EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

UNESCO organises the first Pacific Region Workshop on Inclusive Education: 23-25 November 2005 in Samoa

Olof Sandkull

The workshop was a collaborative effort of UNESCO in Paris, Bangkok and Apia. Policy makers and practitioners from the Ministry of Education and teacher education institutions as well as representatives from international organisations and the disability movement from ten countries in the Pacific attended the workshop. The objective of the workshop was to share innovative approaches and to learn from experiences of implementing inclusive education practices.

Different workshop modalities were used including presentations, group work, videos and a school visit. Two parallel thematic group sessions focused on (1) the implications for teachers and teacher education and on (2) strengthening parent and community involvement and the role of civil society. Participants had an opportunity to see inclusive practices in action when visiting the Vaimoso Primary School in Apia. This visit also highlighted the use of the UNESCO Toolkit for Creating Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Environments, which is being piloted in four primary schools in Samoa. Rebekah McCullough who has been assisting in the pilot project expressed that “it has been wonderful to be part of the process and to witness the blossoming of this inclusive education process in the schools and to see the innovation and the commitment that people have put into this; they have made it theirs.”

The workshop enabled participants to share valuable resources and practices at the global, regional and local levels. In particular, examples of surveys of children with disabilities from Pacific countries were shared. One of the key points highlighted in the workshop was the link with EFA, as inclusive education is seen as one of the means to achieve EFA. An issue much discussed during the workshop was the commonly held view of inclusive education being for children with disabilities only. UNESCO is, however, promoting a broader view, which encompasses all children excluded on grounds of gender, ability, ethnicity, linguistic or poverty related reasons. Getting all children into school is therefore only a first step. At the heart of inclusive education is the need to transform regular education into systems that can provide quality education for all learners.

The outcomes of the workshop included the establishment of Enabling Education Network (EENET) Pacifika with initial support from UNESCO Bangkok. This network will facilitate information-sharing on inclusive practices. Among the recommendations developed during the workshop were the need to (1) organise awareness campaigns on inclusive education to increase government support, (2) more effectively use regional mechanism for fundraising and joint activities, (3) ensure a more proactive role for EFA Coordinators, (4) reform teacher education to support inclusive practices, (5) review national legislation to enforce inclusive education, and (6) strengthen relationships with the respective National Commissions for UNESCO.

UNESCO Bangkok also featured its newly released booklet on good examples of inclusive education in the Pacific region. Mr. Edgar Tari, representative of UNICEF’s Child Friendly Schools (CFS) Project in Vanuatu explained the important link between inclusive education and CFS by stressing the need of working with local teachers and curriculum advisers to identify children who are out of school and developing mechanisms such as flexi-time.

Dr. Vincencio Pongi, Director of the UNESCO office in Apia for the Pacific States, noted the fruitful discussions and decisions reached during the workshop, adding that “we trust that our participants will now be in a better position to advice, incorporate and implement inclusive approaches in their respective countries.”

For more information and the workshop report, please visit: www.unescobkk.org/ie. email: o.sandkull@hotmail.com

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents