TelegramUNCLASSIFIED   UNESCOPARI   12152265 
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DE RUEHFR #2265/01 3501443
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R 151443Z DEC 08
FM UNESCO PARIS FR
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INFO RUCNSCO/UNESCO COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PARIS FR 002265 
 
FOR IO/UNESCO Q K. SIEKMAN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC UNESCO AID SCUL ECA
 
SUBJECT: UNESCO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. 
 
¶1. Summary:  Approximately 153 UNESCO member states attended 
the 48th session of the International Conference on Education 
hosted by UNESCO's International Bureau of Education in Geneva 
November 25-28, 2008.  Held every four years, the IBE 
conference brings together Ministers of Education, 
representatives from international organizations, and civil 
society representatives to discuss and exchange ideas related 
to a specific education-related theme.  The title of the 48th 
session theme was, "Inclusive Education: The Way of the 
Future."  Participants generally agreed that governments must 
make an effort to include all groups when educating their 
populations if we are to achieve the Education for All Goals. 
Attendees also agreed on the need to put more effort into 
training teachers to instruct diverse populations.  The 
conference was not without controversy, however.  There was a 
push led by Belgium with support from some Francophone African 
states to include language in the final document that would 
have called for greater regulation of private education.  The 
U.S. successfully resisted this, but the issue is likely to 
return at the World Conference on Higher Education that will 
be held in Paris in July 2009. End Summary. 
 
¶2. U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO, Louise V. Oliver led the U.S. 
delegation. Tracy Justesen, Assistant Secretary for Special 
Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of 
Education and Troy Justesen, Assistant Secretary for 
Vocational and Adult Education, U.S. Department of Education 
also intervened on behalf of the United States.  Sally 
Lovejoy, Education Attachi to the U.S. Mission to UNESCO, 
Emily Spencer, Education Program Officer, Office of 
International Organizations/UNESCO, U.S. Department of State, 
Kenneth Schagrin, Trade Attachi, Office of the U.S. Trade 
Representative, and Anna Mansfield, Deputy Legal Advisor, U.S. 
Mission to the United Nations in Geneva also attended. 
 
¶3. Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO, opened the 
conference, by highlighting three key issues: 1) developing 
education policies to reach the most marginalized and 
vulnerable populations; 2) improving the quality of education 
by ensuring responsive learning methods to meet the diversity 
of all student needs; 3) promoting a holistic approach to 
learning from early childhood education to literacy and skills 
development for youth and adults. 
 
¶4. The Minister of Education from Yemen, Mr. Abdusalam Joufi, 
was elected to serve as the Chairman of the conference. 
Keynote speakers at the opening session included Ms. Liu 
Yandong, State Councilor, People's Republic of China; Mr. 
Xavier Darcos, Minister of National Education, France; Ms. 
Naledi Pandor, Minister of Education and Chair of the 
Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union, 
South Africa; Ms. Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for 
Human Rights, Office of the UN High Commission for Human 
Rights, and Mr. Lenin Voltaire Moreno Garces, Vice President, 
Ecuador. Twenty intergovernmental organizations and twenty- 
five NGO's, foundations and other institutions of civil 
society also attended the conference. 
 
¶5. Three main debates took place in the plenary:  1) inclusive 
educationQs role in creating inclusive societies; 2) research 
findings and policy challenges for inclusive education and; 3) 
implementation of inclusive education policies.  UNESCO also 
organized four detailed thematic workshops that featured 
speakers from government, civil society, and UN organizations 
to address specific issues related to inclusive education.  An 
exhibit hall was also organized to showcase different 
organizations and companies that were involved in different 
approaches to inclusive education. 
 
¶6. During the Conference, several themes emerged.  Those 
themes included:  1) Concerns that funding for education, both 
at the international and national levels, would diminish due 
to the global financial crisis, 2) The need to train and 
prepare teachers to educate diverse student populations and 
focus on retaining qualified teachers, 3) The important role 
of inclusion in achieving all of the Education for All goals. 
 
¶7. While the central theme and topic of the conference was 
promoting inclusive education, there was an effort, led by 
Belgium, to increase state regulation over all education, 
particularly private education.  Several participants 
commented on how private education was not equitable or 
inclusive because only the wealthy could afford to pay for 
private education, leaving the most vulnerable children to be 
educated by the state.   Ambassador Ya'i, UNESCO Ambassador 
from Benin and President of the UNESCO Executive Board, spoke 
during the plenary about the ills of private education and how 
these providers needed to be "reined in".  Several delegations 
 
UNESCOPARI 12152265  002 OF 004 
 
 
repeatedly referred to education as a public good that 
required regulation by the state. 
 
