SALTO Inclusion and Diversity Resource Centre (Education and Training) has gathered Inclusion Officers from all over Europe to participate in the first Meeting of Inclusion Officers in Zagreb. The seminar was held from the 22nd to 24th of March with more than 30 Inclusion Officers from 28 National agencies that are implementing Erasmus+ Programme in the field of education and training.
The seminar has started with a warm welcome speech from the Director of the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes (AMEUP) Antonija Gladović. Antonija has emphasized the important work that Inclusion Officers do in promoting inclusion, diversity and equal possibilities, the main principles that the European Commission embedded in its Programmes for education, training and youth.
„The vision of the SALTO center is to build an inclusive society that celebrates diversity. Your participation, as well as the conclusions from this meeting are important for the creation of future activities of the center. By attending this meeting you have shown your desire to raise awareness and point out the challenges we face when we talk about inclusion.“
The aim of the meeting was to provide knowledge, resources and support for Inclusion Officers, related to promotion of inclusion and diversity in the E+ Programme. Through presentations, discussions and promotion of good examples, the meeting helped in the process of better understanding the reality and challenges we face when it comes to inclusion priority implementation.
Many relevant experts have shared their knowledge and experience in the field of inclusion. Through the workshops, participants gained practical knowledge and broader perspective about how the E+ promotes inclusive measures in the field of education and training at the European level.
Results of the SALTO research on the needs and challenges in the field of inclusion were presented by the researcher Monika Auzinger. Monika is an expert from Austria with more than 10 years of working experience in the field of education, training and labour market on the European and national level.
During the meeting, SALTO mentorship service was presented by Josip Luša, the Head of the Centre and the representatives of the National agencies EPOS and DAAD, who gave their feedback on the mentoring process.
Pieter-Jan de Graeve from the SALTO Inclusion and Diversity Centre (Youth) gave his valuable input about their inclusion tools and various publications, with the presentation of the Centre activities they plan to carry out in the following period.
The key part of the meeting was the panel discussion „Erasmus+ inclusion measures from different perspective“ through which participants had the opportunity to learn about the Erasmus+ Programme inclusive measures from different perspectives.
The panel participants were Marta Gutierrez Benet on behalf of the European Commission, Josip Luša, Head of the SALTO Resource Center for Inclusion and Diversity in the field of education and training, Lukaš Borovička, representative of the Czech National Agency, Mladen Tota, Erasmus + project coordinator and Croatian ambassador of inclusion and diversity and student Sanela Valadžija from Čakovec High School.
On the last day of the meeting, the work of the ambassadors for inclusion and diversity was presented in the form of an Inclusion Fair. During the inclusion fair the ambassadors have presented their work and projects that can be considered as the examples of good practice when it comes to inclusion. The ambassadors who participated were Slava Raškaj Education Center from Zagreb, Josip Matoš Elementary School from Vukovar, Ludina Elementary School and Croatian Association of Deaf-Blind Persons “Dodir”.
