Inclusive Education UNICEF
Inclusive Education UNICEF
Inclusive Education UNICEF
Summary
The democratic and human-rights based intent of Inclusive Education is defined in the
Salamanca Statement, and represented in the recognition of the need to work towards
schools for all institutions which include everybody, celebrate differences, support
learning, and respond to individual needsi. A commitment to this approach is central to
UNICEFs work in the Central Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States
Region, which seeks to build Inclusive Education systems that promote schools based upon
a child-centered pedagogy capable of successfully educating all children,
including those who have serious disadvantages and disabilities. The
merit of such schools is not only that they are capable of providing quality
education to all children; their establishment is a crucial step in helping to
change discriminatory attitudes, in creating welcoming communities and
in developing an inclusive society. A change in social perspective is
imperativeii.
However, pursuit of this goal, given, the realities of the CEECIS Region, requires very specific
approaches, positions, and solutions. Countries in this region place great value on education
and have a long history of universal access and high attendance rates. However, the Region
is also steeped in long-standing traditions based on a philosophy of defectology and leading
to the placement of children with disabilities, and often, also, Roma children, in residential
institutions where they remain indefinitely, marginalized, and isolated from society.
Across the CEECIS Region, the total number of children who are now officially recognized as
disabled, tripled from about 500,000 in 1990, to 1.5 million in 2002. However, when
compared to international benchmarks, that place the global percentage of children with
disabilities at 2.5 per centiii, this figure suggests that over a million children with disabilities
are not included in the data, and are rendered invisible. In the CEECIS Region, the number
of children in institutional care is the highest in the worldiv.
UNICEF estimates that across CEECIS, a child with a disability is almost 17 times as likely to
be institutionalised as one who is not disabled.v More than 626,000 children are
institutionalized, and the rate of children in institutional care increased between 2000 and
2007, with approximately 60% of all institutionalized children being registered as children
with disabilitiesvi. It can further be estimated that approximately 1,1 million children with
disabilities in the CEECIS Region remain unaccounted for, and likely out-of-school.
Given these challenges, a broad range of strategies at all levels are needed to realise the
right of children with disabilities to inclusive education: Government-wide measures to
establish the necessary infrastructure, and specific targeted measures to promote the right
to access and full participation in quality education, and the respect for rights within
learning environments.
This background note provides a framework for addressing the very specific issues that
affect the inclusion of children with disabilities in the CEECIS region. Children with
disabilities form a significant proportion of the out-of-school population. They are presented
here as a priority target group, one that is subject to severe discrimination, segregation,
and exclusion from all social aspects of life. The purpose of this paper is to provide clear
strategy options for programming in the area of inclusive education, while keeping in mind
the need for system-wide approaches designed to address the needs of ALL children.
children. In 2008, UNESCO argued that a broad concept of inclusive education can be
viewed as a general guiding principle to strengthen education for sustainable development,
lifelong learning for all and equal access of all levels of society to learning opportunities so
as to implement the principles of inclusive education.x Furthermore, children with
disabilities are not a homogeneous group. They may identify more strongly with other
aspects of their overall identity, such as their gender, economic status, or ethnicity, or a
combination. Belonging to one or more of these groupings significantly increases their
vulnerability, and investment in addressing the right to education needs to take account of
such multi-vulnerabilitiesxi. It is helpful to acknowledge disability as one of many issues of
difference and discrimination, rather than an isolated form of exclusion, and inclusion as a
strategy for addressing all forms of exclusion and discrimination.
Disability, of course, can be understood very differently across different communities and
cultures. In order to pursue a coherent approach to addressing inclusive education for
children with disabilities, a definition of disability is required. Article 1 of the CRPD
describes persons with disabilities as those who have long-term physical, mental,
intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder
their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. This approach
is consistent with the WHOs International Classification of Functioning, Disability and
Health, known more commonly as ICF, which conceptualizes a persons level of functioning
as a dynamic interaction between her or his health conditions, environmental factors, and
personal factors. It defines functioning and disability as multidimensional concepts relating
to:
The body functions and structures of people
The activities people do and the life areas in which they participate; and
The factors in their environment that affect these experiences.
