German Federal Cross of Merit for Wiltrud Thies and her achievements in promoting inclusive education
Lun, 15/04/2013
Wiltrud Thies, expert of the incluD-ed virtual community, was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit for her achievements in promoting inclusive education in Germany and abroad. On April 9th, the Federal Labor Minister Dr. Ursula von der Leyen awarded in total 12 citizens, nominated by the German President, for their outstanding social engagement in the fight against social exclusion.
The award holders are particularly active in improving participation of people with disabilities in society on equal terms, in fighting for the rights of socially disadvantaged people and in ensuring their integration into the labor market or maintaining their employment.
Federal Labor Minister, Dr. Ursula von der Leyen: “Millions of people are active in their private or professional lives to help socially disadvantaged or excluded people. They do this out of deep inner conviction. Everyone is giving a part of human warmth by helping these people as well as they can. On behalf of all the citizens that are actively caring and that bring people into the heart of society, we have awarded twelve that are true examples for all of us.”
Wiltrud Thies was Head of School at the Sophie-Scholl-School in Gießen (Germany) from 2004 - 2011, an inclusive primary and comprehensive school with over 400 pupils, among them about 105 children with all types of handicaps. In 2009, the school was awarded the nationwide Jacob-Muth-Prize that aims at making best practice examples in inclusive education better known. The school is owned by the Lebenshilfe Gießen, an association for handicapped children and adults.
Thies has conducted teacher trainings and consulting activities in order to build up inclusive schools in Germany and abroad. Since 2010, Wiltrud Thies is member in the renowned expert group "Inclusive education" of the German Commission for UNESCO.
