The
Regional Center for Educational Planning (RCEP) holds, at the University City
of Sharjah, its first program under the “Policy Dialogue” project, which falls
within the second objective of RCEP strategic plan for the years 2017-2021
under the supervision of UNESCO. The program includes five strategic objectives
and strategic and operational initiatives in five major areas including
planning tools, foresight of the future, educational policies, monitoring and
evaluation of education, educational indicators and education 2030, and policy
dialogue. The program includes a number of interactive workshops that last for
two days or more and cover the discussion and analysis of one of the
educational policies in the GCC countries. RCEP chooses the subject of this
policy based on international developments and education priorities in GCC
countries. Exchange of experiences between concerned States and policy experts
on the other hand. During the “Policy Dialogue” program, there will be an exchange of experiences
between concerned entities in the countries on one hand and policy experts on
the other.
The
theme of “Inclusive Education: Educational Policies and Operational
Initiatives” was selected as the first program of the Policy Dialogue project.
It aims to identify the practices, policies and processes in some GCC
countries, the world and international organizations in order to enhance the
principle of inclusive education and provide educational opportunities for
people with special needs. Discussions, exchange of experiences, analysis and
in depth probing of those aspects would crystallize policies and correct the
course of their implementation.
The
dialogue will be held over a three-day period from September 17 to 19. The
first day will review the Ministry of Education's policies regarding education
for people with special needs through a review of inclusive education policies
in the UAE in the presence of experts, and an in-depth discussion session will
be conducted in order to obtain feedback on ways to improve policies and their
implementation.
On
the second day, a seminar will be held for specialists in the Ministry, school principals
and teachers, where they will review Arab, Western and international
experiences, and conduct in-depth discussions on their strengths, weaknesses,
challenges and solutions developed at the national level to meet these
challenges.
On
the third day, the program concludes with a meeting of experts and specialists
of the ministries to present the results of the evaluation of the quality and
relevance of inclusive education in some countries, the criteria used for such
evaluation, drawing recommendations for policy improvement, rectifying
implementation paths and involving stakeholders from other institutions related
to inclusive education.
Through this program, the Regional Center for
Educational Planning seeks to develop a common understanding of inclusive
education (from policies to implementation) at the level of the ministries of
education and the educational field with its principals and teachers, and to
contribute to spreading awareness about the concepts of justice from the
perspective of; a) Access to education, b) Achieving learning with a focus on
roles and responsibilities for each of them (What is the role of the Ministry?
What is the role of the school? What is the role of the home? What is the role
of the students?), and achieving harmony with the United Nations
Agenda for Sustainable Development in relation to Goal 4, its components and
objectives (Education 2030), and providing the opportunity for specialists in
the Ministry to acquire skills and competencies through being acquainted with
the best global practices in the field.
16/09/2018