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DRAFT REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD EUROPEAN NETWORK GROUP ON WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER2007 INBRUSSELS

Organisation / Name
PRESENT
Janusz Korczak International Society / Theo Cappon
International Association for Steiner / WaldorfEarly Childhood Education / Geseke Lundren
The Kempler Institute / Claes Solberg Pedersen
European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, Brussels / Christopher Clouder
Ecology of the Child / Secretariat / Michiel Matthes
EXCUSED:
ARGE-Erziehungsberatung, Austria / Martina Leibovici-Mühlberger
The Linkedness Project / Gie Deboutte
Kaat Pattyn
The Experiential Education Project / Ludo Heylen
Verein mit Kindern Wachsen / Arbor Verlag, Germany / Lienhard Valentin
Sabine Heggemann
Legambiente, Italy / Vittorio Cogliati Dezza
Lorenzo Vicario
Universal Education Foundation, The Netherlands / Marijke Sluijter
Center for Youth and Development, The Hague
University for Professional Education, The Hague
RooseveltAcademy, Middelburg (NL) / René Diekstra
University of Cordoba, Spain / Rosario Ortega Ruiz
Rosario Del Rey
International Association for Steiner / WaldorfEarly Childhood Education (Germany) / Oliver Langscheid

1. OPENING

Michiel Matthes welcomes the participants and opens the meeting. The objectives of the meeting are:

  • To assess what has been achieved in 2006 / 2007;
  • To make plans for 2008;
  • To have a dialogue about the costs of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group and the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood in the European Parliament and the way to share the burden among ourselves.

Michiel furthermore welcomes Martina Leibovici-Mühlberger, who could not be present, but who is enthusiastic to join the group, because she had to travel back to Vienna.

2. REPORT OF THE MEETING OF 16 MAY 2007

The report is approved without comments.

3. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT WORKING GROUP ON THE QUALITY OF CHILDHOOD:

The following sessions have been held until today:

  • 5 December 2006: The Toxic Childhood Syndrome with Christopher Clouder
  • 9 January 2007: Really Improving the Education in the European Union Requires Systemic Changes with professors Luc Stevens and Ferre Laevers
  • 6 March 2007: The Quality of Child-Adult Relationships in Families and Schools with Jesper Juul.
  • 15 May with René Diekstra: The Child: his/ her Networks and Neighbourhood
  • 20 September 2007 with John Bennett: How can we Improve in the European Union the Early Childhood Educational Systems
  • 6 November 2007 with the Austrian psychologist Martina Leibovici-Mühlberger and the early childhood expert Geseke Lundgren from Sweden about ‘How to let children and adolescents acquire key competences for the world of the 21st century?’

What has been achieved?

  • A Working Group was set up in the European Parliament and 6 sessions have been held with key speakers from Europe;
  • The approach to speak about the Quality of Childhood is a new approach;
  • The Working Group has been looking at various broad components within the concept of the subject ‘Quality of Childhood’ and has developed new approaches in this respect;
  • The reports have been disseminated within the European Parliament and to the organisations linked to the members of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group. The European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education is sending it directly and indirectly to some 10,000 persons.
  • MEP Lissy Gröner is in principle willing to co-host the sessions;
  • We agreed to continue in 2008 and six dates have been fixed.

What could be the next steps:

  • To bundle the reports of the various sessions and to disseminate it to key people in the various countries, for instance to the members of several Committees in the European Parliament and also to people in the national parliaments and any other key people; in principle it is possible that the political party ALDE pays for this publication since two persons are willing to sign for it, namely MEP Karin Resetarits and MEP Jules Maaten;
  • Could it be presented with a press release to a number of journalists?
  • To involve more MEP’s in the Working Group;
  • To develop links to other stakeholders?
  • One of the elements of the strategy of the European Commission is to set up a Forum. The session took place on 4 June 2007. Our Working Group should also have a place at this table.
  • In general: to disseminate the reports as widely as possible.

The sessions of the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood of the European Parliament will take place on the following dates:

8 January Sir Richard Bowlby on ‘Attachment’

4 March professor Gert Biesta on ‘Beyond Learning’

14 May report of Banco Santander on Social-emotional Learning

1 July

16 September

12 NovemberBoris Cyrulnik (France)

The meetings of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group will be held on:

9 January

13 May

11 November

Discussion about the meetings of the QoC (= Working Group on the Quality of Childhood) and the reports written about it:

Theo Cappon states that much paper is produced, but do people read it? He questions the usefulness of the website? Are people going to the website and do they consult the reports? Does it really change something in the life of children?