Both approaches allow for a broad approach to disability which acknowledges the
importance of the context and environment in enabling or disabling individuals from
participating effectively within society.
Understanding inclusion
There have, traditionally, been three broad approaches to the education of children with
disabilities: segregation in which children are classified according to their impairment and
allocated a school designed to respond to that particular impairment; integration, where
children with disabilities are placed in the mainstream system, often in special classes, as
long as they can accommodate its demands and fit in with its environment; and inclusion
where there is recognition of a need to transform the cultures, policies and practices in
school to accommodate the differing needs of individual students, and an obligation to
remove the barriers that impede that possibility.
It has been argued that inclusive education is not only about addressing issues of input,
such as access, and those related to processes such as teacher training, but that it involves a
shift in underlying values and beliefs held across the systemxii.It requires that all children,
including children with disabilities, not only have access to schooling within their own
community, but that they are provided with appropriate learning opportunities to achieve
their full potential. Its approach is underpinned by an understanding that all children should
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have equivalent and systematic learning opportunities in a wide range of school and
additional educational settings, despite the differences that might exist.
Inclusive education provides a fundamentally different pedagogical approach to one rooted
in deviance or difference. In other words, it stressesxiii:
a. the open learning potential of each student rather than a hierarchy of cognitive
skills;
b. reform of the curriculum and a cross cutting pedagogy rather than a need to
focus on student deficiencies;
c. active participation of students in the learning process rather than an emphasis
on specialized discipline knowledge as key to teachers expertise;
d. a common curriculum for all, based upon differentiated and/or individualized
instruction, rather than an alternative curriculum being developed for low
achievers;
e. teachers who include rather than exclude.
Radical changes are required in education systems, and in the values and principles of the
people involved in delivering education, if the worlds most vulnerable and disadvantaged
children are to realise their right to gain access to their local schoolxiv. Central to an inclusive
approach are a commitment toxv:
Putting inclusive values into action
Valuing every life equally
Helping everyone feel a sense of belonging
Promoting childrens participation in learning and teaching
Reducing exclusion, discrimination and barriers to learning and participation
Developing cultures, policies and practices to promote diversity and respect for
everyone equally
Learning from inclusive practice to share the lessons widely
Viewing differences between children and between adults as a resource for
learning
Acknowledging the right of children to locally based high quality education
Improving schools for staff and parents as well as children
Emphasising the value of building positive school communities as well
achievements
Fostering positive relationships between schools and their values and
surrounding communities
Recognising the inclusion in education is one aspect of inclusion in society
Children with disabilities have access to a wider curriculum than that which is
available in special schools.
It leads to higher achievement for children than in segregated settings. Indeed, there
are educational benefits for all children inherent in providing inclusive education,
through major changes in the way schooling is planned, implemented and evaluated.
Education is a means to ensure that people can enjoy and defend their rights in
society and contribute to the process of democratisation and personalisation both in
society and in education.
Furthermore, there are powerful economic arguments in its favour, particularly with regards
to poverty reduction and reducing the costs of education. One of the messages emerging
from the General Discussion Day on the rights of children with disabilities, held by the
Committee on the Rights of the Child in October 1997, was the importance of recognising
children with disabilities as contributors to society, not burdens. The World Bank has
estimated that people with disabilities may account for as many as one in five of the worlds
poorest people (1999), while a 2005 World Bank study also suggested that disability is
associated with long-term poverty in the sense that children with disabilities are less likely to
acquire the human capital that will allow them to earn higher incomes.xvii Educating
children with disabilities is a good investment. A World Bank paper notes that it reduces
welfare costs and current and future dependence. It also frees other household members
from caring responsibilities, allowing them to increase employment or other productive
activities. It is in the economic interests of governments to invest in the education of
children with disabilities in order that they can become effective members of the labour
force as they grow up.
whole in order to challenge inequity, and meet the obligations to promote and protect the
rights of children with disabilities undertaken by all countries in the region.
