The Inclusion of Children With Learning Difficulties in Mainstream Classrooms is Fine in Theory - Essay Example

?Introduction UNESCO defines inclusive education as the means of addressing the needs of diverse learners by encouraging participation from differentcultures and communities and reducing exclusion. Inclusive education aims to include students from different cultures and ethnicities as well as those who have different physical or mental capacities. The development of inclusive education in Ireland was initiated in 1993 through the Special Education Review Committee which campaigned for the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) to a great extent with room for segregation when required in their report. Since them many government generated reports have advocated inclusive education and legislation is in place to ensure students with SEN are integrated into mainstream education as much as possible. However, in Ireland inclusive education primarily means education for students with special needs and not students that face racial, gender or ethnic discrimination. Under international pressure the government of Ireland pursued a more active approach to inclusive education and learnt lessons from UK’s experiences in the field. Research on inclusive education suggests that it enables special students in integrating into the mainstream and progress better. However, many scholars argue that inclusive education does not provide the attention required by such students and thus hinders their progress as well as disrupting regular students. This paper will focus on inclusive education from an Irish perspective. It will outline the benefits of inclusive education as established by research and the barriers to inclusive education. It will determine whether inclusive education has proven to be successful or is it only applicable in theory. Inclusive education in Ireland Inclusive education primarily refers to the integration of students with disabilities in the mainstream educational institutions. Many scholars believe that inclusive education is the right of all children with special needs (Oliver 1996) whereas many believe that inclusive education results in the lower quality education for the students with SEN (Kaufmann and Hallahan 1995). Regardless of these contradictory views, inclusive education has been advocated by UNESCO and major countries such as USA, Canada, and Britain among others. In Ireland the government has taken initiative towards the development of inclusive education in mainstream schools which has yielded mixed results. Background The move into inclusive education was initiated by parents of children with SEN who were concerned with the availability of appropriate institutions for their children. As a result, the Republic of Ireland signed an EU Council of Ministers Charter which led to the promotion of inclusion in schools by the Department of Education. In 1992, the Green Paper on Education highlighted the need to develop educational systems that were inclusive and provided those that were socially, physically, mentally or economically disadvantaged with equal opportunities. The Report of the Special Education Review Committee in 1993 laid the groundwork for inclusive education in Ireland. The reports proposed seven principles for the future of inclusive education which included; all children have a right to suitable education, the needs of the child should be the first priority while considering the route of education, the parents of children with SEN should be allowed to take an active part in decisions about their child’s education, a range of services that include education in a regular school with additional support, Special educational needs should be provided in ordinary schools unless individual circumstances make it impractical, only in extreme cases should it be necessary for the child to live away from home to receive suitable education and the state should provide the resources required to enable children with special educational needs to receive education according to their needs. In accordance with these principles, the White Paper on Education Charting our Education Future (1995) focused on the need for children with SEN having the same opportunities and rights as other students. The report was the groundwork for developments in legislation such as the Education Act (1998) which asserts the right of all children to suitable education. The National Educational Psychological Agency (1999) was established to provide psychological services and remedial service was provided to all primary schools (1999). Resource teachers for special students and Special Needs Assistants were increased by the Department of Education and pupil teacher ratios have been decreased in many sectors. In December 1999, New Deal A Plan for Educational Opportunity provided ?4.25 million for special needs coordination and the White Paper on Early Childhood Education Ready to Learn emphasized early diagnosis and the importance of early special needs education. (Special Education Conference, 2000) As a result of these developments the number of special needs students has increased in mainstream schools in Ireland. This corresponds with decreased numbers attending special schools. The policy of the Department of Education Sciences focuses on the inclusion of children with SEN in mainstream primary and secondary schools to the maximum level. They also focus on ensuring special assistance and facilities are provided to schools for students that require special classes in addition to mainstream classes. The Department acts as an intermediary and coordinates with government agencies, school bodies, voluntary organizations and professional organization to deliver educational assistance for students with special needs. The department has committed itself to the cause of inclusive education and supports the National Council for Special Education. The Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act was passed in 2004 and in the basis for the special education policy of the department. (1111) In 1978, the Warnock Report advocated inclusive education and stated that 2% of the disabled children required special provision; however in 2005 Mary Warnock did a turnabout by releasing a pamphlet that proclaimed inclusive education to be a failure and wasteful expenditure. This has led to a fierce debate in Ireland about the effectiveness and appropriateness of inclusive education. Addressing the International Conference on Education in 2008, the Minister of Education Batt O’Keefe, focused on Ireland’s progress in inclusive education and the adoption of programs with long term realistic goals and frameworks such as Ireland’s National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-16 and National Development Plan 2007-2013. He claimed that Ireland has an increasing number of immigrants and priority is given to young immigrants to learn English with around 2000 English Language Support teachers provided to schools in 2001/2002. Schools are also provided toolkits and resource materials regarding intercultural education and