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Education Without Exclusion

Documentation of the international conference 'Education Without Exclusion' from 25th to 27th November 2009 in Bonn.

The conference 'Education Without Exclusion' took place in Bonn-Bad Godesberg in November 2009. Two events demonstrated how Education for All can be made sustainable and inclusive.
An education market presented the range of global learning and engagement at special schools and in Germany as well as inclusive education projects from all over the world.
Here you can find: the presentations of both conferences, the conference report and photos and project examples of special schools implementing global learning.

  • Presentations of the international conference 'Inclusive Education: Towards an Education for All'
  • Presentations of the conference 'Global Learning and Engagement in Special Schools'
  • Examples of inclusive education projects (worldwide)
  • Documentation of the education market 'Education Without Exclusion'
  • Technical report (in German) 'Towards a Sustainable Education for All' (pdf, 249,44 kb)

The conference programme (German/English) can be viewed here:

Bildung ohne Ausgrenzung (pdf, 1 MB)

Education Without Exclusion (pdf, 2 MB)

Presentations at the International Conference 'Inclusive Education: Towards Education for All'

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was not only oriented towards the goals of the World Summits in Rio 1992 and Johannesburg 2002, but also towards the 'Millennium Development Goals' in the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000).

Therein, the international community committed to provide all children with basic education by 2015. This commitment also includes marginalised groups. This applies in particular to children and young people with disabilities, only 1-5% of whom have access to basic education in developing countries, according to UNESCO estimates. Basic education for all cannot be achieved if vulnerable groups remain excluded.

The right of every human being to education is already enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008) recognises the right to inclusive education.
The concept of inclusive education includes the claim to provide quality education to all children and young people, regardless of gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geographical circumstances, special learning needs, social and economic status, etc. This means that learning conditions should be designed in such a way that they are accessible to all. This means that learning conditions must be designed in such a way that every child can develop and unfold his or her potential.
How inclusive education can be implemented, especially against the background of limited resources in poorer countries, was presented at the conference. What are the prerequisites of inclusive education systems, what experiences already exist, where are the challenges and how can education projects develop into inclusive projects? The scope of the conference ranges from pre-school education and primary education to post-primary education and the transition to work.

Presentations given at the international conference 'Inclusive Education: Towards an Education for All':

Presentations at the Conference 'Global Learning and Engagement in Special Needs Schools'

In the age of globalisation, the effects of global changes directly influence our lives. This is particularly evident for the consequences of climate change and economic processes.

The report presented by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 already made it clear that the industrial society's way of life and economy is not sustainable. At the World Conference on Environment and Development - the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 - the commitment to sustainable development was comprehensively anchored. The preservation of global ecosystems was linked to worldwide poverty reduction and social justice at national and international level. Sustainable development is aimed at securing the quality of life of the present generation and at the same time preserving the future viability of the following generations.

In order to develop and anchor sustainable thinking and action worldwide, the United Nations has proclaimed the World Decade of Education for Sustainable Development for the years 2005 to 2014. The vision of the World Decade is "to provide all people with educational opportunities that enable them to acquire knowledge and values and to learn the behaviour and lifestyles necessary for a future worth living and for positive social change".
The German Federal Government emphatically pursues the guiding principle of sustainable development. To anchor Education for Sustainable Development in the classroom, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) published the Orientation Framework for Global Development Education in 2007, which also identifies the pedagogical-didactic challenges for special schools and inclusive education.
Sustainable development needs the commitment of all people. This also applies to people with disabilities, and in the context of schools, to children and young people with disabilities. In Germany, approximately 85% of children and young people with disabilities attend a special school. Special schools and schools in joint education are engaged nationwide in the field of Global Learning and/or support projects in the so-called developing countries.
Such initiatives will be presented at the conference. The aim is to show how special schools are involved in this area and at the same time to encourage other schools to become active in this area.
Sustainable development is a topic for everyone and the responsibility of every human being. People with disabilities can and want to make a contribution to this.

Have a look at the presentations at the conference 'Global Learning and Engagement in Special Schools - Don't We Have Other Problems?:

Education Market

The education market presented existing projects, different approaches, projects and materials on the topics, also to enable an exchange and networking of different organisations, groups, persons among each other and with visitors.
It was officially opened by the Mayor of Bonn, Jürgen Nimptsch.

The following organisations participated in the education market with their own stand:

  • The German Commission for UNESCO and the International Bureau of Education of UNESCO in Geneva presented various materials such as flyers, books, reports, information brochures, project information etc. in the field of inclusive education, education for sustainable development as well as the 'Education for All' goals and the commitment of UNESCO in various countries.
  • The German Development Service showed material in the field of education for sustainable development and cooperations that exist in this field.
  • The Christopherusschule Bonn - a special school with a focus on physical and motor development - gave an insight into its existing school partnership with a special school in Tunisia and showed, among other things, photos and reports of the meetings that took place in Germany and Tunisia.
  • Handicap International Germany showed, among other things, their exhibition on the topic of 'Inclusive Education' and presented material on the topic of mines and other information material on various topics in the field of education and projects of Handicap International Germany. Handicap UK provided material on their work in so-called developing countries.
  • Kindernothilfe presented its exhibition on the situation of children in so-called developing countries and provided information about their situation at its stand. One focus was on the area of education.
  • Enabling Education Network (EENET) displayed materials about the network itself, the projects and activities as well as reports and information on inclusive education worldwide.
  • Tobi's Business Agency produces inclusive English learning materials to enable all children and young people, with or without disabilities, to learn English.
  • Barrierefrei kommunizieren presented how media can be designed in such a way that they are accessible to as many people as possible.
  • The Centre for Disability in Development from Bangladesh presented projects, programmes, approaches and materials from the field of inclusive education in the school, extracurricular and vocational sectors.
  • The Montagsstiftung provided material on its exhibition 'Pedagogical Landscapes'.
  • The Harding Special School is a special school in South Africa that showed how social, ecological and economic sustainability can be achieved despite very limited resources.
  • The Pädagogische Werkstatt Gera is involved in the field of education for sustainable development and gave insights into its work with schools using the example of an Africa project and other projects.
  • The Eine Welt Netz Thüringen provided information on development education and global learning as well as other activities of the network.
  • The Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam presented the work of the committee in Vietnam in the field of inclusive education.
  • Viataal/Royal Dutch Kentalis works with children with sensory disabilities in the Netherlands and is also involved with children in so-called developing countries. As part of their stand, they showed how good cooperation can look there with other organisations that also work for children with disabilities.
  • Abenteuer Lernen e.V. presented its learning materials, projects and programmes, which are based in different areas, e.g. in natural science or philosophy. Abenteuer Lernen e.V. showed, among other things, the extent to which sustainability can be anchored in its work with children and young people.
  • The Stephen-Hawking-Schule showed how they support coffee farmers in Nicaragua by marketing the coffee produced there in Germany. In addition, the students support the children of coffee farmers by donating money so that they can go to school.
  • bezev exhibited various materials on disability in so-called developing countries, inclusive education, global learning and education for sustainable development.

The education market was very positively received by the participants of the conference, contacts were made, information was provided about existing activities and forms and possibilities of engagement in different areas of education were shown.

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