European policy on disability and the position of disabled people

• A commitment to the social model
•  The legal basis
• Action against discrimination
• Implications for education and training
• The European Action Plan on Disability
• Policy of the Council of Europe

European policy linked to the integration of disabled people in mainstream VET

The 2003 Equal Opportunities Resolution

• Relevant provisions in other European Union legislation

European policy on disability and the position of disabled people

Introduction

European policy explicitly recognises the disadvantages faced by disabled people and, in particular, the discrimination they can face in finding employment at a level commensurate with their abilities.

People with disabilities represent around one sixth of the overall EU working age population and ‘over 50 million in total’ (EC Equal Opportunities Commissioner, Vladimír Špidla), but their employment rate is comparatively low, being almost twice as likely to be economically inactive as non-disabled people (http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=429&langId=en).   Many of the disadvantages experienced by disabled people throughout their lives have their origin in a lack of access to opportunities in mainstream VET.  ‘At the age of 18/19 the highest qualification of 48% was NVQ level 1 or below compared with 28% of non-disabled young people’ (Rowntree Foundation, November 2005) and the poverty rate for disabled people is ‘roughly double that for non-disabled adults’ (New Policy Institute, 2008).  These issues were recognised in the ’Community Strategic Guidelines on Cohesion’ (Council Decision 2006/702/EC) emphasising action against discrimination encouragement of inclusive VET.  The EU has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and passed the European Equality Directive against Discrimination.  The ‘low participation of disabled people in the labour force can be due to both discriminatory and non-discriminatory obstacles. This calls for a combination of instruments to fight discrimination, provide active support and remove accessibility barriers…. the European Council … identified disabled people as one of the key priority groups’ (EU Disability Action Plan 2008/9) and this policy is reflected through national legislation.

A commitment to the social model

The European Union policy on disability is built on an explicit commitment to the social model of disability. As stated by the Head of the European Commission’s Unit on the Integration of People with Disabilities:

The EU perceives disability as the result of the dynamic interaction between a person and their environment, including social constructions, which lead to discrimination and stigmatisation. It is therefore the environment that should be adapted to each individual person, including people with disabilities, by removing these barriers. (Goelen. 2005)

This, in turn, leads to a commitment to an approach based on the rights of the disabled person.

Disability is a right-based issue, discrimination should be eliminated.  Disability policies should follow a socially inclusive and individualised approach: rights have to be supplemented by actions, which provide access to rights, that is to say with equal opportunities. (Goelen 2005)

The legal basis

The legal basis for EU action in this area is provided by Article 13 of the European Treaty, dating from 1999, which permits the European Council to ‘take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual orientation’ (Goelen 2005). It has been expressed in a variety of forms, such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights and, for example in the Commission communication ‘Towards a barrier free Europe for people with disabilities.’ (European Commission 2000a).

Action against discrimination

The European Commission Directive against discrimination of the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (European Commission 2000b) prohibits discrimination by setting a minimum standard which applies across the European Union. National laws determine the exact form of implementation and member states can impose more demanding requirements if they wish but this Directive sets a common base level.

The Directive (paralleling the UK Disability Discrimination Act) requires employers (and training providers) to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ to meet the needs of disabled people.  So the obligation on employers and training providers is not absolute: for example they are not required to pay costs beyond those that the business could stand, or accept severe disruption to overall training programmes.  (The Directive makes the correct assumption that most adjustments require only small-scale changes and that the requirement to make ‘reasonable accommodations’ will therefore considerably improve the labour-market position of disabled people).

In principle, existing member states of the European Union should have had anti-discrimination laws in place by December 2003, but in practice they were given the possibility of requesting an extension to this period until December 2006.  Member states joining in 2004 were required to have such legislation as a requirement for accession and Bulgaria and Romania faced the same requirements on accession in 2007.  Member states that fail to meet their obligations can be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission.  An individual who is unable to gain redress because a national government had failed to introduce legislation would have to seek compensation from that government.  This whole, multi-stage, process can be expected to take some years to work through to the status of practical policy in all member states.  Although all member states have adopted the Directive into national laws there follows a period in which the Commission evaluates the adequacy of the national processes and this can be protracted.  (See EUB 2008 and Straw 2004 for further background.)

