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| N°7 - September 2007 | N°5 - January 2006 | N°4 - September 2005 |
| N°3 - March 2005 | N°2 - October 2004 | N°1 - June 2004 |
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European Network for Inclusive and
Cognitive Education supported by the European Commission's Comenius
3 action programme
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INCLUES-News N°6 June 2006 Editor: Jo Lebeer University of Antwerp Belgium, Support Centre for Learning Enhancement & Inclusion www.inclues.org |
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Just at the end of the (Northern ) school year, you will find this Newsletter with some important newsflashes. After 3 years of networking it is still far from understood what the essence is of "inclusive" and "cognitive education", let alone of the necessity to combine the two. Misunderstandings are frequent, such as "inclusive education is only about children with disabilities" "Cognitive education excludes emotional education" or "cognitive education is about applying methods". Everyone however agrees that inclusive education is a blessing for the whole school if it is taken as a process of the whole school and beyond, including parents and other caregivers. Those who are already a long time living in "inclusive countries" as well as those who still have to fight for their rights to be included (the majority in Europe), ever so much need encouragement by showing models of good practice. A lot of the Inclues Networking has been done to find these models and to distribute them, to find experiences, materials and approaches and disseminate them. There is no agreement on the details of good practice. We have therefore chosen to dedicate the final Inclues conference in Rome (20-23rd September) to this subject. More information in this newsletter. As a primeur the UK government made available DVD and other materials where good practices are shown. A concrete example of European networking you will find in the short account of the remarkable and far from smooth inclusion story of the Dutch girl Thiandi, with severe developmental disturbance and communication problems, who offered us her poem made by facilitated communication. Those of you who would like to know what cognitive education ad dynamic assessment of learning in relation to inclusive environments is all about, might be interested in the summer course in Paris (9-20th of July), which has again been selected as eligible for Comenius & Grundvight grants ( so as the Rome course). There is now no financial reason not to attend these fascinating activities. Two psychologists from Cluj Romania give an account of their course in Amsterdam on Instrumental Enrichment for young children - another example of networking and exchange. Kristiansand, Norway introduces the problem of a "new" category of children with learning difficulties who offer a particular challenge to inclusive education. As we are coming to the end of the project Inclues, at least of its subsidized era, we also undergo an evaluation by an external evaluator and we request your participation in replying to a questionnaire. Evaluation is important for sponsors like the EU to know whether giving money to this kind of initiatives is worth doing. As far as we are concerned, it is, as you can see in this newsletter. Please consider giving 10 minutes to this initiative. It is important. Jo Lebeer, Inclues coordinator, University of Atwerp, BE
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The final Inclues conference will take place in the beautiful city of Rome on 22-23 September 2006 , with the title "Good practices for integration and inclusion" . It will try to find answers to questions such as "What is good inclusive and good cognitive activation? How can learning processes be activated with children with widely different abilities? What competencies does a good inclusive teacher need and how to train teachers? A special pre-conference programme (20-21 September) will show some real examples. We invite everyone to share experiences, by participating in the discussions, bringing materials, presenting videos and posters. Now is the time to register and send in abstracts. This conference also eligible for financing through EU Comenius grants. |
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| International summer school in Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment Programme and Learning Propensity Assessment Device tools for cognitive and inclusive education in Paris from 9-20th July 2006. Based on Structual Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience theory have proven to be effective tools in the hands of teachers caring for inclusion to shape children's minds, to teach how to learn and to differentiate teaching to different pupils coming from various cultural backgrounds and aptitude levels. Children need teachers who know how to mediate. As last year, INCLUES co-organizes the 27th International Workshops on these subjects and methods together with the International Centre for the Enhancement of Learning Potential |
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| Some positive inclusion news from the U.K. A pioneering set of materials to support the development of inclusive education has just been launched by the British Government for use by mainstream schools and local education authorities.The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has teamed up with the Government’s Disability Rights Commission to create three DVDs and a handbook giving many examples of good practice in inclusive education. |
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| "Mother, you are the one that saved me from savagery with the letter board that made me man sheer a plastic sheet from A to M simple but life saving it is for me", writes Thiandi, a 14 year old Dutch girl with severe developmental and communication problems, on her computer with facilitated communication. Thiandi's mother, a Dutch physician, had to face exclusion from Dutch mainstream schools (despite the Netherlands officially promote inclusive education and provide parents and schools with the richest financing in Europe) as well as professional sceptisicm as to Thiandi's cognitive potential - diagnosed profoundly mentally disabled, so she went first to Italy and now to the UK to find a welcoming school who took Thiandi's education seriously. |
Thiandi typing her own poems with facilitated communication at her Newham inclusive school (UK) |
Kristiansand-based Sorlandet Resource Centre (Norway) focusses on growing new groups of children with learning problems, who have problems with achieving comprehensive results in reading/writing and in mathematics This will often will give them smaller possibilities to enter their choices for the upper secondary school and to achieve good results. We are talking of vulnerable children from families where there might be environments which are of poor stimulation to enhance their learning potential. |
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| Instrumental Enrichment Basic is a new programme, developped by Feuerstein e.a. and has been designed for children from age 5-7 to activate cognitive functioning and learning processes. Within the framework of a multicentre international research study, involving some of the Inclues partners, teachers and psychologists are being trained in various places in its application with children with various developmental disturbances such as autistic spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy and genetic disorders. Eniko Batiz of Cluj University attended the Amsterdam workshop. |
From Empathy to Action - Instrumental Enrichment Programme-Basic © R.& R. Feuerstein 2003 |
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| Has the Inclues Network made a difference to you? Then report it! After almost three years of work, the Inclues network is currently being evaluated by an external evaluator, researcher Patricia Ejchenrand of Paris V University, working under the guidance of Prof. Maryvonne Sorel. The aim is to map the process and the impact of networking on people, and the concrete initiatives resulting from it. End-users - parents, teachers, and other professionals who have come into contact with Inclues, are invited to respond to a questionnaire. |
Inclues networking made a difference for these children in Leuven (Belgium) |
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| Latvian Inclues partner Centre for Educational Initiatives has participated actively in the Task Force of the Secretariat of Integration and Immigration Affairs "Governmental Programme for Roma Integration". Equal access to quality education is one of the priorities of the programme. It is due to the CEI's experience and the built partnership with Roma Non-Governmental Organization. The programme is now under public discussion, and it will be launched already this year. It envisages to promote early schooling of Roma children, and preparing of Roma teacher assistance with the aim to prevent the segregation of Roma children into special schools and to develop tolerant and respectful attitude towards Roma families. in schools and communities |
Preparing Roma teacher assistants in the inclusion education process in Latvia |
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| Inclusion needs mediated learning experience, says Prof. Reuven Feuerstein, Chairman and Founder of The International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (ICELP), Jerusalem, Israel on the UNESCO website |
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View a sample from the new mathermatical early thinking programme from Gunvor Sonnesyn ( INAP Norway) 
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