Erasmus Mundus SEN International Conference I

This is going to be a running post with updates from Day 1 the Erasmus Mundus SEN International Conference being held at Roehampton University on 24 & 25 June 2010.  I am giving a paper ('Inspired to Collaborate?  The Case of Erasmus Mundus SEN's Students') at 1200 on the first day.  I will be updating on my reflections on the presentations and on the conference in general.  As with most 'live update' blogs the most recent post will be at the top so you may want to start reading from the bottom if you are coming to this for the first time. 

2314 Twitter @cjgrinbergs

Good conference dinner at end of enjoyable day 1 of EMSENIC. Full summary on blog & more tomorrow. http://bit.ly/cNvG7d
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2253 Just home now from day one of the conference. Very interesting and once again a good selection of speakers. I have to admit that the morning session was better than the afternoon for the simple reason that it is more focussed on my particular area.

Dinner did feature Derek Paravicini who was impressive to say the least. I only felt a little sorry for him that the audience did not quiet down and spend a little more time listening. After dinner a number of the students sang a couple of songs and the young guy from Indonesia was particularly impressive.

Had a number of interesting conversations (though this was not easy with the ear, I have to admit. I spent quite a bit of time with the Head of Fontys OSO and (I think) the Dean of Education from Fontys. All very interesting and I liked him a lot and would like to build on that relationship. Had a good conversation with a variety of colleagues from Fontys and Roehampton which made me miss the stimulating conversations we used to have over dinner after the Programme Boards.

Tomorrow also promises to be an interesting day with the third and final Keynote Talk. I am also chairing one of the panels which will be interesting; it’s on leadership and SEN which is not a field I know a lot about. I suspect it will pull more on my journalism skills: introduce them, keep them to time and make sure there are a couple of interesting questions. Very pleased to be asked.
A fascinating day and really exciting as for once I felt more like an academic than an administrator. See you tomorrow when I will start a new rolling blog entry.

1719 So that is the formal part of the day over but as with many of these conferences there is an evening social programme. Not only this a social event but it allows a further exchange of ideas and I know I will be trying to speak to a couple of people, including Ann Cheryl.

This evening there is rumoured to be entertainment by Derek Paravicini a pianist who is blind and suffers from severe learning difficulties. He’s appeared in a variety of programmes including a recent series on BBC 3 on autism. His playing is remarkable as can be seen in this video:



That said, first up is some chat and hopefully a glass of something to wash down and use to reflect on the ideas of the day.

1647-1717 Q&A with Profs Booth and Armstrong
Notes in normal text: comments and reflections in italics and underlined.

Question from floor: that those with the disabilities are not involved in the definitions?

Answer: Armstrong felt that she includes people not just consulting people but more fundamental level of included and participating in research. Booth felt that work still needs to be done and more voices.

Discussion on some of the issues to do with labelling, identity and whether that is positive or not. Armstrong says we need to be vigilant. Booth says that the issue is not to do with resources but do with discrimination as the resources should be distributed evenly (whatever the disability or not). Labelling can be used in a positive way to have all the resources according to one attendee.

One EM SEN students raises the question of self-exclusion and people moving themselves outside the normal in international schools. Which is something I have always thought to do with the Gay Community who say ‘self- ghetto-ise. And I suppose that is the issue the Prof Armstrong raised about individual groups creating their own schools. Booth goes onto say that it is not just an issue of private schools but also the dominance of English (which is more expensive and exclusive as people do not speak the language).

A discussion then followed on using varying terms and both speakers agreed to an extent that in the end it does not matter but the general project is important. That said, Armstrong says that we need to discuss and debate these issues.

1600-1647 Keynote Talk 2 Professor Felicity Armstrong “Inclusive Education and Being With Others: why geographies and histories matter.”
Notes in normal text: comments and reflections in italics and underlined.

Learning from others and ‘ordinary people.’ Importance of consultation. Many of the problems are shared and common rather than always being different and always having different understandings.

‘Inclusive Education’ and ‘diversity’ as terms are not culturally universal. As are many of the terms which are used in Academia as much of my time is spent defining internationalisation. 

“The right to be oneself” is a very powerful idea – taken from Tony Booth.

The government’s policy to allow a variety of social/campaign groups to open their own school is against inclusive education and allowing exclusion (due to selection/targeting particular groups of students).

Histories are important to allow for oral narrative and cultural linking, Foucault differentiated between official and effective histories. Effective history can be told in a variety of ways and many people contribute to. The issue of geographies around the world also has an impact on inclusion (e.g. the Ugandan child which cannot get across the river to school). Meanings of places are created by practice of society (e.g. special schools develop their meaning because of our understanding and values put on it rather than the actual location).

