What is Inclusive Education? Concept Sheet

Inclusive Education (IE) is a strategy contributing towards the ultimate goal of promoting an inclusive society, one which enables all children/adults, whatever their gender, age, ability, ethnicity, impairment or HIV status, to participate in and contribute to that society. Difference is respected and valued. Discrimination and prejudice will be actively combated in policies, institutions and behaviour.

Education is the right of all children, and IE aims to ensure that all children have access to an appropriate, relevant, affordable and effective education within their community. This education starts in the home with the family, and includes formal, non-formal and all types of community-based education initiatives.

Within schools IE is an approach which aims to develop a child-focus by acknowledging that all children are individuals with different learning needs and speeds. Teaching and learning can become more effective, relevant and fun for all. Therefore IE will always be good for all schools, although all schools may not be good for all children.

IE is part of development, and development should be inclusive, i.e. responding to the needs of real people who are all different. As with all children, disabled children have a range of basic needs which need to be met in order for them to benefit from education. These include nutrition, acceptance, love and basic health care. Poverty and lack of basic infrastructure (roads, transport) affects children’s access to education, including disabled children. Whatever the level of socio/economic development, the education of disabled children should be seen as integral to the development of education for all children. Many of the ‘problems’ which exclude disabled children from education are a result of exclusive planning: planning should be inclusive.

IE is the responsibility of both government and community, requiring collaboration between sectors and extensive participation. Supporting and involving families is central to IE, as the family has prime responsibility for the care and education of their children (whether disabled or not). Community Based Rehabilitieation (CBR) as a component of community development can help meet basic and specific needs of disabled children, such as access to braille and sign and mobility aids. CBR may also have a direct role in supporting the education of children with severe and multiple disabilities, both in the context of their own homes and in day care facilities.

Issues of disabled identity and discrimination need to be addressed as part of an IE strategy. In order to combat discrimination and to promote positive identity in disabled children, disabled role models should be accessible to all children, schools should employ disabled teachers, and curriculum materials should reflect the existence of disabled people in society in positive ways.

As a catalyst for change IE provides not only school improvement but an increased awareness of human rights which leads to a reduction of discrimination. By finding local answers to complex problems it empowers communities and can lead to wider community development. IE addresses a real need, is a readily understandable concept and requires no new major resources. It primarily involves changes of attitudes and behaviour. It has the potential to be a very effective starting point for addressing the Rights of the Child in a range of cultures and contexts.

Note on use of terms
The term Integrated Education generally refers to an approach which has focused on helping disabled children and children with learning difficulties benefit from mainstream schooling. As a result of initial efforts to respond to the needs of children with disability/learning difficulties, schools become more flexible and child-centred and therefore enable other marginalised groups to benefit. The term Inclusive Education is a more accurate term which reflects our common goal. However, many programmes will continue to use the term Integrated Education where this is more meaningful and familiar in that context and culture.

Specific Terms used in Relation to Children and Learning

Guiding Principles
Every child is different, and there is no fixed dividing line between disabled children and non-disabled children, or between children with learning difficulties, and those without. Whatever language is used, it is important that it is clearly understood, promotes positive attitudes and practice, and does not stigmatise. Therefore different terms will be appropriate in different contexts and cultures. Language should not be used for labelling children, but rather for highlighting problems and improving practice. Whatever term is used, the words ‘child’ or ‘children’ should be added, e.g. ‘children with learning difficulties’.

Impairment
This commonly refers to ‘the lack of part or all of a limb, a defective limb, organism or mechanism of the body’. Children with different impairments (e.g. ranging from missing finger, club foot, epilepsy, facial scar to severe brain damage) can be excluded from education for different reasons. These include negative attitudes, lack of physical access/transport, and rigid teaching methods in schools. Having an impairment (e.g. short sight, missing finger) does not automatically mean that the person is disabled.

