As you will have noticed BATOD is marking Deaf Awareness Week with a different post each day. We are very keen to consider BATOD and deaf education in the world contact and today’s post is about FEAPDA.
FEAPDA stands for Fédération Européenne des Associations de Professeurs de Déficients Auditifs and translates as The European Federation of Associations of Teachers of the Deaf.
BATOD has been a member of FEAPDA for many years and indeed the current president and vice president are from the UK (Alison Weaver and Paul Simpson).
The purpose of FEAPDA is:
- continuing professional development and training for all professionals working with deaf children, young people and their families
- supporting and disseminating research into deafness and effective models of support
If you are a member of BATOD you are automatically a member of FEAPDA as BATOD is a member as an association. When founded in 1969 the federation consisted only of associations of Teachers of the Deaf. However, recent changes to the constitution to reflect developments over the years have opened up and membership of FEAPDA is now open to “organisations, institutions, federations and associations across Europe involved in the academic education and broader development of deaf and hard of hearing children and young people (including schools and centres of excellence and supporting networks for deaf education or working in related fields including universities and higher education institutions).”
FEAPDA adopts the term widely used in Europe of ‘deaf and hard of hearing’.
FEADPA is a Europe-wide organisation not linked to the European Union although some projects it is involved with are EU funded.
The council comprises representatives of all the countries where organisations are members of FEAPDA. Each country is entitled to two representatives. Council members are chosen by the member organisations in that country. A third delegate shall be allowed when the membership in the country exceeds 500 FEAPDA members.
Council members are normally elected for a four year period.
What are the benefits of being a member?
There are many advantages to being a FEAPDA member. These include:
- Participation in and contributions to specialist training events and the FEAPDA congress; membership brings reduced fees. The congress takes place every 2-3 years in a member country.
- Involvement in research projects
- Access through networking with colleagues across Europe with the possibility of developing school exchanges for teachers
- A regular newsletter
Where can I find further information?
Further information about FEAPDA and about the next congress, which will take place in Tallinn in September/October 2022, can be found on the FEAPDA website: www.feapda.eu. Click on Contact to get more information.
