”SAY WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL”

Bucharest, January 30, 2015, The European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (ECRCD) is organizing on Friday, January 30^th 2015, in Ploiesti, the Conference: “DARE! – All children have the right to quality education” within the framework of the project “Dignity, Access, Respect, Education for Children with Disabilities – D.A.R.E.” funded by the Open Society Foundation – Human Rights Initiative.

On this occasion ECRCD will also launch a pilot online platform - “SAY WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL”, destined for parents of children with disabilities. The platform has as basis a specialty research aimed to evaluate the quality of education received by children with disabilities in special schools.

Based on the British model of evaluating the quality of education, parents are invited to answer a number of simple questions, which can offer an overview of the quality of the services in the schools in which their children study.

The questions addressed to parents are based on a series of indicators regarding:

- Cooperation and communication between the school and the parent

-  Teaching methods

- Integrated therapies

- Predictability of the school program

-  Safety

-  The child’s well-being

- The extent of his evolution

The sum of these indicators offers an overview about the quality of education in the evaluated schools. The results of the anonymous questionnaires will be published on the website – www.cedcd.ro/old

Thus, any parent of a child with disability in Romania will be able to appreciate the quality of the schools and will make an informed decision, having as compass the evaluations made by other parents. Also, any parent can personally contribute with his/her evaluation of the school attended by their child.

Also, during the conference the guests will be presented with relevant information on inclusive education, practical ways of monitoring and evaluating the quality of education reported to the specific needs of the disabled children, methods of dealing with disabilities from diversity and inclusion perspectives, and also methods of preventing discrimination.

The key-note speakers will be: Dora Margarit – on behalf of the National Council for Combating Discrimination and Lili Covaci, psychiatrist and consultant for Picture Communication System Romania.

“This event is the first of a series of five regional conferences which will be organized by ECRCD on a national level in order to promote inclusive quality education for children with disabilities. At the same time, the online platform is an important instrument for the transparency of the education system, a way of gathering valuable feedback from the parents. Parents will be able to trace a series of clear indicators for the evaluation of the quality of education in the schools attended by their children. It’s time to understand that quality education does not mean double-glazed windows and cartoon characters drawn on the walls. Quality in education means real opportunities in order to have a successful learning experience and identifying the best ways of reaching the specific learning path of every child”, said Madalina TURZA, ECRCD president.

More than 200 people announced their presence at the conference, teachers from Prahova district, parents of children with disabilities and specialists.

The event in Ploiesti will be held with the support of the Educational Association House.