Community of Practice on Inclusive education First draft summary of contributions Definition of Inclusive education In most cases, inclusive education seems to be regarded as an evolutionary process which aims at responding to the different needs of children, and that values diversity while promoting the respect of differences. Its primary goal is to fight marginalization and exclusion. Besides, inclusive education is considered as a non‐static concept, which can and should be adapted to the different contexts and the different cultural values underneath. From all contributions it seems to emerge that there are two main interpretations of the concept of inclusive education: ‐
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A broader point of view, which considers inclusive education as a process to foster participation and increases the attendance of vulnerable and marginalized children at school (including children with disabilities). Inclusive education in this sense is regarded as the primary way to achieve “Education for All”. A second, more disability specific, meaning, where the expression “inclusive education” is used to refer to what is usually called “integration”, that is a process that aims to overcome the division between mainstream and special education and that promotes de‐institutionalization and the end of segregation of children with disabilities. Both interpretations are complementary and share the underlying principle of helping children to achieve their full potential, while recognizing that all children have the fundamental right and ability to learn. While the target group of “inclusive education” in its second meaning is specifically composed of children with disabilities, “inclusive education” in its broader sense has a much wider audience, including girls in primis, but also, street children, children from economically disadvantaged families, children from nomadic/refugee/displaced families, children with HIV/AIDS and children belonging to ethnic minorities. Often the different categories overlap, showing how the two meanings are closely related: for instance, in Italy a high percentage of children of immigrants have some form of a disability. In both cases, the focus is ensuring to every child has an equal opportunity to access education (formal and non‐formal) in a welcoming and accessible environment that benefits every child. Systems for inclusive education Although in principle everybody agrees with inclusive education and although all systems aim to guarantee children with disabilities the right to education, the implementation of these principles differ in practice. Everybody agrees that children with disabilities have the right and the need to receive support in order to develop to their full potential. The main difference between the different contributions seems to be whether this support should in all cases be provided in the mainstream system or, in some most severe cases, in a special setting. In some cases, there is a belief that support cannot always be provided in mainstream classes and that a twin‐track approach must be put in place. A similar idea can be found, for instance, in the Finnish special education system. According to the Finnish Strategy of Special Needs Education (2007), there are three grades of support: “general support”, referring to a range of pedagogical approaches to be implemented by all teachers; “intensified support” which usually calls for the intervention of a special teacher within the general education group or in a separate space; and “Special support” where, depending on the cases, part‐time special education or full time special education are provided. On the other hand, the example of the Italian system, illustrates a context where the legislator has been clearly supporting the implementation of school integration and the inclusion of every student in mainstream classes since the early 1970s. In Italy, children with disabilities are today included within the mainstream system at all levels of education. It may be interesting to underline that both the Finnish and the Italian system set forth similar “tools” to provide a special support to children with disabilities, i.e. an individualized educational plan, special support teachers’ interventions, and psycho‐social support to the child. Debates on Inclusive Education Contributions highlight how most debates are focused on practical issues on the implementation of inclusive education. Many issues of debates involve teachers (i.e. incentives to encourage teachers to adopt an inclusive approach, teachers’ training, the role of the assistant teacher and the teaching methods themselves). Other issues are focused on the allocation of resources and how to use best the resources which are available. Lastly, multiculturalism is also emerging as an important issue to be discussed, as more schools, especially in European countries, find themselves dealing not only with children with different abilities, but also with children with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. International agreements and initiatives supporting the implementation of inclusive education Below are the three main international texts which inspire and support the implementation of inclusive education: 1. The UN Convention for the Rights of People with Disabilities, in particular Article 24, which calls for an inclusive education system at all levels. 2. The Millennium Development Goals, especially number two (Universal Education), number three (Gender Equality), but also number one (End Poverty and Hunger) and four (Child Health). 3. The Education for All initiative, gathering together national governments, civil society groups, and international organizations such as UNESCO and the World Bank to allow “every citizen in every society” to benefit from education. Main groups of concern in inclusive education Contributions addressing this question agreed that a multi‐stakeholder approach is necessary for the implementation of inclusive education. Also, all contributions agree that the child has to be placed at the heart of any inclusive education effort. Listed below are the different stake‐holders mentioned in the contributions as well as the different elements highlighted for each of them: Children ‐
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Children are the center of an inclusive education system, which must be adapted to their specific needs. Need for early identification of children with disabilities and early intervention, to help minimize the impact of their impairments and to make sure they are properly included into the education system. Need to empower children, by providing them the necessary self‐confidence and decision making skills. Children need to become active agents of their own development. Parents, families and care givers ‐
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Parents, care givers and family members in general play a crucial role in the education of children: it is often their decision whether or not to send a child to school and to support/promote the child’s education. Parents/care givers themselves need to be supported: they need to be provided with information about their children’s situation and to be trained in order to be able to support their kids. Community and local organizations ‐
