On 15-17 February 2016, UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) took part in the International Congress of practitioners of inclusive education dedicated to the 20th anniversary of teaching people with disabilities. The Congress was organized at the University of Management “TISBI” in Kazan (Russian Federation) and gathered more than 250 scientists, educators, representatives of public organizations and persons with disabilities from 28 Russian cities, as well as from the United Kingdom, Germany, USA and France. The event was organized by the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, University of Management “TISBI”, UNESCO IITE, the Committee on Education of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Federal Education Development Institute, the Special Education Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan and National Inter-University Centre for serving with persons with disabilities (Kazan).
The International Congress of practitioners in inclusive education served as a platform for participants to get acquainted with the experience accumulated in this area, exchange of expert opinions and new ideas on increasing the access and quality of inclusiveeducation and developing an inclusive educational environment as a priority social mechanism that guarantees the right of every person to quality education.
Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov, Head a.i. of UNESCO IITE, took part in a plenary session as a keynote speaker and delivered the presentation “Inclusive education as one of the top priorities of the UNESCO Framework for Action “Education – 2030””. He also delivered a speech within the open meeting of the International UNESCO Chair with the participation of the Secretary-General of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO Mr. Grigory Ordzhonikidze.
On 16 February, UNESCO IITE organized a round table “ICT for Inclusive education”. Mr. Paul Thompson, UNESCO IITE expert (AbleNET, UK), took part in round table discussion and presented the main stages of the integration of assistive technologies into inclusive education demonstrated their examples and technological capacities. Mr. Sai Gilbert (USA) and Mr. Sergey Bryzgalov (Russian Federation) alsotook part in the round table discussion and presented their reports.The participants of the round table discussed the prospects and problems of application of the assistive technologies in inclusive education. Participants exchanged their opinions on increasing the access and quality ofeducation based on the use of ICTs.
The resolutionof the International Congress of practitioners of inclusive education is available on the website of the University of Management “TISBI“.