Implications for education and training

The Directive covers issues directly related to employment but also includes vocational training and it is important to note that ‘vocational training’, under European case law, is very widely defined including most post-school education, technical training and universities.  Therefore providers of VET, the subject of the QATRAIN2 project, face equivalent obligations to those of employers in terms of avoiding direct and indirect discrimination.

EQARF: the European Quality Assurance reference Framework for VET

EQARF (established on 18 June 2009) makes special reference to the participation in VET by disadvantaged groups.  The participation rate of such groups has a prominent place in two of the ten ‘Indicators’ selected in the Framework for assessing quality in VET.  The purpose of this part of the policy is to ‘target support to increase access to VET for disadvantaged groups’ and to ‘support adapted training provision’ for such groups. Disabled people are specifically mentioned among the examples of types of disadvantage. So the QATRAIN 2 Online Resources can make a direct contribution to the achievement of the aims of EQARF.

EU Member States are encouraged to adopt the provisions of EQARF by a joint Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council, with a commitment to support its implementation by the European Commission.  Each Member State is ‘invited, within 24 months to define a strategy to improve the systems of quality assurance at national level’ and to ‘review the implementation process every four years’. 

EQARF, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, is not compulsory, and different Member States can incorporate it into their own national quality assurance systems for VET. But it should be recognised that EQARF sets out clear principles agreed by all Member States and, if implemented as planned, it will have a substantial impact upon the participation of disabled people in mainstream VET and, in turn, important implications for the further transfer and the widest take-up of the QATRAIN 2 Resources.

The European Action Plan on Disability

The EU has committed to the production, each two years, of an Action Plan on Disability (see example, European Commission 2005).  The priority focus for the second phase of the Action Plan was the ‘active inclusion of people with disabilities building on the citizens' concept of disability'... `It is implicit in the citizens' concept that disabled people have the same individual choices and control in their everyday life as non-disabled people' (European Commission 2005 p6). Again therefore, the priority of EU policy is towards maximising choice for disabled people - which is difficult to achieve within specialist disability-specific institutions.

In 2008-2009 the Plan focuses on accessibility. To quote the Plan’s website:

‘The aim is to stimulate inclusive participation of people with disabilities and to work towards full enjoyment of fundamental rights. This is done through:

• fostering accessibility of the labour market (through flexicurity, supported employment and working with Public Employment Services);

• boosting accessibility of goods, services and infrastructures;

• consolidating the Commission's analytical capacity to support accessibility (through studies, etc.);

• facilitating the implementation of the UN Convention;

• complementing the Community legislative framework of protection against discrimination.’

The Plan has been subject to a thorough review, mid-way through its planned duration,, with broadly positive outcomes (see Centre for Strategy Evaluation Services 2009)  The review particularly welcomed  organisational innovations that have created bodies to advocate, co-ordinate and stimulate policy innovation and vigour in its implementation.  Among these  are the ‘Disability High Level Group’ and the ‘Unit for the Integration of People with Disabilities’ which together are described as having ‘driven forward disability mainstreaming at EU level,’ a function shared with the ‘Disability Inter-Service Group’ The review recognises a considerable degree of mainstreaming of disability issues across the range of policy-making at European level. But there is, as noted above,, a continuing issue concerning the speed of the implementation of such policy in national law making and enforcement.

Policy of the Council of Europe

In April 2006, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation to its 46 member states for a 10 year Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of disabled people (Council of Europe 2006).  One of the 15 action lines in the plan is education, extending to this wider grouping many of the priorities established within the European Union.

European policy linked to the integration of disabled people in mainstream VET

The 2003 Equal Opportunities Resolution

On the 5th of May 2003, the Council of the European Union adopted a resolution concerning equality of opportunity for disabled people in VET.  The policy was informed by a United Nations commitment that states should ‘recognise the principle of equal primary, secondary and tertiary educational opportunities for children, youth and adults with disabilities, in integrated settings’ (our emphasis).  While the Resolution recognised that progress had been made to provide access for disabled people, its purpose was to improve educational and training opportunities for disabled people ‘in a life-long learning perspective’. The United Nations action remains a continuing stimulus to the development of EU policy on issues concerned with disability.