Prevalence of disability
The total number of children in the 27 countries across the region who are now officially
recognized as disabled, tripled from about 500,000 at the onset of transition (between 1990
and 2001), to 1.5 million. This surge is largely due to greater recognition of disability rather
than to actual increases in impairments. The total child population is estimated at just over
100 million.xxi Given that the international benchmark for the prevalence of disability among
children is assumed to be a rate of 2.5%, this figure of 1.5 million suggests that over a
million children with disabilities are not included in the data. UNESCO estimates that 1.8
million of all children of primary-school age are missing from school in the whole of the
South Eastern Europe (SEE), Central Europe (CE), and Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) regionxxii.
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The information that does exist, both in relation to prevalence and access to education,
derives largely from the following sources:
hospital registries of children that are identified at birth as having a disability;
data on the number of children living in institutions or attending special schools or
classes;
lists of children registered by parents or doctors as having disabilities, which leaves
out all children whose parents do not or are ashamed to register them.
However, the data provided by these sources is seriously flawed:
Significant numbers of children in institutions are often not counted in disability
registers or education data as they are considered uneducablexxiii.
The data does not generally include those children with disabilities that develop
after birth.
Shame and stigma leads to many parents failing to register their children as having
disabilities.
Responsibility for children with disabilities is commonly split between government
ministries (education, social, health, labour) leading to a lack of co-ordination in data
collection.
Many children with disabilities, even when living at home, do not attend school and
are therefore not visible in the systemxxiv.
While data does exist for children in special schools, and to some extent for children
in special classes in regular schools, the number of children with disabilities with
milder disabilities in regular classes is often not collected.
The problems are compounded as a result of different definitions of disability and different
terminology to describe impairments. These conflicting definitions arise not only regionally,
but also within countries between different ministries and organizations. Official definitions
of disability across the region generally remain medically-based and anchored in functional
limitations; that is, that an individual is incapable in some basic way. The perpetuation of an
approach which persists in understanding disability as a medical condition, inherent to the
child, that can be repaired, renders it almost impossible for governments to envision what
children with disability can accomplish in mainstream school settings.
There is a pressing need for more data on the education of children with disabilities in the
region. Overall, the available data across the region on the learning achievement or school
success of children with disabilities either in inclusive classrooms or in special schools is
extremely limited, with very few systems set up for collection. Where it does exist, it
indicates that children with disabilities generally receive a very restricted education. In
many countries, national level education data fails to include information on numbers and
placements of children with disabilities. Overall, the problem of acquiring accurate
information on educational outcomes for children with disabilities is compounded by the
fact that children from many socially vulnerable families, including Roma children, are
placed in special schools.
De-institutionalisation
Institutionalisation remains the overwhelming policy approach across the region, with
defectology continuing as the academic discipline governing the care and treatment of
children with disabilities. Consistent with this context, the number of children in
institutional care in the region is the highest in the worldxxvi. UNICEF estimates that across
CEECIS, a child with a disability is almost 17 times as likely to be institutionalised as one who
is not disabled.xxvii More than 626,000 children reside in these institutions. The rate of
children in institutional care in CEECIS has on average been almost stagnant since 2000. But
in 12 countries, the rate increased between 2000 and 2007xxviii. This means that despite
ongoing reforms, institutional care is becoming more frequent in more than half the
countries.
Following the collapse of Communism and greater exposure to, and support from the West,
conditions in institutions for children in the region did begin to improve. However, some
countries, faced with severe economic difficulties, have experienced challenges in finding
the necessary resources to maintain improved standards in institutions, with children often
suffering from poor diet, lack of heat, insanitary conditions and inadequate staffing levels.
