Blog

In the latest EENET blog, Peter Grimes and Els Heijnen-Maathuis tell us about an innovative monitoring and evaluation approach for Save the Children’s inclusive education programmes, using peer review rather than external evaluation consultants.

The full report of the peer review process and findings is also available on our website: Developing Inclusive Practices through Action Learning: Inclusive education cross-country peer review Bangladesh and Indonesia (PDF 1.7mb).

To mark this day, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, held a seminar showcasing the projects some of their academics are working on around the world that contribute to the growing body of knowledge concerning street-connected young people. This short article introduces some of that work and provides links to the projects/organisations.

Remember, EENET’s own Enabling Education Review no.6 focuses on street-connected children. It’s packed with articles showcasing innovative projects from various countries.  

This month’s featured project is Gaza Children’s Cinema. If you have a project you would like us to feature in a news update, please contact us.

Experience around the world shows that education happens in lots of different settings, not just in a formal school. Children learn valuable lessons in the community, in the family and through doing practical activities outside school. They learn through observing and discussing. In many communities around the world, television and film are also important parts of education. Children watch educational and entertaining programmes and films, and often without even realising it, they analyse and debate what they have seen, ask questions, and make connections between what they have seen on the screen and what they have learned in school.

This learning and fun opportunity is denied to the vast majority of children in Gaza, many of whom live as refugees. As a result of a decade of blockades, freedom of movement, commerce and cultural exchange is restricted. Children in Gaza also face unacceptable levels of violence, conflict, fear and abuses of their basic rights.

Gaza Children’s Cinema is a small organisation that brings cinema viewing and film-inspired learning opportunities to Gaza’s children. During 2017 it facilitated about 160 film screenings and workshops for children across Gaza, helping to break their imposed isolation from the rest of the world. The children get involved in ‘buying and selling’ tickets and popcorn, writing and designing film posters, and discussing the films after they have watched them. It’s a safe and fun environment, as well as providing valuable learning and socialisation opportunities.

You can watch a short introductory film about the project and read their latest project update. You can also contact EENET’s Arabic Language Community Facilitator, Ayman Qwaider, for more information about the project: arabic@eenet.org.uk.

We’re very excited about the latest addition to our new website. It’s an interactive world map to help you find documents and videos about inclusive education in specific countries. This is a visual alternative to scrolling through the country list in the database search.

Each country for which we have documents has a red flag on the map. Click on the flag and you’ll see a list of all the documents about that country. Remember to check out the other countries near your country too, as there may be some really useful and relevant experiences happening just next door!

If your chosen country does not have a red flag, it means we have no documents about inclusive education in that country yet. But you could send us something – an article, a report, a poster. Help us fill the gaps in our map!

EENET’s website contains a variety of translations. To help readers find the documents that are available in other languages, we have added a ‘translations quick list’ to the Documents and Video Library. When you select your chosen language, you’ll see a summary list of the documents available in that language.

EENET relies on donations and volunteers to help us translate documents. If you could help us to offer more documents in more languages, please contact us.

A new article co-authored by EENET’s non-executive director, Susie Miles, has recently been published in the journal Social Inclusion (2018, Volume 6, Issue 1). “Inclusions and Exclusions in Rural Tanzanian Primary Schools: Material Barriers, Teacher Agency and Disability Equality” is written by Susie Miles, University of Manchester, Jo Westbrook, University of Sussex, and Alison Croft Independent Consultant.

Article abstract: This article begins with the assumption that the argument for the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools, championed by Sustainable Development Goal 4 and Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, has largely been accepted nationally and internationally by policy makers, and is increasingly being accepted by teachers. In interrogating the complex craft of developing inclusive and equal learning environments for children with disabilities, this article draws upon Kershner’s ‘core aspects of teachers’ knowledge and knowing’, and in particular, ‘the school as a site for the development of teaching expertise and the creation of knowledge’. Data is presented from in-depth interviews following videoed lesson observations with experienced teachers in 15 rural, urban and coastal primary schools in four districts in Tanzania. Findings indicate that the teachers’ practice is moving unevenly towards disability equality, and involves processes of inclusions and exclusions. This involves teacher autonomy, agency and reflective practice in the context of material, attitudinal, structural, pedagogic and curricular barriers. The teachers’ expertise has potential to inform national and international policy developments, and so reduce the evident rhetoric-reality gap. In conclusion, it is argued that inclusive education needs to grapple with disability as a social construct, and lessons are drawn for the further fulfilment of the rights of children with disabilities to equal participation in education.

Today (21 March) is the launch of this year’s ‘We Ring the Bell’ campaign run by Liliane Foundation, a Dutch-based disability organisation that works with partners around the world.

The campaign starts today with schools around the world making a noise (e.g. ringing bells) for one minute, to draw attention to the millions of children globally whose right to education is being violated. 

The campaign will continue during the year, and Liliane Foundation invites you to sign their manifesto calling for all children to be welcome in school.

The manifesto highlights that 9 out of 10 children with disabilities are not welcome in their local schools. It presents 10 urgent actions that everyone – from parents and teachers through to government policy makers – can help to implement.

You can download and read the manifesto in PDF format.