¶8. The United States was elected to the drafting committee 
which produced the final document of conclusions and 
recommendations for Member States and UNESCO.  The Chairman of 
the drafting committee was Ambassador Omolewa, the UNESCO 
Ambassador from Nigeria. A total of 18 Member States served on 
the drafting committee, two from each geographical region and 
one from each region on the Bureau.  Belgium, Canada and the 
United States represented Group One.  Canada, India, Kenya and 
Oman were quite helpful in supporting our positions in the 
drafting group while Brazil, Belgium and Venezuela posed some 
difficulties.  Brazil unsuccessfully pushed for the drafting 
committee to recommend a separate declaration on violence and 
education using Palestine as an example.  Cameroon, who 
suggested language on this issue, supported the U.S. proposal 
to address this issue in the final document and not through a 
declaration. 
 
¶9. The United States, with support from Canada, India, Kenya 
and Venezuela, was successful in ensuring that language 
promoted by Belgium mandating state regulation of private 
education as well as language stating that education is a 
public good was not included in the final communiqui.  The 
language addressing this stated "Pursue education in the 
public interest and strengthen government's capacity to 
orientate, promote and follow up on the development of 
equitable education of high quality in close partnership with 
civil society and the private sector" was included in the 
final recommendations.   However, there continues to be 
discussion around the issue of private education and the need 
for the state to regulate it so that education is equitable 
for all.  (Comment:  The examples Belgium gave to argue strong 
state regulation of private education were in the higher 
education arena.  However, this issue of state regulation of 
private education continues to come up at UNESCO education 
conferences.  This issue could pose a serious problem over the 
next six months when three major education conferences are 
held by UNESCO particularly during the World Conference on 
Higher Education in Paris in July, 2009.  For example, the 
issue of education as a public good was also raised at the 
CONFINTEA Pan European regional preparatory conference Dec. 3- 
5, 2008. Q End Note).  The text of the final conclusions and 
recommendations is included below. 
 
¶10. Comment:  The conference participants recognized that 
education is a right for all but that inclusive education will 
present many challenges.  There was strong concern that aid 
flowing from developed countries for education will decrease 
dramatically due to the financial crisis.  This is why the 
communiqui stresses education must continue to be a top 
priority for both donor and recipient countries.  However, one 
of the most positive outcomes of the conference was for 
policymakers and practitioners to meet and exchange ideas, 
research, and implementation methods that will make it easier 
for them to return to their countries and implement inclusive 
education policies.  End comment. 
 
¶11. The written "Conclusions and recommendations of the 48th 
Session of the international Conference on Education (ICE)": 
 
Begin Text. 
ED/BIE/CONFINTED 48/5 
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE 48TH SESSION 
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION (ICE) 
 
Meeting at the forty-eighth session of the UNESCO 
International Conference on Education (Geneva, 25-28 November 
2008), we, the Ministers of Education, heads of delegation and 
delegates from 153 Member States have, alongside 
representatives of 20 intergovernmental organizations, 25 
NGOs, foundations and other institutions of civil society, 
taken part in constructive and challenging debates on the 
theme of QInclusive Education: The Way of the Future.Q 
 
At the conclusion of our work, participants recalled Article 
26 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights that 
states that everyone has a right to education. We also affirm 
that inclusive quality education is fundamental to achieving 
human, social and economic development. 
 
We agreed that governments as well as all the other social 
actors have an important role in providing a quality education 
for all and, in doing so, should recognize the importance of a 
broadened concept of inclusive education that addresses the 
diverse needs of all learners and that is relevant, equitable 
and effective. 
 
All forecasts suggest that the global financial crisis will 
 
UNESCOPARI 12152265  003 OF 004 
 
 
have a disproportionate impact on the poor Q those who carry 
the least responsibility for these events. In this context, we 
reaffirm the importance of inclusive education for reducing 
poverty, and improving health, incomes and livelihoods. 
Therefore, despite the current global financial crisis, we 
emphasize that funding for education should be a top priority 
and that the financial crisis should not serve as a 
justification for a reduction in the allocation of resources 
to education at both the national and international levels. 
 
Building on the outcomes of the nine preparatory meetings and 
four regional conferences on inclusive education organized by 
UNESCOQs International Bureau of Education, and based on the 
results of plenary sessions and workshop debates which took 
place during this Conference, we call upon Member States to 
adopt an inclusive education approach in the design, 
implementation, monitoring and assessment of educational 
policies as a way to further accelerate the attainment of 
Education for All (EFA) goals as well as to contribute to 
building more inclusive societies. To this end, a broadened 
concept of inclusive education can be viewed as a general 
guiding principle to strengthen education for sustainable 
development, lifelong learning for all and equal access of all 
levels of society to learning opportunities so as to implement 
the principles of inclusive education. 
 
Therefore, we recommend to Member States to: 
 
¶I. Approaches, Scope and Content 
 
¶1. Acknowledge that inclusive education is an ongoing process 
aimed at offering quality education for all while respecting 
diversity and the different needs and abilities, 
characteristics and learning expectations of the students and 
communities, eliminating all forms of discrimination. 
 
