We hereby would like to give you information about the 2011 Annual General Meeting, Conference and Pre-conference of ECNAIS in Madrid, Spain, in order to plan your participation and that of your colleagues in due time.

Conference

The Conference takes place from Thursday 12 May 18H00 to Saturday 14 May 2011 until 14H00.

The theme of the Conference is:

“Diversity in education: Struggle for life or Creating the future” 

Our intension is, on the one hand, to illustrate the pressure the independent schools and there national organizations face in the different European Countries today as a result of political initiatives caused by the economic crisis.

On the other hand, we want to open our minds to try to take an unprejudiced view of the future by looking to new challenges and possibilities for the independent schools.

Pre- Conference

The Pre-conference takes place Thursday 12 May from 15H00 -17H00. There are not costs in connection with this Pre-conference, but please indicate on the registration/reservation form whether you will attend or not.

For more information:

Invitation

Programme

Registration

The economical and financial crises we are facing in Europe highlight some important trends that are addressed in the everyday life of schools from a number of aspects: globalization, complexity, creativity and imagination.

Throughout Europe it is a duty of the state to provide compulsory education.

This provision implies different means and resources.

In which ways do European States provide compulsory education?

Can we recognize clear tendencies in politics, in the sphere of education, regarding the balance between public and independent sectors?

The economic crisis forced all governments to reduce public expenditure. Consequently there is a shortage of available resources both for public as well as for independent education.  
 

Education is a complex activity. There are an important number of intangible aspects that are difficult to test and to measure.

We want to identify some tensions as:

• Educational results versus educational process
• Soft skills versus hard skills
• Competences versus knowledge
• Test training versus holistic approaches 

We want to clarify good practices that enable independent schools to gain good results by giving room for

·         Creativity

·         Innovation

·         Eagerness to learn

·         Autonomy