Moving onto internationalisation/globalisation. Globalisation is an historic process which based on historic relations. One of things that is exported is the categories of disability (e.g. the medical definitions of disability sent out from the UK).

Example drawn on Sharrow primary school in Sheffield (Been there during my MA. Very poor but engaging area) and has a lot of refugees and immigrants – those ‘affected by geographies but not in control of them.’ Historical and geographical issues are very much at play here (e.g. history of heavy industry in Sheffield, history of migration etc.). Variety of methods to include all students from a variety of backgrounds e.g. buddy scheme, using assemblies to allow the children to express their culture etc.

What’s inclusive is making choices, being included in decisions. As illustrated by Geographies/Histories, seeing things from different perspectives is important.

The issue of students being empowered by decision making is true on so many levels and I have seen in my research.

1635 Some Further Reflections on My Presentation
A couple of people of now come up to me to say that they enjoyed my paper. Dr. Sulochini Pather said it was very interesting and that the PhD research sounded very exciting. My ex boss looked astonished when I suggested I was worried before that I might have disgraced myself, she said absolutely not, which is a relief as I value her opinion. Others have requested copies of the slides and one alumni she overheard me say it was “fine” said that it was more than fine. Another academic I know said she was impressed and flattered an author she had used in a lecture was quoted. I hadn’t realised that one of the questions asked was by the head of Fontys which was good that he found it sufficiently interesting to discuss. Sulochini also said I delivered it well and was engaging. So all in all, very good and just need to think of the issues raised (role of universities, role of power/control in international relations and some methodological issues) but there may be some more papers to follow.

Having done the paper now, I have found the feedback interesting and useful in reformulating, re-emphasising and re-evaluating my research. I did not need to be that nervous as the people in that audience are (relatively!) friendly. I was reminded of what Len Barton (a Prof in Special & Inclusive Ed) said to me that speaking is a little like preaching and we should neither underestimate what we are saying nor its potential impact. I very much felt that today and hopefully will not forget that as I give more of these.


1506- 1524 Dr. Wilson Kofi Agbeke “Disability and the built environment.”
Talked about the medical perspective of SEN so that the problem is the individual’s physical lack rather than society not being able to cope. By separating the student, the disability becomes more of an issue. There is a customs/beliefs issues that affect inclusive education in his context. There are also political reasons for inclusion. Research questions also look at how built environment affects the inclusion of all people. Many people are just paying lip-service to inclusive education.

1510 (Delivered 1215-1245) Ann Cheryl Armstrong “Control and the Politics of Possibility”
The presentation before my talk was by Prof Ann Cheryl Armstrong who was excellent and very engaging. She talked about the fact that many students are looking at implementing the knowledge that we have here. She argued that from what she had seen there is an issue of control with Europeans trying to control those outside. Relationships with the former colonial powers are varied and many are (overly?) respective of their former rulers. She argues that we need to “re-think the way we teach and engage other in HE on an ongoing basis; see out students as the hope that they are and represent.” Education is not about filling their heads with stuff but to play on their own interests and motivations. Inclusion is “actually about inclusion into world politics, economics, education systems...”

MY REFLECTIONS: This presentation shared many of my opinions and feelings to do with the programme. Her last quotation above reflects my reading of soft-power, a bottom-up way of looking at internationalisation. Her opinion that many countries want to emulate their former colonisers rather than learning from them. Afterwards we discussed the issue that the European Union is almost acting in a colonising form in their actions with Erasmus Mundus. A very interesting presentation with many questions which I want to think through to do with the power relations in EM SEN.

1442 – 1456 Ann Nancy Menday “Managing Tensions between the inclusion and the standards agenda: Lessons from a case study of mainstream school in England.”

Standards agenda has a variety of impacts on inclusive education.  Not always in a negative way. 

MY REFLECTIONS  Can we learn from an individual school. Is this a typical? Are the league tables driving inclusion so that all students do well and therefore included? Or do they cause a focus on individuals to do the best rather than the minorities who will ‘fail whatever’?

1425 Twitter @cjgrinbergs
Presentation done at EMSENIC & pleased with it. Engaging questions & possible joint research to come. Blog continuing: http://bit.ly/cNvG7d
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1406-1440 Dr. Jacqueline van Swet “Research as a Patchwork Quilt”.
Using EM as a model. Cooperation and collaboration as synonyms. Collaboration can be seen as being part of a network, involving a variety of partners including the subjects and the participants as well. Collaboration can be empancipatory: achieve more together and more freedom. To create a patchwork and there needs to be an agreement on how it is made up: the size of the units, how they will fit together and they are brought together for a piece of art. Looking at the back of the quilt it is untidy and not as organised as the final product. Europe is more individualistic but the African nations are more collaborative, collectivist approach. Ties back to our upbringing. Discussion of critical friendship and the importance of working together. Need to celebrate diversity in the research. Varying types and level of participation in research, on a scale of participation (e.g. Arnstein 1969).