The UN Study on Violence against Children highlighted profound concerns about conditions
in institutions including violence, neglect, dangerous environments, including children being
left for hours on urine soaked mattresses, or physically or medically restrained,
understaffing and lack of monitoring or independent scrutinyxxix.
Research undertaken in 2001 found that the death rate among institutionalized disabled
children in several countries in Eastern Europe was almost twice that for children in the
general population and for disabled children who are kept at homexxx. Despite this evidence,
the high levels of poverty in many of the countries leads to some parents arguing that
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institutions meet their childs needs better than they can providing rehabilitative services
as well as diet. And, there are positive examples of some institutions building opportunities
for children to connect more closely with their local communities.
De-institutionalisation depends on the development of effective alternative communitybased services. Such services have improved since the early 1990s, but still have a long way
to go. A survey by UNICEF published in 2005 found that there were substantial differences
both among and within countries, with a significant divide between CEECIS sub-regions,
north and south, richer and poorer countries, urban and rural populationsxxxi.
Education
The pattern of early years education varies considerably across the region. While Early
Childhood Education for children under 2 was not universally available in the region prior to
transition, it has now fallen to levels of between 10-15%.xxxiii However, there is no accurate
information on the extent to which children with disabilities have access to such services.
There does, however, appear to be a growing understanding throughout the countries of
the region that all children have a right to education under international and national law;
that all children are capable of being educated; and that it is a governments responsibility
to provide educational settings that respect these rights and capabilitiesxxxiv. The national
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education laws in the majority of countries in the region do now state that all children have
the right to receive an education in mainstream schools along with individualized instruction
appropriate to their abilitiesxxxv. Most of the countries also have laws or regulations
specifically designed to ensure equal opportunity for children with disabilities to receive full
benefits of education at all levels.
There is also a trend toward inclusive education policy in the region. A number of countries
include a component on inclusive education in their national education strategic plans and
national education reports. However, budgetary support, action frameworks, indicators, and
implementation commitments are not included, inclusive education is generally not
harmonized with general education planning, and policies towards and understanding of
inclusion vary considerably. The concepts of integration and inclusion are not always clearly
distinguished from each other and are often used interchangeably. Furthermore, there is a
gulf between policy and practice on the groundxxxvi.
Current provision ranges from special schools, institutions, and correctional education
centres to special classrooms, supported home schooling, day care centres, inclusive
classrooms, and individualized curricula in special classes in general education schools.
Some inclusive classrooms do exist in all countries, either by government policy or as a
consequence of NGOs or donor organizations piloting inclusive education programmes,
although the total numbers of students involved is very difficult to ascertain xxxvii. In general,
it is children with mild or moderate degrees of disability who are deemed to be candidates
for inclusive classrooms. And, although there have been some moves towards inclusion in
mainstream schools, the reality is that there has been a bigger demand for and creation of
special schools for children with disabilities in many countries and in practice, segregation of
children with disabilities in special schools is still the predominant practice, with the
majority of children with disabilities systematically excluded from mainstream education.
Institutes of Defectology continue to administer the majority of training for teachers who
will teach children with disabilities. Some efforts have been made towards renaming these
institutes. However, these shifts are not generally accompanied by appropriate
paradigmatic changes towards an inclusive philosophyxxxviii. Overall, the traditional Soviet
approach to education that valued the use of uniform methods and standardized curricula is
still very much in evidence. Pre-service teacher training in the region is a long way from
succeeding in teaching inclusive pedagogy. Countries report an acute shortage of high
quality in-service training programs. Nine countries of 22 in the region report having
teachers trained to teach inclusivelyxxxix. And only four countries have pre-service teacher
training programmes that incorporate inclusive education as a specific skill component.
Often sponsored by NGOs, these programmes are rarely widespread and organizations
rarely have the resources to scale them up.
The quality of training is further hampered by the inadequacy of practical experience during
pre-service training across the region. In some countries, teachers have as little as one day
to practice teaching before they are hired as teachers, with very few ever having the chance
to observe an inclusive classroom in action.
