Simon Steen at the "New Schools" Conference

Simon Steen was invited by the Portuguese Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos* to be a speaker on 'New Schools' conference held in Lisbon and Faro, on the 7 and 8th November 2012. This conference is part of the cycle "Key Issues in Education'12" aiming to promote evidance-based discussion on educational topics, bringing into the debate the perspective of experts with research and field work in the area. His presentation on the conference and his article in the conference book was about the main characteristics of independent schools in The Netherlands with a reference to his experience within the European Council of National Associations of Independent Schools (ECNAIS).
'New Schools' conference had also the contribution of Margaret Raymond from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) on the american the american experience of the Charter schools and Alexandre Homem Cristo (researcher and active blogger) that presented a comparison between the Swedish system and the charter schools and the portuguese (contratos de associação) independent schools funded by the State.

* Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos is a portuguese think tank that aims to study, dissiminate and debate the Portuguese reality, being education one of the key issues.