Includ-ed, red europea de educación inclusiva

incluD-ed's associated member RENINCO ROMANIA ASSOCIATION, in partnership with UNICEF ROMANIA and Romanian Ministry of Education has started in December 2013 a project with the title “Promoting inclusive education for children with disabilities and SEN in Romania, focusing on preschool and primary education” that runs until August 2014.

The project activities are focused on 3 complementary main directions:

1. 1. Expand the target of the Hai la Scoala! Initiative (which main goal is related to promoting inclusive education) in order to include children with disabilities and special educational needs – derived from disabilities or from other conditions. A new and fresh focus on these children – mainly through training of teachers, dissemination of materials and monitoring visits - will help children in 76 communities throughout the country to have a better access to quality inclusive education and to improve their school attendance and performance.
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3. 2. Elaborate a proposal for the National Strategy for the education of persons with SEN (including those with disabilities) in inclusive contexts (in ordinary/general schools). In connection with ‘Hai la Scoala!’ model and its main goal of influencing public policies, it is very important to continue the work related to the National Strategy for the education of persons with SEN (including those with disabilities) in inclusive contexts (in ordinary/general schools). This work (carried out within an extensive partnership developed among RENINCO, Education Ministry and Child Protection National Authority, with UNICEF support ) resulted in a draft strategy elaborated in 2008 (also published in a booklet issued in 2010). This draft strategy has been accepted by the Education Ministry as a working document and posted for public consultation in 2010. Nowadays, public authorities expressed their intention to analyze, update and propose a draft strategy for the period 2014-2020.
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5. 3. Draft a situation analysis on the implementation of existing legislation for children with special educational needs will inform the decision makers in education on the current challenges related to the implementation of the new legal framework introduced from 2011 (the National Law of Education and the subsequent regulations). This analysis will provide the evidence required to inform the revision process of the National Strategy for the education of persons with SEN. This type of process could be of particular importance also for the monitoring of the Chapter 24 (the right to education) from UN Convention for Persons with disabilities (2006), ratified by the Romanian Parliament in 2010 (Law n.221).