, Vodafone Foundation Germany.
The first keynote was presented by Emma McClarkin, Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands, UK. She congratulated participants on that truly important and amazing project and gave some examples on how issues related to diversity and inclusion are tackled in East Midlands schools.
Gelu Calacean ,Directorate-General for Education and Culture, European Commission gave a presentation of the European Commission Green Paper: Migration & Mobility: Challenges and opportunities for EU education systems and its public consultation results.
The report points towards still existing challenges for education systems:
- Diversity of languages, cultures and achievement levels
- School segregation
- Increasing polarisation derived from "white flight”
Gelu highlights that although diversity is clearly a resource, skills are needed to use it as such. From the consultation process the European Commission drew the follow conclusions to apply and integrated policy approach which includes:
- Anti-discrimination mechanisms
- Permeability of education pathways
- Reducing quality differences between schools
- Access to quality early childhood education and care
- Personalised learning and individualised support
- Teacher training for linguistic and cultural diversity
- Policies for teaching host country languages
- Curricula relevant to all, adapted materials and methods
- Partnerships with migrant communities and improving communication with parents
- Targeted support for migrants with special needs
- Collecting and analysing data
- Exchanging good practice
Reading that list it becomes clear again that INDIE and its objectives are in the centre of current debate in Europe and gives valuable hints towards a future development of the project.
Mark Levy, INDIE Project Manager, then gave a lively presentation on what we’ve achieved so far, showing again that our Young Leaders are at the core of the project. They’ve developed the charter in Brussels, which informed in-school-projects, changes in teacher training and on policy level.
The latest message from the Young Leaders came in form of short films on diversity produced at the Stranger Festival in Amsterdam in October 2009.
Poet Levi Tafari, who’s been involved in the project right from the beginning to nurture the creative site of things, gave one of his stunning and inspiring poetry sessions at the end.
On the second day we were welcomed by Dr Mark Speich, CEO Vodafone Foundation, who stressed the importance of tangible project results. Ulrike Grassauer from the Berlin Senate gave an insight into Berlin’s long way to culturally inclusive schools and reminded everyone present that although the door to intercultural education is not closed anymore it neither is wide open.
Prof Leon Tikly, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK presented Key issues in Diversity and Voice:Some Observations from the INDIE Baseline Report. The report includes
- Interviews with British Council managers
- Questionnaires of 438 young leaders, 52 INDIE school coordinators and 11 policy makers
- Analysis of policy texts including legislation, white and green papers, speeches etc
Main findings stress that INDIE schools already draw from a variety of resources to enable all students to realize their full potential. However, there are still some challenges as:
- Underachievement of some migrant groups a key concern
- Achievement not systematically monitored
- Racist bullying tolerated in some schools
- Limited support for community languages and for bilingual provision
- Limited training for teachers in diversity
- Limited number of staff and especially seniorstaff from migrant backgrounds
- Limited involvement of migrant parents
- Learner voice not sufficiently listened to
- School councils often ineffective
Some of them INDIE tries to tackle right now and some of them might be raised again in future projects.
The next session was dedicated to presentation of best practice examples from schools and partners.
Leon Tikly and Nargis Rashid, Senior Advisor, Equalities and International Development, Birmingham City Council, UK presented a model for collating best practice examples in order to make all the wonderful projects and results available to schools, teacher training institutions and policy makers all over Europe.
After Lunch we moved forward towards a follow up project building on the current strength of the network. From discussion with partners it became clear that there is clearly a strong interest in widening the impact of INDIE and continuing the partnership. Geographical reach might be extended in countries themselves and in getting additional countries onboard, different issues, already in the charter, like disability might be tackled. However, most valued would be a further emphasis on teacher training.
After 1.5 very productive and informative days we parted and will be sure to meet again for the final event in Brussels in May 2010, coming back to were it all started in February 2008.
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