Unconference agenda!

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek"

There are not many days to go now before we can all meet, share ideas and plan for action at the 'sold out' unconference on inclusion in education!

We are facilitating this event so we want to leave as much time as possible for people to discuss their own views. We know that structure and a bit of planning relieves anxiety for some, so we have put together a time schedule for the day (big thanks to George Julian and Damian Milton for their advice on this).

The schedule is here.

We have also put together a 'break out' session plan so you can see how many sessions are available and think about what you might like to discuss and when. You can view the plan here

How will it work?

We have a big hall and a meeting room. You can see the venue here. Thanks again to Irwin Mitchell for all their help and their kind, no strings attached sponsorship!

We think there should be space for four discussion groups in the main hall and two in the meeting room. We will also see if we can identify a 'quiet space' in an office for those who need a bit less noise.

You can book your slot when you arrive at the unconference. The idea is that you tell everyone what you want to 'host' a discussion on and let us know if you want 20 or 40 min slot. If you're a bit nervous about these things, just let us know by email or at the event and we can try and support you to share your ideas.

You can also volunteer for time slots in advance by email. Of course, you don't have to host a slot. You can just turn up and listen and/or share your thoughts.

The slots will be booked up and people can choose where they want to go and can move between the groups. What happens in those discussion groups is up to you!

There are scheduled speakers at regular intervals giving short talks in the main hall in between sessions. They are:

Nye Doherty, 11 year old pupil with Asperger's Syndrome 

Diane Kay, ERA member and parent with a disabled child

Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole, parent and academic together with fellow academic (and partner in crime) Professor Nick Hodge

Barney Angliss, secondary school SENCO who has Asperger's Syndrome

Damian Milton, academic and autism campaigner

The ERA team will introduce themselves on the day and act as helpers at the sessions. We can help record conclusions and help you give feedback at the end of the day.

In the last session of the day, we hope to share what has gone on in the sessions and draw up a basic plan for future collaborative action!

Refreshments

There will be tea, coffee and biscuits available. We will be asking for donations. As for lunch, please feel free to bring your own and use the kitchen or go and explore the cafes and shops nearby.

Live tweeting

Join in online using #ERAwematter.

Bear with us on the day as we do our very best to include everyone!

Please contact us by email (educationalrightsalliance@live.com) or tweet at us with any concerns, ideas, suggestions for time slots and of course, do tell us what we have missed.

Rome wasn't built in a day but this is a start. A chance to change the tired old conversation. Be kind and patient with us: we are parent volunteers and we want to ensure everyone has a say!

Welcome to the unconference!

We are really excited that we are getting so close to the date for the unconference on inclusion in education. Read here for more details. There are now only 6 tickets left!

On 3rd February, we will get to meet many empassioned activists, parents, teachers and academics. One important core value unites us - a determination to find effective ways of protecting rights and promoting equality in education.

We have no Government funding, no publicity or communications department, and we are not interested in jargon. We want to include as many as we can so we can open the debate up as widely as possible.

Clearly, the problems of the current system will not be solved in a single day. But we hope the unconference could be the start of a grass-roots campaign for real change by people who are actually affected by the current system. We really believe there is a need to find ways of extending effective campaigning beyond the 'usual suspects'!

Below we have posted a bit more information about the day but there will be more to come!

Event

All the details about the event are available here. Again, a big thank you to Irwin Mitchell for funding the hire of the room.

Agenda

Although the unconference format (see here) allows for an informal agenda with attendees setting the schedule and topics of discussion, we are going to add a bit of structure. We think this particular helps those who find lack of structure challenging.

There will be very short presentations throughout the day on inclusion and the following attendees have kindly agreed to speak or prepare a power point:

• Nye Doherty, 11 year old pupil with Asperger's Syndrome 
• Diane Kay, ERA member and parent with a disabled child
• Dr Katherine Runswick-Cole, parent and academic
• Barney Angliss, secondary school SENCO who has Asperger's Syndrome
• Damian Milton, academic and autism campaigner

We will post more details on the specific agenda when we have it and we will provide details for how you can start to contribute towards the agenda by suggesting topics for discussion.

Live tweeting

We aim to live tweet the event! If you want to help with this let us know.

Refreshments

There will be tea, coffee available and biscuits available. We will be asking for donations.

As for lunch, please feel free to bring your own and use the kitchen or go and explore the cafes and shops nearby.

Contact us

Contact us at any time with any concerns, queries, accessibility requirements or other issues. You can email at educationalrightsalliance@live.com