Annalisa Cannoni, policy officer, reducing early school leaving and low achievement at the European Commission; Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture; Youth, Education and Erasmus+; Schools and Multilingualism, opened the conference by highlighting recent EU initiatives to foster inclusion in school education. 

Miles Madison, the first keynote speaker, spoke about the policies and innovative practices of inclusive organisations. Madison has 25 years of experiences in helping state and European international schools foster inclusive and collaborative classrooms and organisations. Highlighting the fact that inclusive schools require well-articulated policies, Madison explained how schools should constantly update content, methods, and approaches to maintain inclusivity. According to Madison, inclusion is beliefs and values put into action.

The second keynote speaker, Naomi van Stapele, talked about the role of student-teacher partnerships in inclusive learning organisations. Stapele, a professor in inclusive education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, spoke about how students and teachers can negotiate power sharing in the classroom to implement inclusive policies. 

Day two of the conference was opened with a keynote on the role of self-regulated learning in increasing inclusion. Dr Jeltsen Peeters, co-founder of Self-Regulated Learning Collective, spoke to teachers about how they can support students in fostering self-regulated learning skills. 

The keynote was followed by two workshops. The topics covered project-based and problem-based learning and powering up learning through flipped classrooms. 

The final day of the conference was opened with a keynote speech by the Central Support Service of eTwinning on inclusive and innovative practices of eTwinning schools. Irene Pateraki and Dr. Nikolaos Mouratoglou presented the main practices of inclusive schools such as policies, teachers’ professional development, and curriculum activities. 

Following the keynote, participants were given the opportunity to work together and identify their schools’ needs to enact positive changes. After discussing in groups, participants presented their challenges and ideas to the rest of the participants.