Dixons Director of SEND and Safeguarding attends UNESCO event

Our Director of SEND and Safeguarding, Nicole Dempsey recently attended UNESCO’s Global Inclusive Schools’ Forum, at its headquarters in Paris. The event was a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Salamanca Statement, a UN report from 1994 that calls on the international community to endorse inclusive education through practical and strategic change.

Nicole was invited to attend by the International Forum of Inclusion Practitioners after hearing her speak at a conference about the work we’ve done on multi-disciplinary approaches and whole academy inclusion at Dixons.

The event was a combination of hearing from speakers around the world, and taking part in smaller discussions about what works well with inclusive practice, and how we can move forward.

Nicole said: “This was an amazing opportunity to listen to and discuss inclusion with practitioners from all around the world and share the work we have done on inclusion at Dixons further than ever before.

"We know there are challenges to inclusive practice locally, nationally and also internationally, but there has also been significant progress and improvement since the Salamanca Statement was published in 1994. It is clear that there is still a long way to go.

"It was an honour to be able to be part of this event, and gives me great motivation to continue with the work we are doing in this area across Dixons.”