After the online-publishing of the dates for 2013, it did not take two months for the congress to book out completely. 700 participants from all over Germany signed up to make use of the comprehensive offers of the German Association for Special Education (vds). 56 referees were allocated to 42 seminars and six panels. Thanks to the Thuringian vds department’s professional organisation conducted by State Chair Gisela Langer, this major event went off without a hitch.

The choir of Diesterwegschule, SNE school with focus on Vision, provided an atmospheric start to the opening event on Thursday, 25^th April 2013. Following a short greeting by State Chair Gisela Langer and Federal Chair Stephan Prändl, Prof. Dr. Barbara Gasteiger-Klicpera reported on “Inclusion v special school from a parents’ point of view – approach and experience regarding children with different educational needs”.

According to the great feedback both on location and online, vds’ broad range of workshops, seminars and panels, which were scheduled for the coming two days, hit the nail on the head.

The participants appreciated the fact that critical remarks articulated at the congress 2010, were taken on by the National Board and were transformed into tangible improvement. Hence, this year all workshops could be booked in advance and displayed on the respective name badges. This made work easier for the congress staff without having to miss out on certain flexibility.

Compared to the congress in 2010, where 75% of all participants came from the field of Special Education, this year, more than 55% of all visitors accrued from General Schools – a distinct signal of further need for action regarding vocational education and further occupational training.

This is where the analysis of the online-survey will be crucial, it might illustrate other necessary fields of action as well as colleagues’ needs and queries.

vds will take on these issues and will continue to provide a broad range of vocational training offers. This will happen via its own academy for vocational training (bas) on one hand, and by means of offering local practical events on the other. Hence, three National Symposiums are currently being organised for 2014:

By offering these events, vds provides its members, interested colleagues from both Special and General Schools, pedagogic members of staff as well as all nursery school teachers with a platform for further exchange and professional development.

Translation: Ruth Stang