The meeting addressed several issues including how to build an inclusive school through pedagogical teams, how to coordinate at the local, regional and national levels, and discussions about inclusive education as the route to participation and real occupational and social inclusion.

Inclusive education policymakers who work at the local, regional and national levels will convene in Lima on May 25 and 26, 2017 at the II Training Workshop for Inclusive Education Policymakers, “Cooperative Management for Inclusive Education.” The activity was organized by the Peruvian Ministry of Education’s Directorate for Special Elementary Education.

During the event, UNESCO will share its impressions on inclusive education as an indispensable element for a quality education system. Cecilia Barbieri, Director (a.i.) and Senior Specialist at the Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (OREALC/UNESCO Santiago), will participate as a panelist along with Magaly Robalino, Director of UNESCO’s Lima office. They will highlight the centrality of this issue on the Education 2030 agenda.

The workshop will also be attended by directors of inclusive educational institutions recognized as Value Schools (Escuelas Valora). Their presence reaffirms the Peruvian Ministry of Education’s interest in continuing to contribute to the sustainability of the pedagogical and management achievements reached in the implementation of inclusive educational policies and practices.

The event will address the arduous work and challenges related to inclusive education within schools with an emphasis on management and will provide ample space in which to consider inclusion after school. The latter point is of special interest to UNESCO in the fulfillment of the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (also known as Education 2030), which seeks to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”