¶2. Address social inequity and poverty levels as priorities, 
as these are major obstacles to the implementation of 
inclusive education policies and strategies, and deal with 
these problems within a framework of intersectoral policies. 
 
¶3. Promote school cultures and environments that are child- 
friendly, conducive to effective learning and inclusive of all 
children, healthy and protective, gender-responsive, and 
encourage the active role and the participation of the 
learners themselves, their families and their communities. 
 
II. Public Policies 
 
¶4. Collect and use relevant data on all categories of the 
excluded to better develop education policies and reforms for 
their inclusion, as well as to develop national monitoring and 
evaluation mechanisms. 
 
¶5. Consider as appropriate the ratification of all 
international conventions related to inclusion and, in 
particular, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities adopted in December 2006. 
 
¶6. Pursue education in the public interest and strengthen the 
governmentQs capacity to orientate, promote and follow up on 
the development of equitable education of high quality in 
close partnership with civil society and the private sector. 
 
¶7. Develop policies that provide educational support for 
different categories of learners in order to facilitate their 
development in regular schools. 
 
¶8. View linguistic and cultural diversity in the classroom as 
a valuable resource and promote the use of the mother tongue 
in the early years of instruction. 
 
¶9. Encourage educational stakeholders to design effective 
curricular frameworks from childhood onwards, while adopting a 
flexible approach in order to accommodate local needs and 
situations, as well as to diversify pedagogical practices. 
 
III. Systems, Links and Transitions 
 
¶10. Provide for the participation and consultation of all 
stakeholders in decision-making processes, as the overall 
responsibility of fostering inclusion implies the active 
engagement of all social actors, with the government playing a 
leading and regulatory role in accordance with national 
legislation when applicable. 
 
¶11. Strengthen the links between schools and society to enable 
families and the communities to participate in and contribute 
to the educational process. 
 
 
UNESCOPARI 12152265  004 OF 004 
 
 
¶12. Develop early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs 
that promote inclusion as well as early detection and 
interventions related to whole child development. 
 
¶13. Strengthen the use of ICTs in order to ensure greater 
access to learning opportunities, in particular in rural, 
remote and disadvantaged areas. 
 
¶14. Provide high-quality, non-formal educational opportunities 
that offer the possibilities for formal recognition of 
competencies acquired in non-formal settings. 
 
¶15. Enhance efforts to reduce illiteracy as a mechanism of 
inclusion, bearing in mind the importance of literate parents 
on the education of their children. 
 
IV. Learners and Teachers 
 
¶16. Reinforce the role of teachers by working to improve their 
status and their working conditions, and develop mechanisms 
for recruiting suitable candidates, and retain qualified 
teachers who are sensitive to different learning requirements. 
 
¶17. Train teachers by equipping them with the appropriate 
skills and materials to teach diverse student populations and 
meet the diverse learning needs of different categories of 
learners through methods such as professional development at 
the school level, pre-service training about inclusion, and 
instruction attentive to the development and strengths of the 
individual learner. 
 
¶18. Support the strategic role of tertiary education in the 
pre-service and professional training of teachers on inclusive 
education practices through, inter alia, the provision of 
adequate resources. 
 
¶19. Encourage innovative research in teaching and learning 
processes related to inclusive education. 
¶20. Equip school administrators with the skills to respond 
effectively to the diverse needs of all learners and promote 
inclusive education in their schools. 
 
¶21. Take into consideration the protection of learners, 
teachers and schools in times of conflict. 
 
International Cooperation 
¶22. Recognize UNESCOQs leading role with regard to inclusive 
education through: 
 
- Promoting the exchange and dissemination of best practices; 
 
- Providing, upon request, advice to countries on how they can 
develop and implement policies on inclusive education; 
 
- Encouraging South-South and North-South-South cooperation 
for the promotion of inclusive education; 
 
- Encouraging efforts to increase resources for education both 
at national and international levels. 
 
- Making special efforts to assist the Least Developed 
Countries and countries affected by conflict in the 
implementation of the recommendations. 
 
¶23. Request other international organizations also to support 
Member States in the implementation of those recommendations 
as appropriate. 
 
¶24. Disseminate the Conclusions and Recommendations, 
unanimously adopted at the closing of the forty-eighth session 
of the ICE among the actors and partners of the international 
educational community so as to inspire, guide, support and 
develop renewed and resolutely inclusive educational policies. 
End Text. 
 
12 .The pdf document on The Conclusions and recommendations of 
the 48th Session of the Ice can be found on the UNESCO Website: 
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_uplo ad/Policy_Dialogu 
e/48th_ICE/CONFINTED_48-5_Conclusions_english .pdf 
 
OLIVER