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Community and village leaders, religious leaders, but also local radio and businesses need to be involved and engaged in raising awareness regarding inclusive education. DPOs must be involved not only to guarantee a right based approach but also because they hold a wealth of knowledge on disability, a resource that is often scarce in developing countries. Schools and school staff ‐
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Schools and teachers are the natural target of national education policies and plans. It is crucial that school and school staff adopt a positive inclusive attitude towards diversity Special schools, when existing, should also be integrated in the process of inclusive education and linked to mainstream schools. They have experience and knowledge about teaching to children with disabilities, an asset that should be exploited. Governments (national, regional and local level) ‐
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The Ministries of Education (at the national and regional level) are usually the main actors in the design and renovation of the education system. The Ministry of Education is also a main actor, together with Universities, for the inclusion of disability issues in the training of teachers. To be effective, inclusive education requires both vertical and horizontal cooperation: o Horizontal cooperation: among different ministries (i.e. in some cases children are prevented from attending schools because of the lack of an appropriate health care or of social wellbeing support. Poor infrastructures are another main problem in developing countries); among local governments and local services (i.e. local health offices, local organizations, etc) o Vertical cooperation: among different levels of government (in most countries where a decentralized system is in place, regional governments and municipalities play a key role in the organization of resources and in the implementation of an inclusive education strategy). Rehabilitation services and local health offices ‐
Their role is often essential to enable children to attend school and be included in the education system. NGOs working on education and/or disability at any level ‐
Their experiences can foster capacity building of local stakeholders Main issues encountered when building inclusive education in developing countries The first element that most contributions highlight is the need for inclusive education to be adapted to the local contexts in order to be sustainable and to overcome the one‐size‐fits‐all approach. Some contributions highlight how adaptation requires local constraints to be taken into account and targets to be realistically adjusted to the local situation. As for the issues encountered, contributions have highlighted many existing obstacles which are summarized here below: ‐
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Discriminatory and negative attitudes and persistence of a medical model of disability: negative attitudes towards children with disabilities can persists among different stakeholders and at different levels, such as government officials, parents, teaching staff or children themselves. Lack of accessible transports: children can be prevented from going to school because of transportation issues. In many developing countries, roads are inaccessible for wheeled vehicles and need to be improved. In other cases, roads might be better but public transportation could be absent, inaccessible or too costly. Lack of accessible buildings and of suitable sanitary facilities: school buildings need to be accessible and to be provided with accessible and safe sanitary facilities, in order to prevent children with disabilities, and also girls, to drop out of schools. However, priorities differ from different schools and contexts, therefore local assessments and a consultation with local stakeholders are needed before starting adaptation works. Lack of data on children with disabilities and on children with disabilities attending school Lack of knowledge on inclusive education and insufficient training of teachers on key issues: although it is important to acknowledge what teachers already know and do, all teachers would probably need to undergo additional training in order to acquire inclusive teaching methods. Universities and teaching training institutions should be involved and inclusive approaches should be included in the curriculum of all teachers. Policies reforming teacher education might not be enough as institutions could lack the knowledge to put policies into practice. Also, the little continuity in terms of staffing that characterizes many developing countries can constitute an additional problem, as trained key persons can suddenly be transferred to other duties. Inaccessible and un‐adapted curricula: often, the national curriculum needs to be changed and adapted so that it can meet the needs of all children. Curricula need to be flexible rather than fixed and must provide a framework that can be a basis for meeting all diverse/individual needs. This process of change should be participative and involve stakeholders at different levels. Lack of capacity by institutions: Often local public and private institutions lack the capability to properly monitor, evaluate and support mechanisms for inclusion. Other times, the different Ministries dealing with inclusive education policies lack the ability to efficiently cooperate and communicate among themselves. For this reason, capacity building activities should also be implemented at the government level. Need for rehabilitation services and assistive devices: some children with disabilities will need additional, and often costly, support in order to be able to attend school, which might not be available outside of urban areas. Supporting families to apply for available grants and helping children to get a disability certificate could help families overcome this problem. ‐
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Financial and resource barriers: Financial and resource barriers are present at many levels. Families might lack the resources for paying school tuition fee or assistive devices for their children, while schools might lack resources to implement inclusive education and to acquire accessible learning and teaching materials. To tackle this problem, it is crucial that available resources are allocated in an efficient, transparent and accountable way. As for the teaching and learning materials, parents and volunteers should be encouraged to help in making them themselves at no or very low cost. Besides, authorities should be encouraged to subsidize direct costs to families. Time: building an inclusive education system is a long term work, while most donor‐supported programs are rather limited in time. The time issue should hence be taken into account when setting up goals and developing programmes.