Geseke Lundgren reacts by stating that for some people it is useful to have the full report, because they take an interest in the details. She furthermore remarks that the simple fact that people like us sit together and try to discuss in depth the various subjects is valuable as such. I notice it that the kindergarten teachers in our International Association for Steiner / WaldorfEarly Childhood Education get bolder and more proud about their work and feel more empowered by the reports of our sessions and because of that address officialsof the ministry and others with more authority. Because of that they feel more secure to speak out and to advocate the standpoints that we have been preparing.

Theo Cappon then reacts that he used the report of the session with John Bennett in a discussion with employees of a daycare centre and the table with the Pre-School Approach and the Nordic Approach proved to be very clear. Theo then asks himself: can we make or improve the bridge of our work to the people who actually work with children?

Michiel Matthesremarks that John Bennett stated that the daycare sector in the Netherlands was privatized during the past few years and at the same time pedagogical standards were abandoned and/or significantly reduced. For Dutch policy makers this is a most important piece of information on which they should act. Michiel states that he will follow up on this.

Alliance for Childhood European Network Group Newsletter:

Then Claes Solberg Pedersen reacts: he agrees that the reports are excellent. However recently he was asked by Susanne Broeng, the director of the Kempler Institute, to summarize the work of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group in half a page, to be incorporated into the newsletter of the Kempler Institute, which is sent out every week. Claes stated: this was really a challenge.

For this reason he proposes to make as a Group a newsletter, which can be distributed among the grass-roots organizations and clients of the member organisations. The newsletter is also placed on the website. The proposal is accepted.

Theo Cappon: as group of national Korczak Foundations we have also an electronic, international newsletter. It is sent to hundreds of people. Part of the newsletter of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group could be fed into this.

Janusz Korczak International Society:

The Dutch Korczak Foundation is part of the Janusz Korczak International Society. Recently this group had a meeting in Mannheim, Germany and in this meeting it was decided to ask the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group if the Janusz Korczak International Society could become member. Theo Cappon would be the representative for the whole group, but it would be appreciated if the international chairman, Mrs Batia Giladfrom Tel Aviv, could be present in case she would be in Europe at the time.

The group discusses the request and the answer to the three questions is ‘yes’.Contact details of Mrs Gilad are as follows:

Mrs Batia Gilad

Ghetto Fighters House (= Israelian Korczak Foundation)

102 Arlozorovstreet

62097 Tel Aviv

Israël

Lobby work

Geseke Lundgren remarks that a newsletter and a website are very good, but it takes time and money to produce it. Her primary goal for participating in this work is:

  • To push the subject of the quality of childhood as a policy theme among the European institutions and to influence the decision makers.

In Sweden Geseke has to struggle with ministers and all sorts of policy makers about the quality of childhood, who are constantly trying to break down the Nordic Approach for kindergartens and to push for the Pre-School Approach. In short: Geseke wants to reach the decision makers in the European institutions. That is for Geseke the most important reason for participating in the group. Theo Cappon fully agrees to this.

Christopher Clouder: it is good to produce papers, sooner or later it may be picked up by journalists etc and it starts to influence the discussions in the media.

Claes Solberg Pedersen:

The Kempler Institute is an important and independent policy institute in Denmark. The reports are important to us, but we also like to link it to our brand name and we also ask ourselves the question: ‘what is there in it for us?’. It would be nice if the report of the sessions in 2007 could incorporate the logos of the various members of the group, including our logo.

Themes for the sessions in 2008:

Next the group discusses the themes that could be addressed.

Theo Cappon remarks that the approach so far has been rather broad and that it may be desirable to narrow it down. Theo Cappon asks the group: ‘what is the niche of our group?’The group agrees with this remark, but is inclined to continue to follow a broad approach in 2008 and to re-discuss this matter at the end of 2008. Perhaps at that time we have a more clear picture of the themes that are most important.

The following themes are mentioned:

  • Violence among youth in cities
  • Play and living situations
  • What is the impact of age specific groups in school versus various ages in one group; The optimal size of classes for different age groups
  • Evaluation and Testing; what are creative alternatives such as the portfolio approach?
  • Professor Biesta of the University of Exeter in the UK, who is an expert on the subject of teaching democracy to young people
  • New media (Martine Delfos and Arnold Sigmund suggested as a speaker)
  • Social emotional aspects of learning (Kathryn Ecclestone ); to be effective it has to be an approach for the whole school, coming from within and not imposed by the authorities;
  • How does play affect the development of the child?
  • Brain development of children (Daniel J. Siegel)
  • Transformative Learning, Educational Vision for the 21st century, a book by Edmund O’Sullivan

The group requests Michiel Matthes to take the lead in this respect as was the case in 2007.

4. LOBBY WORK BY THE ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD EUROPEAN NETWORK GROUP

Please find below some examples of lobbying in the context of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group:

  • As follow-up to the session on 15 May MEP Karin Resetarits wrote a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Minister for Youth and Children Mrs Ursula von der Leyen replied;
  • As follow-up to the session on 20 September a Proposal for the Comité des Femmes was made, whereby Michiel Matthes cooperated with professor Peter Moss from London. The text of the proposal was as follows:

The Comité des Femmes takes note that a European Commission Childcare Network, which was accountable to the Equal Opportunities Unit in the DG on Employment and Social Affairs within the European Commission was dissolved in 1996 after 10 years of successful and fruitful work.

