Fostering inclusive quality education in Finland and Ireland

The Commission is supporting Finland and Ireland to identify key objectives and plan actions for promoting equitable learning opportunities, improving educational outcomes and increasing access to mainstream education for all children and students. With a particular focus on enhancing quality inclusive education, the project aims to improve the capacity of the two European Union Member States to foster inclusiveness in their education systems, strengthening stakeholders’ engagement in the implementation of inclusive support, developing teachers’ and relevant staff’s capacity, as well as promoting a better understanding of inclusion within the school community and to society.

Context

The first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights underlines that everyone has the right to quality and inclusive education. Initiatives under the European Education Area framework and the European Strategy on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities aim to promote quality and equity in education. The multi-country project with Finland and Ireland pursues the same objectives of rendering both education systems more inclusive and capable of delivering quality education for all.

Both countries acknowledge the need to improve access to and participation of all children and students in mainstream education, as the number of pupils with special education needs being educated in special groups or classes is still considerably high. In addition, Finland needs to promote a more inclusive school culture and address regional differences in the implementation of inclusive support measures in education. Ireland needs to develop a model of inclusion tailored to its education system to maximise access to inclusive education and enable all children to have the opportunity to learn in their local school with their peers.

Support delivered

The European Commission is supporting the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland and the Irish Department of Education in their efforts to strengthen quality inclusive education. The support is delivered in cooperation with the Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE), through the following measures:

• Review of existing legal framework and recommendations in the field of special education, as well as key findings from the critical analysis of relevant stakeholders, including training programmes for teachers and school leaders towards inclusive education in each member state.
• Identification of each system’s gaps and strengths, as well as common challenges and opportunities for both member states.
• Overview of international good practice and exchanges with other EU/European countries which have progressed towards quality inclusive education.
• Design of a roadmap for each participating member state detailing goals, actions, responsible actors, and resources needed (including upskilling of teaching profession and other system capacity building and strengthening activities), to effectively promote equitable learning opportunities for all.
• Communication and capacity-building actions on key priority areas identified throughout the project.

The multi-country approach of the project will promote peer learning between the two participating member states, calling on key stakeholders to actively engage in its implementation.

Rresults achieved

The project is expected to increase the two member states’ capacity to design and implement concrete actions to improve access, participation and achievement of children and students with special education needs within mainstream education settings; promote a better understanding of inclusive education within the school community, parents and society; foster stakeholders’ engagement as well as teachers’ capacity and confidence to ensure quality inclusive education.