Involvement of the community in the research for example deciding on the question, who is undertaking the research and how.

MY QUESTIONS/REFLECTIONS: Research is often about the individual finding their voice or – as Felicity Armstrong or Mike Oliver might say – about giving voice to those who do not have a voice like those with SEN. How do we reconcile the individual voice in the collaborative? How do we make sure that individual’s are not made powerless by collaborative research. Much of the UK and indeed EU funding in research relates to impact and many take this as involving the community. Does this not risk stifling research and limit the research by people who are not trained researchers – governments, community groups etc?

1400 So the presentation went well. Two interesting questions on whether my research could be applied to all Erasmus Mundus Programmes (in some senses, yes, but in a more general sense impossible due to the unique aspect of Special and Inclusive Education) and what about the institutions (not really questioned in survey though they would be divided between the pedagogic/cultural/economic models). Apparently I did not cause offence and it worked which is a relief. Also, Jeanne Keay said that I need to be clearer on my Methodology as populations do not necessarily link up as there may be different country contexts, personalities in the group which affects the collaboration and whether it happens. 

1203 The first key note is over and an interesting speech looking at a variety of the discourses around inclusive education and how quickly the terms become laden with different meanings. Off to give my paper next and trying to be calm and breath.

1052-1202 Keynote Talk 1 by Prof Tony Booth from Canterbury Christchurch University: Inclusion: An Ethical Alliance to Develop Education

Notes in normal text: comments and reflections in italics and underlined.

Humility to do with inclusion as people know more and have different experiences.

The issues with the term ‘others’ is when it is used as a term to differentiate rather than include. Learning to be with others in a way that makes the others seem like us is always an urgent and pressing issue.

Discusses a variety of perspectives of inclusion. The normal mode is inclusion seen through the lens of special educational needs, as defined/bridged by disability. Criticises the idea of SENCOs as it makes individuals different and make them separate.

Another perspective of inclusion that it is the opposite of exclusion with a linking concept of values. Perhaps we do not want two perspectives in our heads which are conflicting (compare with New Labour or the Lib/Con governments with two sets of values each).

Set of headings for inclusive values including equality, participation, community, respect for diversity. Very much a set of values based on dialogue on reminds me of some of my arguments for soft power or bottom up internationalisation. Using these values has broadened out and also includes ideas of rights, trust, compassion, love and beauty. Are these not universal values rather than inclusive ones? Do we see these as professional values as Booth suggests are rather a fundamental, empathetic quality of human beings?

Discrimination against the old or the disabled happens because it is too close to our reality – we may be old and disabled.

He is re-writing an index of inclusion based on this larger scale list of values and wants it to be linked more fully into the activities of others. Interesting to see the concept of sustainability as featuring in inclusive education. Works on some many levels: environmental, policy, level of support etc. Stop being sustainable and some people will be excluded in the long run.

Raises the issue of what are we being included in?

“Change does not become development until it is linked to values” and therefore inclusive development, needs broad, inclusive values. Makes me think of what values are underpinning the international development and collaboration which I am monitoring in EM SEN’s students.

Suggests a ‘global rights-based’ model of inclusion and rather than a traditional list o languages, humanities, arts, sciences, music etc it has a list including food/water, clothing, health, ethics/politics etc. These are the skills they need for life and not a set of disciplines. I wonder what the thoughts behind the original subjects and disciplines were? Would these not have been the same: skills needed for every day life? Is it this a linguistic change rather than actually a change in what is learnt? Suggests that elements of the new list should be put into the current curriculum rather than a completely new curriculum.

The importance of ‘the power of we’ and the importance of difference and otherance. Without acknowledging this we are not moving forward. Each one of us needs to find the headings within us are the spurs to personal action and he suggests that doing some of these things in the interests of getting rid of the barriers can be a thing of incredible beauty.

1042 One of the alumni presents what it is like being part of a cohort of 21 from 18 countries, aged 28-60 from a vast variety of backgrounds. Conflict became an issue for them. One of the students quoted talks again of changing things back home and another talks of working together in a way that would not have been possible. She ends with one of the videos about which I have blogged previously. Still moving and particularly in this forum.

1039 Twitter @cjgrinbergs
Interesting introduction to conference @RoehamptonUni & moving outline of the true impact of education for all people, whatever their needs
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1038 Dr. Jacqueline van Swet talks of the conference and the first one in Prague which I was involved in the organisation of. This was one of the highlights of my time at Roehampton not only because of the ideas or the location but the true sense of collaboration and coming into contact with cultures we might not necessarily have. Evaluation of the second conference in the Netherlands stated that it was “a first step in international networking” which I hope will be true today.