Disability
Save the Children Fund (SCF) views disability as a social and development issue, not a medical one. In this context, a child with an impairment is ‘disabled’ when, in their particular context and culture, they are excluded from society/education or discriminated against. The term does not just refer to physically disabled children but includes any impairments (such as the less visible hearing impairment). The term ‘handicapped’ is generally felt to be not appropriate in most English-speaking societies (coming from ‘cap-in-hand’ and evoking a passive charity model). Where it is still used, it often refers to people with severe impairment who are ‘handicapped’ by society, and may be used interchangeably with the term ‘disability’.

Special Educational Needs
This term arose out of the realisation by educationalists that not all disabled children (e.g. those who used wheelchairs) had problems learning, and that many children without obvious impairments were failing in schools. It represented a move away from focusing on a medical condition to acknowledging different ‘learning needs and speeds’. However, it is unfortunately still used to label individual children, rather than highlight problems in the system. It is positive concept when it helps schools to become more child-focused and flexible but it does have its limits and is not possible to define precisely. United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) uses the term ‘children with special needs’ to refer to street children and other marginalised groups.

Learning Difficulty
Children do not have a ‘fixed’ ability to learn. All children can learn, and any child may experience difficulty. Their learning is affected by a wide range of factors including the home and school environment, skills/methods of teachers and cultural perceptions of what types of learning are valued and given status. ‘Children with learning difficulty’ is used to refer to children who are not succeeding in mainstream schools. But often their lack of success is to do with poor teaching methods and lack of appropriate support for their learning. So it is a term which should not be used to label children. However some children (e.g. those with conditions such as Down's Syndrome or iodine deficiency, or brain injury) may learn at very different rates and with certain overall (but broad) limits.

Mental Handicap
In some societies, ‘children with severe learning difficulties’ has replaced the terms ‘mental handicap/retardation’ which encourage stigma and focus on a perceived defect. In other societies, ‘mental handicap’ may be a big improvement on ‘mad’ or ‘idiot’ and so is appropriate for the time being (see ‘Guiding Principles’).

1980 - 1995: SCF’s Main IE Programme Overseas

Thailand
1983: Various disability projects started, including units for hearing impaired children and day care for mentally disabled children.
1989: Special classes within mainstream schools started as a response to waiting lists for residential institutions.
1991: IE programme for visually impaired children began.

China
1988: Work with the Anhui Provincial Education Committee began. Two kindergartens started to integrate.
1993: SCF advisor appointed for two years to help scale up.

Laos
1991: Primary Education Programme staff exposed to UNESCO pack and study tour.
1993: Pilot IE school began.
1995: SCF advisor appointed to take work forward and link with Kindergarten programme.

Vietnam
1989: Initial collaboration with Centre for Research and Education of Disabled Children.
1990: Support for special school teacher training, resource centre development and scholarships.
1994: SCF advisor appointed for two years to develop IE.

Lesotho
Pre-1988: SCF ran hostels for boys with polio while they attended mainstream schools and for visually impaired boys while they attended a resource centre for blind people. SCF was considered the lead agency on disability in Lesotho.
1988: Regional disability advisor visited Lesotho and started policy negotiations on IE. Collaboration with the Ministry of Education began.
1991: SCF advisor appointed to coordinate national IE programme.

Morocco
1993: CBR programme began in Khemisset, including small classes for hearing impaired and mentally disabled children. Lobbying and advocacy at national level to promote IE.

Some Examples of Programmes with an IE Component
Swaziland: Pre-school IE is a component of CBR programme.
Zanzibar: IE in mainstream primary is a component of CBR programme.
South Africa: Pre-school IE component in several CBR programmes and in work with NGOs.
Zimbabwe: IE in pre-schools is part of commercial farm workers programme.
Mozambique: As part of CBR. Small signing groups for deaf children.
West Bank: Outreach programme and sponsorship.

Summary of IE Literature Search
Sparse, dominated by a small elite.
Misleading and unreliable use of hard data in relation to formal provision of education to disabled children.
Reinforces negative deficit model of developing country.
Concepts confused and unexamined, e.g. what is meant by the term ‘special needs’?
Cross-cultural issues not addressed. (www.eenet.org)