Inclusion is not a choice: education on the move with working agenda UN Convention on Disability

Last week the cabinet presented the long-awaited working agenda UN Convention on Disability 2025-2030. The goal: to remove as many barriers as possible for people with disabilities in the next five years. At the same time, the Cabinet’s response to Lisa Westerveld’s 2022 own-initiative memorandum Ons land is beperkt was published.

Inclusion is not a wish, but a task

The work agenda and the cabinet response show that equal opportunities for people with disabilities are not a non-committal ambition, but a legal obligation. Since the ratification of the UN Convention on Disability in 2016, the Netherlands is obliged to ensure that everyone can fully participate in education, work and society. Education plays a key role in this.

Working agenda UN Convention on Disability 2025-2030

On July 12, 2025, the working agenda was presented to the House of Representatives. This agenda stems from the national strategy and contains concrete measures, including:

• the statutory right of hearing for students with support needs (effective date: Aug. 1, 2025). Schools are required to actively engage students’ opinions in a way that reflects their preferences.
• Improve accessibility of physical and digital environments, such as buildings, digital learning environments and testing formats.
• Strengthening participation and empowerment of people with disabilities in educational policy and decision-making.

ECIO actively contributed to the development sessions of the working agenda and is explicitly mentioned as a partner in the implementation of these measures within mbo, hbo and wo.

Measures for inclusive education

The working agenda of the UN Convention on Disability includes several measures to make education more inclusive for students with support needs. Examples include:

• Improving the physical, digital and social accessibility of education, including buildings, educational materials and forms of testing.
• supporting a smooth transition from secondary education, such as with accessible and findable information and appropriate guidance.
• provision of appropriate facilities and resources.
• strengthening expertise among education professionals around inclusion and diversity.
• and structurally involving students themselves in developing and implementing inclusive policies.

Deze en andere maatregelen vormen samen een kompas voor onderwijsinstellingen om het VN-verdrag praktisch en duurzaam te verankeren in het vervolgonderwijs. De acht inclusie-elementen dragen hieraan bij.

Cabinet response to initiative paper “Our country is limited”

In the same week, the Cabinet issued a comprehensive response to Lisa Westerveld’s 2022 initiative note. ECIO is repeatedly mentioned as an expertise center that supports institutions in the sustainable design of inclusive education. The Cabinet recognizes that cooperation with knowledge institutions such as ECIO is necessary to actually implement the UN Convention on Disability at the educational level.

What does this mean for educational institutions?

For MBO and HBO schools and universities, this is a clear call: take a structural approach to inclusion. No separate projects, but a course in which accessibility, participation and support are part of policy and practice. Start the conversation, involve students and scrutinize your internal approach. That’s how you make a difference.

Working together to create an educational environment for all

The work agenda and cabinet response underscore the importance of inclusive education. Do not invent the wheel on your own, but work together. ECIO supports you with the working groups UN convention mbo and hbo/wo.

In the Netherlands, about a quarter of the population lives with a mental and/or neurological disorder. Yet full participation for this group is still far from self-evident. IMPACT-Hoofdzaken wants to change this structurally.

Building sustainable impact together

Over the next eight years, the SPRONG group will work on five spearheads: profiling, professionalization, network strengthening, research quality and societal impact. The ambition is to grow into an internationally recognized research group with a sustainable collaborative structure, in which inclusive and practice-oriented research is central – with knock-on effects to practice, society, education and science.

ECIO as a connecting link

Although ECIO plays a modest role within this project, our contribution is no less meaningful. We contribute knowledge about inclusive education and guiding young people with a support need in their transition to work. In addition, we make the connection between this project and existing networks within education, healthcare and government. In this way, such as through the Sprong Bridge network, we ensure knowledge sharing and strengthen collaborations across domains.