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best interests of the child, the optimum development of the child and the right of the child to
be heard and taken seriously in accordance with age and maturityxli. These principles need to
underpin all actions to promote the right of children with disabilities to education. In addition,
it is necessary to take account of all other relevant rights. For example, many children with
disabilities will continue to experience barriers in realising their right to education, unless measures are
taken to provide early assessment and access to early years provision, to tackle prejudice and
discrimination, to provide protection from bullying and violence, and to develop appropriate support
and services for families.
Despite these commitments, the rights of children with disabilities continue to be widely
neglected and violated. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
was drafted, not to introduce new rights the rights of persons with disabilities are exactly the
same as those of every other person but to re-affirm those rights and introduce additional
obligations on governments to ensure their realisation. The CRPD includes detailed provisions
on the right to education, stressing more explicitly than in the CRC, the obligation of
governments to ensure an inclusive system of education at all levels. It also introduces a range
of obligations to remove the barriers that serve to impede the realisation of rights for people,
including children, with disabilities, and to ensure more effective protection and a stronger
voice for children with disabilities to claim their rights.
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To fulfil the right to education - for example, by ensuring that quality education is
available for all children, promoting inclusive education, and introducing positive
measures to enable children to benet from it, for example, making physical
adaptations to buildings, proving accessible transport, adapting the curricula to the
needs of all children, and providing necessary equipment and resources.
To respect the right to education for example, by avoiding any action that would
serve to prevent children accessing education, for example, legislation that categorizes
certain groups of children with disabilities as uneducable, school entry testing systems
that serve to categorise children with disabilities as not ready for school.
To protect the right to education - for example, by taking the necessary measures to
remove the barriers to education posed by individuals or communities, for example,
resistance by teachers to accepting children with disabilities, or violence, abuse or
bullying in the school environment.
Government-wide measures
1.1
Political will and good governance
Measures to promote accountability, transparency, access to justice and the rule of
law
Recognition of and commitment to comprehensive and sustained measures to tackle
the social exclusion of and discrimination against children with disabilities in the
education system
Scaling up of programmes, policies and strategies that have been successful evidence
based advocacy should be used to increase the scale of impact
1.2
Government structures
Responsibility for education of children with disabilities to rest within education
ministries to bring an end to the segregation of provision
Co-ordination across and between ministries to ensure a coherent and comprehensive
approach to fulfilling the right to inclusive education for children with disabilities - for
example, ministries of finance, health, social work, social protection, employment and
vocational training, transport as well as education
Devolved government structures devolving responsibilities to the local level to
strengthen local accountability, but to be accompanied by capacity building, guidance,
dedicated budgets and transparent reporting
1.3 Ending institutionalisation
Strengthening support for families to build their capacities to care for children with
disabilities at home
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1.4
Financing
Commitment to initial investment of expenditure to achieve system reform, while
recognising that in the long term, inclusive education is a cost effective approach to
achieving education for all
Provision of an adequate flexible funding and fair allocation formula to promote
incentives for inclusive education
Removal of requirements that children are labelled and categorised in order to receive
appropriate services - rather they should be geared towards providing flexible,
effective and efficient responses to learners needs
Introduction of effective tracking of expenditure to strengthen accountability,
transparency and ensure more effective use of funds
1.5
Guarantee the right to non-discrimination
Ratification of the CRPD and Optional Protocol
Introduction of legislation prohibiting discrimination on grounds of disability
Introduction of accessible and affordable mechanisms for challenging discrimination
Provision of information to children with disabilities and their families on their right to
non-discrimination, its implication and how to challenge violations
1.6
Strengthening information systems
Introduction of a common definition of disability based on the ICF and rooted in the
social model of disability
Development of comprehensive education information management systems leading to
improved collection of data on prevalence, developments in progressing inclusive
education, as well as disaggregated data on educational access and outcomes
Investment in capacity building in data collection
1.7
Learning from what works
Systematic monitoring and evaluation of innovative programmes to promote inclusive
education
Analysis and dissemination of the lessons learned
Government investment in mainstreaming the emerging lessons into models of inclusive
education across the sector
Further investment in the NGO sector to explore new approaches to achieving improved
educational outcomes for children with disabilities
1.8
Partnerships and participation
Commitment to investment in partnerships with families, children, NGOs and DPOs and
all other all key stakeholders in all stages of the development of inclusive education
Investment in removing the barriers that impede parental involvement in the education
of children with disabilities including lack of awareness of educational alternatives, fear
of hostility within communities, poverty and lack of information on their childrens
rights
Respect for the contribution families are able to make as active partners throughout the
life cycle of their childrens education
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1.9
Capacity building and awareness-raising
Investment in capacity building at all levels to promote awareness of the rights of
children with disabilities to inclusive education and to the development of the necessary
systems and practices for its attainment including national and local government
officials, professionals working with children with disabilities within education, social
work, and health.