The Comité des Femmes recommends to the European Commission to re-establish the Childcare Network for the following purposes:

  • To monitor and support the implementation of the European Council Recommendation of 31 March 1992 on child care (92/241/EEC), an important statement by member state governments on principles and objectives.
  • To contribute to the implementation of the Communication of the Commission entitled 'Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child', Brussels, 4.7.2006 COM (2006) 367 final, in particular with respect to childcare and related services.
  • To assist in coordinating these areas of European policy with the European Council's recommendation in its meeting on 15 and 16 March 2002 in Barcelona of levels for the provision of childcare by 2010 (SN 100/1/02 REV 1, page 12).
  • Michiel Matthes was reminded by Peter Moss about an invitation of the DG for Education, Training, Culture and Youth to provide comments on a paper entitled ‘Schools for the 21st Century’ (annex, see agenda item 10).
  • MEP Roberta Angelilli, chair person of the Hearing on 17 April, sent the report of the Hearing to those present and requested comments on the paper. Michiel Matthes proposed a text which reads as follows:

11a Calls on the Commission to establish an institute regarding the rights of the child and the quality of childhood in the European Union. The task of this institute should be:

  • to collect statistical data on children, children’s rights and the quality of childhood;
  • to command an overview of the new developments in all research concerning children

in order to provide policy makers and other stakeholders in the Member States and on the European level a sound knowledge base and to help them, in the first place, to guide their work and, in the second place, to create an environment for the stakeholders where they can learn from each other. This will be beneficial, because at present the various national research communities have little contact with each other. A European research institute will enhance the exchange of knowledge and bring the work of all on a higher level.

5. INVENTORY OF OTHER TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE BENEFITS FROM THE ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD EUROPEAN NETWORK GROUP AND THE EP WORKING GROUP ON THE QUALITY OF CHILDHOOD

Michiel Matthes reports that he was informed about the following:

  • René Diekstra invited on 19 October for a conference in The Hague Hans van Crombrugge
  • Christopher Clouder invited René Diekstra to give a contribution to the study of Banco Santander regarding social-emotional learning, to be published in March 2008.

The Secretariat is interested in these types of cross border cooperation and likes to be kept informed.

6. ORAL REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE ALLIANCE FOR CHILDHOOD CONFERENCE IN BRAZIL IN JULY LAST.

Brazil

Christopher Clouder has attended from 9-13 July 2007 inSão Paulo, Brazilthe First International Core Group Conference of the Alliance for Childhood.

The conference lasted a week, during which a group of some 50 to 60 people attended. It was a real bonding among the people, who came from many countries in Latin America.

Within the conference week there was a two-day session, organised by an organisation called Sesc Pompéia – Community Center of sports, arts and culture( website: This part was attended by some 700 persons. The Brazilian Alliance for Childhood group is a partner of SESC Pompéia, which is very beneficial for theAlliance for Childhood, because of the size and the success of this group.

A dvd was made of the work of the Alliance for Childhood in several Brazilian favelas, and in the next meeting this dvd will be shown.

Hong Kong

Christopher Clouder was also present in a conference of the Alliance for Childhood in Hong Kong. The theme is also attracting more attention in that part of the world, but the approach there goes currently more into the direction of the educational performance of the children.

Other matters:

  • International Play Association: Christopher Clouder was asked to become a member of this group; website: ; introduction from their Home Page:
    The International Play Association (IPA) is a vibrant organization active in many countries around the world. Its main purpose is to protect and promote the child’s right to play. IPA is unique in maintaining a focus on children’s play and providing a forum which spans a wide range of disciplines and sectors. The organization’s main vehicles for promoting children’s play are its international and regional conferences, its website, and its journal PlayRights. On a national basis, branches are continually involved in activities such as policy development, training, demonstration programs, and a variety of public education initiatives as well as organizing national conferences, newsletters, and cooperative events with other countries.
  • Christopher was also asked to be a key-note speaker at the forthcoming Annual Conference on Early Childhood Development.

7. THE GREAT TURNING, FROM EMPIRE TO EARTH COMMUNITY BY DAVID KORTEN. WHAT LESSONS CAN WE DRAW FROM THIS BOOK FOR OUR WORK?

Michiel Matthes tells the group, that he discovered the book by David Korten entitled ‘The Great Turning, From Empire to Earth Community’. This book provides a good analysis of the situation in which we find ourselves and, at the same time, shows a marching route how to create another community of people, whereby mankind lives more in harmony with each other and the planet.