CSIE turns 33 today and has many reasons to celebrate!

Founded on 28 June 1982 as the Centre for Studies on Integration in Education, CSIE took on its current name in the 1990s. The Centre has continued to evolve, has expanded its remit to cover all aspects of equality in education, and has remained at the forefront of developments in inclusive education. Some of our most recent achievements are listed below.

CSIE has worked with eight schools to produce Equality: Making It Happen, a succinct and user-friendly guide for schools to address equality holistically. The guide was recently piloted in schools across the country and attracted overwhelmingly positive feedback, for example:
“Stunning contribution”;
“Excellent document, practical and useful”;
“Very impressive”;
“An absolutely amazing resource”;
“Easy to use and extremely well designed”;
“Very thought-provoking”.

A series of Equality Workshops, linked to Equality: Making It Happen, has recently taken place and will continue to be offered in the autumn. The workshops have also attracted overwhelmingly positive feedback, with comments such as:
“Excellent; experienced delivery, v good knowledge in the field of equality”;
“Excellent speaker. Inclusive. Relevant info to use and be active. Inspiring.”;
“A lot of v practical and v useful information”;
“Eloquent & informative presentation”;
“Great”;
“Excellent content and awareness of legal framework”.

CSIE has recently developed a new strand of work, delivering disability awareness workshops for pupils in schools, in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation that schools should do more to help pupils understand disabled people, the social model of disability and the prejudice disabled people face (“Out in the open”, EHRC, 2012). These workshops have been highly valued by pupils and staff, who made comments such as:
“Eye-opening”;
“It helped me see disability from a new perspective”;
“Now I know not to judge by first appearance”;
“It encourages everyone (teachers included) to challenge their perceptions/beliefs about disability”.

Alongside all these exciting achievements, recognition from others continues to grow. Recent examples include an invitation to chair a national advisory group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, which was recently set up as part of the Expert Subject Advisory Groups and an invitation to speak at two conferences in Prague, at a key juncture of the Czech Republic’s journey towards a more inclusive education system.

Happy Birthday CSIE, we all wish that you keep going from strength to strength and continue to be valued for achievements at the cutting edge of educational change!