2
Education policies and strategies to promote the right to access
education
Every child has the right to education on the basis of equality of opportunity. Children with
disabilities are particularly at risk of being marginalised or discriminated against in the
realisation of this right. Governments need not only to establish the entitlement of every
child to education, but must also take action to identify and remove the barriers and
bottlenecks that impede access. A broad range of both universal and targeted measures are
required to ensure that children with disabilities are equally able to realise the right to
education alongside other children. This will include working to support parents in order
that they can support their childrens access to education, early identification and
assessment, early years education, ensuring access to and availability of inclusive education
for all children, with all necessary supports and adaptations, and creating inclusive learning
environments in which children learn together.
2.1
Removing the barriers to inclusive education
Removing the physical, communication, mobility and sensory barriers to education
including investment in development of public spaces that are both safe and inclusive,
providing that all education environments have physically accessible features and all the
necessary conditions for learning, and introducing accessible transport
Addressing attitudinal barriers by public awareness campaigns, use of appropriate
language to challenge negative stereotypes of disability and encouraging the media play
a positive role in challenging the barriers to inclusion
Addressing socio-economic barriers through provision of appropriate, accessible and
non-stigmatizing social protection measures
2.2
Working with and supporting parents
Provision of parental education programmes to help parents support their childs
learning, for example through parent-to-parent counselling, mother-child clubs, or
civil society outreach through house to house visits
Building partnerships between them and local schools, encouraging them to join
school boards and developing programmes which explicitly address their concerns.
2.3
Early childhood education and care services
Investment in early assessment and intervention to both prevent institutionalisation
and promote the possibility for effective and appropriate support
Provision of comprehensive ECCE providing care, stimulation, parental support and
access to relevant services
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2.4
Ensuring access to and availability of inclusive education
Introduction of legislation and policies establishing the right to inclusive education
which includes a clear definition of inclusion and the specific objectives it is seeking to
achieve, as well as guaranteeing children with and without disabilities the same right to
access mainstream learning opportunities, with the necessary support services
Provision of a consistent framework for the identification, assessment, and support
required to enable children with disabilities to flourish in mainstream learning
environments
Introduction of an obligation on local authorities to plan and provide for all learners
with disabilities within mainstream settings and classes, including in the most
appropriate languages and modes and means of communication.
2.5
Creating inclusive learning environments
Building inclusive cultures within schools through:
Translation of national policies of inclusion into school based policies setting out
both the commitment to non-discrimination and inclusion, including for example,
the development of a child friendly school framework, school self-assessments as
well as school development plans.
Engagement of teacher associations, school boards, parent-teacher associations,
and other functioning school support groups with programmes to increased their
understanding and knowledge of disability
Ensuring that such policies are reflected in all aspects of the life of the school:
classroom teaching and relationships, school and board meetings, teacher
supervision, school trips, playground behaviour, budgetary allocations, and any
interface with the local community or wider public.
