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Transforming Education for Children with Disabilities 
 

July, 2020 | Issue #4
Dear IEI Disability-Inclusive Education Community of Practice Members,

We hope this issue of our newsletter finds you healthy and well. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have wide-reaching impacts across the globe. Many schools are still closed forcing learners to continue learning from their homes. Other schools are beginning to reopen with new protocols in place to keep learners and their teachers safe but also with fear of what might result from bringing students back together in the classroom given the uncertainty of the virus.

On June 23rd, the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report on Inclusion and Education was launched and has brought increased attention to the importance of inclusive education. It has facilitated many necessary conversations, especially during a moment in time that we can use as an opportunity to build back more inclusively. We are living in a time of much uncertainty, but we have the chance to ensure that learners with disabilities are returning to schools that are more accessible, better equipped to meet their learning needs, and inclusive of learners with disabilities in all areas, including meal programs and WASH.

The IEI has been working hard to address the educational, social needs, barriers and issues for children with disabilities during COVID-19 by developing an issues paper, “Pivoting to Inclusion: Leveraging Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis for Learners with Disabilities” which we will be launching during a Global Seminar on Tuesday, July 28th, from 8:30-10:00 am EDT on World Bank Live. 

Many resources have come out since our last newsletter which we are happy to share with you, but as always, we want to hear from you! Please share papers, project news, blogs, and any relevant information and materials that you feel would benefit our community and stay in touch. You can either email us at iei@worldbank.org or join our LinkedIn Group and post directly there.

Especially during a time like this, community is key. We are excited to see this community continue to grow (we have close to 600 members on our LinkedIn group now!) and we know that it will continue to add value to our work, only with your active participation. We welcome your feedback, questions, and own work that will encourage further discussion.
 
With best wishes,
The Inclusive Education Initiative Team
 
IN FOCUS
Issues Paper, Pivoting to Inclusion: Leveraging Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis for Learners with Disabilities”.
 
A resource for governments, implementation agencies, and multilateral agencies, the paper will provide guidance as education delivery is rethought and planned in response to COVID-19 and as schools reopen. The Issues Paper focuses on the following objectives:
  • Addressing education and social needs, barriers, and issues for learners with disabilities at a global, regional, and country-level during the COVID-19 crisis.
  • Recommending practices for education and social inclusion, and reasonable accommodations utilizing the twin-track approach and principles of Universal Design for Learning.
  • Influencing education and social policy, planning, and response for persons with disabilities.
To celebrate the launch of this paper we will be hosting a global seminar on Tuesday, July 28th from 8:30-10:00 a.m. EDT on World Bank Live when we will invite discussion focusing on the following:
  • Global Reflections: Discussion on the inclusion of learners with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, including linkages with the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report on Inclusion and Education and World Bank Education COVID-19 policy briefs and guidance.  
  • Regional reflections: Discuss the usefulness of the issues paper with country representatives from Nepal and Kenya considering education, digital technology, and social inclusion and protection.
  • Invite discussion from Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) regarding barriers to accessing remote learning and solutions for learners with disabilities during COVID-19.
To join the live event and for more details: http://worldbank.org/en/events/2020/07/14/leveraging-lessons-from-covid-19-for-learners-with-disabilities. To ask a question to one of the speakers ahead of the event please do so here.

This event will have American Sign Language interpretation and closed captioning.

For all inquiries please reach out to iei@worldbank.org.
NEWS AND EVENTS
THE 2020 GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT:
INCLUSION AND EDUCATION

 
The global launch of the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report: Inclusion and education: All Means  All took place on the 23rd of June 2020. The 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The report can be found here along with the recording of the launch event.

Two days after the Report’s global launch, the World Bank and GEM Report co-hosted a high-level dialogue,  #AllMeansAll: Fulfilling Everybody's Potential, to examine ongoing efforts to strengthen inclusion and education. The webinar recording can be found here.
 
Other resources in response to the launch of this report:
WEBINAR
Hosted by The Montgomery Group Series, Humanity and Inclusion  (HI) organized a webinar on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in the Humanitarian COVID-19 response: Exploring HI's response in inclusive education. Watch the video recording.
Theirworld's Survey on Disabilities and Technology
Theirworld has created a survey on "Disabilities and Technology: Expanding Inclusive Education to Achieve SDG 4" for students with visual, hearing, and/or learning disabilities; Teachers who have taught or teach student(s) with (any one or all of these) disabilities in a mainstream classroom; and independent or NGO personnel working with assistive technology for students with (any one or all of these) disabilities.

The objective of the research is to identify and understand what assistive technologies are proving to be effective, as well as the enabling environments in which these technologies are used to ensure effective inclusion in mainstream schools around the world.

Please participate if you belong to one of the groups that this survey is targeting and/or share widely with your networks. The survey is open until August 15th, 2020. If you have further questions or would like to receive in an alternate format please reach out to Vibhu Sharma at vibhu@theirworld.org.
KNOWLEDGE HUB
Cover of IDA Inclusive Education Global Report


The International Disability Alliance (IDA) Inclusive Education Global Report has been developed as part of IDA’s Inclusive Education Flagship initiative. This global report on inclusive education presents the work and views of the IDA on how to achieve SDG 4 in compliance with the UNCRPD, especially with respect to Article 24 on the rights of all learners with disabilities
FROM OUR MEMBERS
Screenshot of the IEI Linkedin Group
Our LinkedIn group is growing fast! With close to 600 members now actively involved, the community of practice is growing stronger every day! This group is for anyone who is passionate about making sure disability-inclusive education is being taken up across the globe--we welcome people with vast experience and those just getting into the field or interested in the topic.

Check out some of our latest posts:
  • Seema Nath, Doctoral Candidate and member of the Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER), Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. has written and shared her blog post, ‘Education for All’ under Lockdown: the path ahead for inclusion of children with disabilities
  • Sakil Malik, Craig Geddes, and Angie Quintela from DAI have produced an Inclusive Education White Paper, “Ensuring All Students are Learning” which captures key points from a panel discussion on inclusive education hosted in 2019. At this event, two questions were posed: 1): What are the key policy recommendations we need to be making to support inclusive education; and 2) What are the key aspects we need to think about during project design and implementation to achieve inclusive education?
  • The Brookings Institute has shared Inclusive Schools Become Inclusive Societies on their Education Plus Development blog. This post provides 3 ideas for making schools and societies more inclusive. 
If you are not on LinkedIn, please send us an e-mail at: iei@worldbank.org, and we will repost your questions or comments.
 
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