OVERVIEW
Introduction
Since 1934, the International Bureau of Education has organised the International Conference on Education (ICE), which provides a worldwide forum for dialogue between ministers of education. While ministers of education play the most active role during the ICE, other partners also participate actively in the dialogue: researchers, practitioners, representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. It is the Director-General of UNESCO who invites participants to the ICE. Despite its intergovernmental nature, the Conference is open to all those concerned by the topic to be discussed.
During the 46th ICE, a new methodology was adopted, aiming at promoting the dialogue and the debates. Particularly, workshops are organised as panel discussions.
The themes of the ICE are approved by UNESCO's General Conference on the proposals of the IBE Council. Alongside the regular meetings of the ICE (plenary, major debates, etc.), round-tables, seminars and special exhibitions are organised.
Since 2001, Ministers are invited to send personal messages to the ICE, meant to be published and made available on the ICE website.
During the session, the ceremony for awarding the Comenius Medal to outstanding personalities or institutions in the fields of educational research and innovations takes place.
After each session the Final report adopted by the Conference is distributed in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. This document contains the “Conclusions and Proposals for action” adopted by the Conference, a summary of discussions in the major debates and round-tables, the addresses by the principal speakers, a list of the documentation distributed at the Conference, and a list of participants.
Structure
The ICE itself is structured into three main parts:
Themes of the recent sessions of the ICE
|
1990 |
42nd session | Education for all: renewed policies and strategies for the 1990s |
| 1992 | 43rd session | The contribution of education to cultural development |
| 1994 | 44th session | Appraisal and perspectives of education for international understanding |
| 1996 | 45th session | Strengthening of the role of teachers in a changing world |
| 2001 | 46th session | Education for all for learning to live together: Contents and learning strategies - Problems and solutions |
National reports
For each session of the ICE, the IBE asks Member
States to present a national report on the development of education. These
reports are distributed widely, both during the Conference and afterwards.
They represent a major source of up-to-date information for the
preparation of UNESCO's World education report and the IBE's INNODATA
project. The complete texts of the national reports for the 1994 session
of the ICE have been made available on CD-ROM and on the Internet through
the databank National
reports on education, 1993-1994. The reports for the 1996 session
served as a basis for the preparation of a profile of the education system
of each country. These profiles constitute the databank World
data on education, which is also available on the Internet and on
CD-ROM. Some of them are also available through the Country
Dossiers.
Contact
All correspondence on the International Conference on Education can be addressed to:
Mrs. Cecilia Braslavsky, Director of the IBE