Ending segregation within schools by:
Ensuring a commitment to inclusive classroom teaching.
Developing municipal policies for inclusive classroom environments, involving
schools, teachers, municipal officials, school administrators, parents and children,
as well as other stakeholders
Provision of support within mainstream classes to children with disabilities.
Monitoring schools on a regular basis to ensure that segregation is not taking place
either formally or informally. Monitoring should involve parents of children with
disabilities in order that systems are transparent and accountable to them and their
children.
Education has to be of the highest possible quality to help every child reach her or his
potential, and that quality should be consistent across regions, different populations, and
urban and rural settings. Quality in education can only be achieved through the
development of child-friendly inclusive learning environments, dedicated to a holistic
approach to childrens development. All learning environments and educational content,
teaching and learning processes should reflect human rights principles. This means
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addressing childrens multiple rights, using strategies that build links between the school
and the family and community. Although there is no single definition of quality
education, it is broadly understood to incorporate the opportunity for both effective
cognitive learning, together with opportunities for creative and emotional development. In
order to achieve these goals, education for children with disabilities must encompass
positive learning opportunities providing appropriate support for all children, investment in
and support for teachers to enable them to teach within inclusive environments, rights
based learning and assessment, and child friendly, safe and healthy environments.
3.1
Securing the appropriate individualised support for children with disabilities
Introduction of IEPs as a key strategy for supporting children with disabilities in
inclusive settings
Involving students, parents and all relevant staff in the design and setting of targets
Provision, where needed, of holistic packages of care involving support, not only in
childrens education, but also in the provision of health or social care services, technical
assistance, and psychological support
Establishing partnerships between service providers, NGOs, research and teaching
institutes to support regular providers of education, health care and social care to
provide the best possible all round care to enable children to benefit to the fullest
possible extent from their education.
3.2
Developing inclusive curricula, teaching and learning methods
Promotion of active, participatory and child centred learning and teaching methods to
allow children to work at an appropriate pace, in groups or individually, and partnering
children with and without disabilities as peer educators to enable mutual learning
Adopting a curriculum to enable all children to acquire the core academic curriculum
and basic cognitive skills, together with essential life skills, including respect for human
rights.
Creative use of assistive technology to make it easier for students with disabilities to
learn, including physical resources, computers and use of ICTs
3.3 Introduction of rights based and inclusive student assessment
Adoption of a holistic view of student assessment that considers academic,
behavioural, social and emotional aspects of learning
Ensuring that children with disabilities are able to fulfil their educational potential
through a system of individualized supports, which emphasize treatment according to
need, and aim toward equitable success that is measured broadly.
Measuring student progress in the general education curriculum, with clear standards
and benchmarks and use multiple forms of student assessments to inform and facilitate
teaching and learning
Introduction of school self-assessment systems that measure whether commitments to
inclusive education are being fulfilled and to help identify changes and improvements
necessary for moving forward
3.4
Investment in teacher training
Reviewing the content of teacher training curricula to ensure that it embodies child
centred methodology, teaching in inclusive and multi-cultural environments, using
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individual educational plans to adapt and support children with specific educational
needs, human rights, and in particular, recognition of non-discrimination as a human
right and positive strategies for promoting tolerance and tackling discriminatory
behaviour
Providing increased levels of opportunity for practical work experience as part of
teacher training
On-going, high quality professional development opportunities for teachers that
address inclusive methodologies
3.5
Support within schools for teachers
Ensuring adequate staffing levels to provide teachers with the time and resources
needed to achieve effective inclusive education
Provision of strong support from school leadership, with ownership by the governing
body, and all school policies consistent with the goal of inclusive education
Involvement of family and community as resources in classrooms to support individual
learning programmes and increased individual attention that children with disabilities
often need.
3.6
Establishing resources to provide specialist support
Building multi-disciplinary support through a range of different specialist services,
organisations and resource centres, and professionals working collaboratively to provide
a comprehensive and seamless service to support inclusive education.
