The Vision

ISEC 2000 provides a unique opportunity for all those involved in the struggle to achieve 'Education for All' to come together to consider current issues, to share experiences, discuss progress and help one another to formulate strategies for the future.

ISEC 2000 will take place at a time when, through the United Nations organisations, the international community will be reviewing the progress that has been made during the 1990s in relation to the goal of 'Education for All'. It is clear that within this overall international movement a number of groups remain particularly vulnerable, not least children with disabilities and others who for a variety of reasons experience barriers to learning within existing arrangements.

These include:

• Those who are already enrolled in education but for a variety of reasons do not achieve adequately;
• Those who are not enrolled in schools but who could participate if more schools were available or were responsive to the diversity of learners in their community;
• People with more severe impairments who have a need for some form of additional support.

A decade of international policy documents, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and UNESCO's Salamanca Statement, have been encouraging developments in many parts of the world. But how much progress has really been made? What are the barriers to further development? What approaches facilitate movement towards more inclusive forms of education? What can be learned from the experiences of different countries?

Congress Themes

The Congress will be developed within the framework of the following overall themes:

Theme 1: From Rights to Policy

The various international policy documents disseminated during the 1990s place considerable emphasis on the rights of all children and young people to have equal access to education. Within the overall context of these international developments, issues to be addressed will include:

• which groups are currently marginalised within or excluded from existing arrangements?
• what policy developments are occurring at national, district, community and school levels?
• how far is non-formal and community-based education contributing to policy development?
• how can inclusive policies protect individual rights?

Theme 2: Listening to Different Voices

Policy and practice in education can be informed by a consideration of the experiences, perspectives and interpretations of members of different stakeholder groups. The congress will deliberately seek to ensure that different points of view are heard and debated. In particular:

what perspectives are there on difference and disability? how can marginalised or excluded voices be heard? how can barriers to communication be overcome? what do children, young people and their families think of current educational arrangements? what is the experience of people working in different ideological or socio-economic contexts? how do people with disabilities experience inclusion and exclusion in education?

Theme 3: Changing Roles

The changes in thinking and practice that are occurring in the field in many countries present challenges to everybody involved in educational processes. The future roles of specialist groups, including those in special education provision and support services, the health service and other caring professions, need particular consideration in the light of reforms based on inclusive principles. Examples of innovative practices in relation to the following areas will be particularly welcomed:

how can special education provision and services contribute to the development of more inclusive education? what contributions can parent and community groups make? in what ways can different professional groups collaborate? what are the implications of changing professional roles for teacher education? how can changing roles be evaluated? how can special schools promote inclusion?

Theme 4: Developing Practice

At the heart of moves towards forms of education that are more inclusive is the development of forms of pedagogy and organisational structures that involve all learners within a community. For example:

what forms of classroom practice can respond to pupil diversity? how can specialised teaching techniques contribute? what organisational conditions foster the development of inclusive practice? how can pressures to exclude be overcome? what are the barriers to development? to what extent can specialised provision contribute to inclusion?

Theme 5: Positive Outcomes

Within the overall move towards education for all it is essential to ensure a concern with quality. This being the case, there will be a need to consider issues such as:

• is it possible, or even desirable, for all children to attend the same school?
• how do we evaluate the effectiveness of inclusive education?
• does inclusive education benefit all children within a school?
• how can education systems, and institutions and services within them, review their existing arrangements in order to determine priorities for development?
• does inclusive education contribute to a good quality of life?

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27/01/2000