The specific reference to ‘integrated settings’ in the United Nations Standard Rules and the emphasis on life-long learning clearly imply that the Resolution should lead to greater provision for disabled adults in mainstream VET.

Relevant provisions in other European Union legislation

Strong support for this position can be derived from the overall European Union law on disability, which asserts the right of the disabled person to the same educational and training opportunities as their non-disabled peers.  In this respect the Commission Directive against discrimination (European Commission 2000b) is again a key document.

First, the Directive prohibits direct discrimination. (Cattani, 2003 is helpful here) In other words, barriers on access to educational and training programmes for disabled people are banned unless there are legally justifiable reasons.  So mainstream courses should normally be open to disabled people on the same basis as for non-disabled people.  (Click here for information about how the new Lifelong Learning programme addresses these issues.)  Fair and open admission to mainstream VET is extremely important to disabled people: if education and training is only available within specialist, disability-specific, institutions, their choice of programmes will be limited to those that happen to be available.  There is a minimal likelihood of innovative programmes, such as those for adults seeking to change career in mid-life, being available within small, specialist institutions; at the university level, where disability-specific institutions are unknown, the only choices are in mainstream providers.

But the Directive goes further in its provisions against ‘indirect discrimination’ which occurs ‘when an apparently neutral provision or practice disadvantages people with a disability more than it disadvantages people without a disability, and the provision or practice cannot be justified’ (Cattani 2003).  This provision opens to legal scrutiny the internal workings of mainstream training programmes: methods of teaching, learning and assessment within mainstream courses can all too easily set up barriers for disabled people.  Such barriers may be completely unintentional, but they are nevertheless real.

The Directive requires the providers of VET to make ‘reasonable accommodations’ to overcome indirect discrimination.  In other words, training providers (and effectively this will include teachers and trainers, given that they make the day-to-day decisions that are often key to the existence or avoidance of barriers) must seek to change their practices to give, wherever possible, disabled students the same opportunities, within the same programmes, as their non-disabled peers

If the implementation of EU policy in national legislation and practice on ‘reasonable accommodations’ in services and employment has been problematic overall, the extent to which this position will obtain in VET is not yet clear. But the evidence collected in research for the present project offers some justification for optimism. In all countries there are signs that key stakeholders perceive the current period as one of change in the accessibility of VET for disabled people.  They expect higher participation rates and understand that appropriate provision needs to be made to accommodate this change. In this context the direction of European policy has created a favourable environment for the mainstreaming of projects such as this.  The Mid-Term Review of the EU Action Plan evaluates progress in access to lifelong learning for disabled people. It notes the commitment to combating exclusion, with particular reference to disability, in those actions now gathered together in the Lifelong Learning Programme and real progress in other areas such as e-learning.  But it also recognises the inadequacy of the statistical base for comparisons across Europe. One highly relevant overall conclusion is that: ‘Insufficient reference was made in the Action Plan (and in the accompanying Scoreboard) to the important role played by key EU financed programmes in the fields of education, training and lifelong learning. (p39). If the Action Plan itself fails fully to recognise the achievements made within lifelong learning programmes, this must be a real incentive for individual projects, such as this, to maximise their valorisation activity at European level.