1036 Just been named check as the administrator which was flattering and my paper flagged.  Strange to be remembered and acknowldedged in such a way but flattering. 

1034 Prof. Jan Siska is to present an historical overview of the programme. Quotes EU in saying that EM offers a response to the challenge of globalisation. He highlights the issue of merging the three university systems which reminds me of the hours of programme board. He goes onto talk about the diversity of roles and nationalities of the student body on EM SEN. 10% of the world population (650 million people) are disabled and the EM SEN programme aims, simply, for ‘Education for All’.

Jan talks of from ‘Tears to Smiles’ in jointly delivering the programme due to the diversity of the universities involved. The academic regulations, the logistics and social life are not easy. He goes on to talk about the informal partnerships which have been developed after the programme. I will be interested to learn more about these as I suspect there are far more going on – and some which Jan/Charles Uni are involved which we do not know about; including a photography completion to do with Inclusive Education won by one of the alumni. It is this nature of these informal relationships which form the basis of a new model of internationalisation.

1015 Dr. Jeanne Keay goes through some of the collaborative projects which exist and there is a clear sense of pride. Ends by saying we go away to implement what we hear.

1013 According to the Dean of Education at Roehampton, Dr. Jeanne Keay, says that we all share a passion for Special and Inclusive Education. Feeling tad of a fraud as I am more of an international education researcher than one in SIE.

1010  Introduction talk by Dr. Sulochini Pather she says that the ”Conference aims to talk and learn not from, not to but with eachother” which seems to link nicely into my presentation though I hope that my perspective ‘fits in.’ “Sharing experiences is one of the great things that universities do” according to VC of Roehampton, Prof Paul O’Prey. He has just mentioned one of the partnerships in India which I am drawing on for my presentation and used as an example of the internationalisation of the university. But as my paper states: which model?

Just had a conversation with Ann-Cheryl Armstrong, who is the speaker before me, and she is looking at voice in the case of EM SEN’s students. She says they all talk of changing their home countries which ties in with my theory of increasing awareness of collaboration. I’ll be interested to hear her perspective on what is happening. Quick bit of re-writing during the session?!

1000 Just in seat after an hour's discussion with various old (and new) friends.  Seeing the students again is a bit odd but interesting and I have already had one ask me about an Oyster Card,  I may be chairing a session tomorrow which would be interesting even though I know so little about Special and Inclusive Education.  The opening session has just got under away and we have been told ther are some 90 people from 27 countries. 

0858 On train to Barnes for Roehampton University and the heat is starting to get up. Think it is going to be as jascketless presentation as the combination of the heat and my nerves will mean I will just drip. Keep waiting to see if there is anyone I know or anyone heading in the same direction. I suddenly understand a little more why academics are defensive of their work; it is your baby and you are allowing people to criticise it by showing it to the world. Let’s hope mine is a beauty and doesn’t need too much correcting!  On train to Barnes for Roehampton University and the heat is starting to get up. Think it is going to be as jascketless presentation as the combination of the heat and my nerves will mean I will just drip. Keep waiting to see if there is anyone I know or anyone heading in the same direction. I suddenly understand a little more why academics are defensive of their work; it is your baby and you are allowing people to criticise it by showing it to the world. Let’s hope mine is a beauty and doesn’t need too much correcting!

0743 Twitter @cjgrinbergs Also going to be tweeting throughout @cjgrinbergs:
Leaving for EMSENIC @RoehamptonUni to give 1st paper on uni partnerships. Follow on here & on blog http://bit.ly/cNvG7d
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RT @RoehamptonUni: 3rd EMSENIC Conference @RoehamptonUni: Towards Inclusion, Being with Others: 24th & 25th June http://tinyurl.com/2vgz6bw
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0730  Just getting ready for the conference and trying not to be nervous.  It is a beautiful day today and wearing a suit is not going to be fun but at least I will not have to worry about rain!  I have been to loads of conferences and discussed issues such as this without a problem but this different for two reasons.  Firstly, I am returning to my old place of work and they know me (and my faults!) so it is going to be intensive.  I feel I have to reach a higher standard as they will remember me and there is something to live up to.  Secondly, this is the first time I have presented at such an event and therefore I am letting my academic ideas out.  Now my family have all read the paper and think it is good as well as interesting.  But will the audience?  Have I missed an aspect of internationalisation out that is very obvious?  Am I about to break (once again!) some unwritten rule of the academic world.  Only time will tell!