Development of collaborative practice and provision through networks of learning
communities
Utilising parental expertise as a significant source of support both to other families and
to schools.
Improving teachers conditions of service to ensure that they are adequately supported,
paid and respected.
3.7 A child centred, safe and healthy environment
Establishing close links between health and education services to provide a connection
between school, community and the family, revolving around the childs well-being.
Promoting effective community partnerships to ensure positive interaction between
the school and the community
Developing health and safety standards for the building of schools to reflect the needs
of children in inclusive settings
Providing safe and stimulating opportunities for play and recreation for all children
Ensuring that, in the case of natural and man-made disasters, all children are easily able
to evacuate any buildings and routines are in place on how to respond in such
situations.
Human rights are inalienable. In other words, they are inherent to each human being, and
must be respected within learning environments, as in all other contexts. Education needs
to be delivered in an environment which is respectful of the cultural, protection and
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participation rights of children. This will necessitate a commitment to respect for identity by
recognising, for example, the right of deaf and blind children to respect for their culture and
language through provision of learning in sign language, respect for the right to be listened
to and taken seriously in all aspects of education, and to the right, both within school and
when travelling to/from school, to be protected from all forms of violence, bullying or
harassment, school discipline which is respectful of their dignity.
4.1
4.2
4.3
Right to respect for personal and physical integrity
Explicit prohibition of corporal and other humiliating punishments by law, and
reinforced by other necessary measures, reinforced by clear enforcement mechanisms,
and strong messages that all forms of violence against children is unacceptable
Establishment of clear codes of conduct reflecting child rights principles for all staff,
students and their families and communities, which include accessible complaints or
reporting mechanisms which can be used safely and confidentially
Training and support for all school staff in the use of effective non-violent and
respectful classroom management strategies, as well as specific skills to prevent
patterns of bullying and other gender-based violence and to respond to it effectively.
Emphasis on tolerance, respect, equity, non-discrimination, and non-violent conflict
resolution within the curriculum, textbooks and teaching methods
Involvement of children themselves, including children with disabilities, as active agents
in building safe environments, challenging bullying, prejudice and discrimination and
providing peer-to-peer support.
22
Conclusion
Children with disabilities remain marginalised across the region, with their right to
education far from being fully realised. Although significant efforts have been made to
overcome the historic discrimination and exclusion they experience, too often such
measures are fragmented and un-coordinated both across and within ministries.
Furthermore, they fail to address the necessity for tackling the institutionalised barriers
impeding change: the continued reliance on the narrow pedagogy of defectology, rooted in
a medicalised understanding of disability; the continued focus on segregation and
institutional care, with insufficient investment in community-based services and supports;
the deep-seated prejudices among those professionals charged with the responsibility for
promoting inclusive education; and the lack of sufficient engagement with and respect for
the expertise and potential contribution of families of children with disabilities, as well as
the children themselves.
Lack of resources is often cited as a barrier to change. Of course, there will always be limits
to the resources available, but the emerging evidence indicates that the provision of
inclusive education is cost-effective. Not only is it no more expensive to provide than a
segregated system, but the educational and social outcomes for children both with and
without disabilities have been found to be positive. And, in the long term, providing quality
inclusive education for children with disabilities reduces dependency on the state and
promotes their potential economic capacity.
Most important is the political will to invest in measures at all levels to create the necessary
environment to support and facilitate inclusive education. Piecemeal initiatives, however
well-intentioned, are not enough. Governments need to commit to the introduction of
legislation, policies, financing, data collection, capacity building, and partnerships as the
vital building blocks in the creation of the infrastructure needed to support inclusive
education. They will provide the basis for establishing the specific education measures
required to achieve the right to access quality education on the basis of equality of
opportunity for every child, which is also respectful of the human rights of those children.
This goal is attainable. And it is not only the right way to go, and an obligation on the part of
all governments, but it will bring long term benefits for all children and the wider society.
23
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