Financing Policies for Inclusive Education

All European Union (EU) member countries are moving towards greater educational inclusion. Promoting equity in educational opportunities is a clear strategic challenge for the EU member States. Countries’ systems of funding for education play a critical role in implementing the right to education for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds – including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities – and in developing inclusive education systems that promote participation and achievement for all learners. Effective inclusive education requires coherent financing mechanisms that promote flexibility in educational opportunities and support arrangements across sectors to provide meaningful educational experiences.

Policy-makers across Europe recognise that funding mechanisms are a critical lever in reducing disparity in education. They require more detailed information on the impact of funding mechanisms on inclusive education that can be used to guide their policy developments. The Financing Policies for Inclusive Education Systems (FPIES) project is a response to this identified policy need. 

Project framework

FPIES has run over a three-year period from 2016 to 2018. It builds upon the one-year Financing of Inclusive Education project that ran throughout 2015. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ Key Action 3 ‘Forward-Looking Cooperation Projects’ framework.

Find more information about the project on the dedicated project area on the European Commission website.

Participants and target group

The FPIES partnership is based on direct co-operation between eight partners: the Ministries of Education in Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia, the Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain, and the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education.

Furthermore, ministerial representatives from the Agency member countries have identified their specific priorities for detailed examination and provided feedback on final project outputs.

Within the FPIES partnership, trans-national co-operation has been a critical factor in ensuring policy relevant outcomes that have the potential for up-scaling and positive impacts on inclusive education at national and European levels.

As Evaluation Partner, Universitat Ramon Llull has conducted an on-going process evaluation to inform decision-making and implementation of specific project tasks.

Aims

The FPIES project has systematically examined different approaches to educational financing and identified effective funding policy frameworks that work towards reducing disparity in education.

More info on the website here:

Related documents:

Portugal Country Report (one of the six countries): FPIES-Portugal-Country-Report.pdf

Policy Guidance Framework: FPIES_Policy-Guidance-Framework.pdf

Self-Review Tool: FPIES-self-review-tool_eng.docx

Synthesis Report: FPIES-Synthesis-report.pdf