References and Links

1. Bologna (1999) The Bologna declaration on the European higher education area http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/bologna_declaration.pdf R (2000) CattaniThe Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (http://www.viewsahead.org/download/speeches/03_cattani.doc)
2. Mid-term Evaluation of the European Action Plan 2003-2010 on Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities Centre for Strategy Evaluation Services June 2009
3. Common Position (2006) Common position no 15/2006 adopted by the Council on 24 July 2006 with a view to adopting a Decision … establishing an action programme in the field of lifelong learning Official journal of the European Union C251E/37 17.10.2006s
4. Council of Europe (2006) Recommendation (2006)  http://www.coe.int (search under ‘Committee of Ministers’/’Adopted texts’)
5. Council of the European Union (2003) Council Resolution on equal opportunities for pupils and students with disabilities in education and training  (2003/C 134/04  Official Journal of the European Communities)
6. DDA (1995)  The Disability Discrimination Act (extended to cover education in 2001 by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act)
7. EQF (2005)  EQF Consultation Document Common Principles for quality assurance  
8. (Brussels, 8.7.2005, SEC(2005) 957, pages 26/27 http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/index_en.html
9. eu2006fi  Quality Management recommendations for vocational education and training  Finnish National Board of Education 2006Employment Equality Directive – guide 31 January 2008 http://www.eubusiness.com/Employment/employment-equality/
10. European Commission (2000a) Towards a barrier free Europe for people with disabilities COM (2000)  284 final of 12.05.2000
11. European Commission (2000b) Directive against discrimination of the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (Directive 2000/78/EC)
12. European commission (2004) Proposal for a Recommendation of the Council and of the European parliament on further European cooperation in quality assurance and higher education COM(2004) 642 final 12.10.2004 Brussels
13. European Commission (2005) Situation of disabled people in the enlarged European Union: the European Action Plan 2006-7 COM (2005) 604 final  28.11.2005
14.  European commission (2007b) Men and women with disabilities in the EU: statistical analysis of the lFS ad hoc module and the EU-SILC DG Employment, Social Affairs And Equal Opportunities (CONTRACT NO. VC/2005/0320 – EUR 266.745,65)
15. European Commission (2007b)Situation of disabled people in the European Union: the European Action Plan 2008-2009 COM (2007)738 final 
16. Faurschou K (2005)  The systems and mechanisms of quality assurance in vocational training: an analysis of the results of projects undertaken on this theme under the Leonardo da Vinci programme 1995-1999  Cirius Denmark 29.01.2005    
17. General Guide (2005) Leonardo da Vinci Community Vocational Training Action Programme. Second Phase 2000-2006. General Guide for Project Promoters European Commission.
18. Goelen W (2005) An overview of the Disability Agenda in Europe  Disability in Europe: Seminar Proceedings.  National Disability Authority (Ireland)  www.nda.ie
19. Konrad, J (2006)The European Qualifications Framework: taking stock of the consultation CEDEFOP Virtual Communities  - the European Qualifications Framework 20.03.2006
20. Straw E (2004)  Keynote Speech (at the National Conference on the Council of the Europe Union Directive establishing a General Framework for Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation. Malta. 10.12.2004)  National Commission Persons with Disability (Note: Ms Straw was speaking on behalf of the Disability Unit of the European Commission; the officials of this unit have been active in promoting understanding of EU policy at similar events)
21. Technical Working Group (2003) A European Common Quality Assurance Framework  http://trainingvillage.gr/etv October 2003
22. Working Committee on Quality Indicators (2001) European Report on the Quality of School Education  Office for Official Publications of the European Communities Luxembourg

23. European Parliament and Council (2009) Recommendation on the Establishment of a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training. (2009/C 155/01) 18 June.

Links

Council of Europe for the Council of Europe’s Action Plan

www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/soc-sp/integration/02_council_of_europe_disability_action_plan/Council_of_Europe_Disability_Action_Plan.asp

Disability Intergroup

www.edf-feph.org/apdg/index-en.htm  

a cross party group of the Members of the European Parliament from each of the 25 EU Member States supporting the rights of disabled people.

EDF - The European Disability Forum

www.edf-feph.org 

EDF is a European umbrella organisation representing more than 50 million disabled people in Europe. Its mission is to ensure disabled citizens' full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in the European Union (Quoted from EDF website)

EFVET - The European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

www.efvet.org

A professional association which has been created by and for providers of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in all European countries

ENQA - The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education

www.enqa.eu

ESIB - The National Unions of Students in Europe

www.esib.org 

As a collective body representing Europe’s students, ESIB has explicit policies concerning disability and access that are favourable to the take-up of Qatrain; ESIB is also represented as an important stakeholder in various levels of VET policy-making.

Europa – education and training

http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/introduction_en.html  

A general outline of policies and for links to individual EU programmes

European Training Foundation

www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf?Open

United Nations (UNO)

www.un.org/disabilities/convention