inclusion. The toolkit ‘Diversity in Primary School - Together Towards Inclusion’ was provided to every school on the island in 2008 as a measure of spreading awareness about inclusive education. Benefits Education is the right of all children all over the world and especially children with special needs have the right to have access to quality education rather than be separated from the mainstream. There has been intense debate on the subject of inclusive education with many scholars and educators inclus=ding UNESCO advocating it, as it leads to multiple benefits and helps in increasing the quality of life of students with disabilities. In 1998, the Department of Education commissioned a research that would gather the views of parents regarding inclusive education. The results showed that in North Ireland, parents were satisfied with the schools and supported inclusive education. Although they were aware of the difficulties of integration their main reason for favoring integration was to remove social discrimination and adapt socially. (O'Connor) There are many benefits to be gained by inclusive education which shows that it is not just applicable in theory. Inclusive education provides education to students with SEN in a mainstream environment, helping them to integrate instead of segregate. Although studying in a mainstream school is a difficult step and may be strange for the students in the beginning, it enables them to relate to other children and spend time with them. They make friends and there is increased social interaction and networking which helps them in the future. Children with SEN are not only exposed to greater academic standards which results in them trying harder but also social norms which enables them to adjust in regular social environment. Although many argue that inclusive education results in less attention and counseling but many inclusive schools are provided with Special Needs Assistants and resource teachers to help students with special needs. The children also benefit from exposure to regular sports and other extracurricular activities that they may be able to enjoy according their disability. This creates a sense of belonging and pride for the child. The children learn social and behavioral skills that will help them adapt in the future. As they have greater access to mainstream curriculum this develops their skills and achieve their IEP goals. Inclusion of children with SEN in the early stages increases their chances of inclusion in the future as well, and as they learn the same skills as other students they are more likely to find jobs than those who studied in special schools and do not have a regular experience. Inclusive education results in greater opportunity for social integration and higher academic performance. There is decreased discrimination and other students learn not view these children as different and accept them into society. Students as well as teachers gain more knowledge about special needs and grow to understand them. This will enable greater social inclusion in the future due to changes in the perceptions of children without SEN. Inclusive education also results in increased school and staff cooperation and collaboration between health and education. It moves schools to focus on needs rather than achievements. It also increases parent involvement and enables families with SEN children to easily integrate into the community. Inclusive education benefits the community as a whole by helping student without SEN develop friendships with children with SEN and thus increasing the appreciation of diversity and differences. It also instills respect in children for everyone and prepares them for an inclusive society.   Barriers Although in theory it is ideal that special needs students are provided a normal and friendly learning environment in mainstream schools so that they can adapt socially and be a part of normal society, there are many barriers to the implementation of inclusive education and its effectiveness. The bitter truth is that children with special needs require special attention to some extent whether it is a resource teacher or a PLA. Depending on the nature of their disability and their environment and support out of school children with special needs may suffer in mainstream schools due to lack of personal attention. They also require professionally trained teachers to employ learning methods that will benefit them which may not be available in mainstream schools. Children with disabilities may suffer from cognitive as well as social-emotional problems that may result in upsetting and harrowing consequence for teachers and students. Disabled students vary in characteristics and thus need to be judged individually to ascertain their needs which a mainstream teacher may not be able to provide. However, the extent of the disability is a major factor in the success of inclusion; children with milder disabilities face less problems in adjusting and benefit more from inclusive education as compared to those with severe disabilities. The role of the teacher in inclusive education is of paramount importance. As the teacher is the main point of contact and the care giver, the training and commitment on the teacher can lead to the success or failure of the initiative. Additionally the commitment and preparedness of the school to inclusive education also plays a major role in the success of inclusive education regardless of the severity of the disabilities. Apart from these barriers there are many limitations that are faced at the school level, teacher/class level and child/family/community level. At the school level, there is a deficiency of knowledge and a lack of leadership and set practices that hinder the success of inclusive education. Shevlin, Kenny and Loxley (2008) found in their study that the system lacked leadership and there was serious skill deficiency that hindered the provision of quality education to students with SEN. In Ireland, another issue that has served as an obstacle is the competition between schools and status hierarchies that result in their hesitance in adopting inclusive education. Schools are focused on enhancing their results and statistics which will be affected unfavorably by the inclusion of SEN children. At the school level, inclusive education is often an add-on feature rather than being embedded in the school system from the start and the focus is on curriculum rather than on meeting the needs of the students. If inclusive education is to be successful in practice the school system needs to be changed from curriculum based to needs based. Another barrier related to this is of the curriculum in post primary schools. The curriculum taught is inaccessible to students with disabilities and the NCCA(2009) proposed the development of a separate curriculum to bridge the curriculum, assessment and certification gap at the post primary level. However, a different qualification system would negate the concept of integration of students with disabilities into the mainstream. Schools find it difficult to provide the same opportunities to students with SEN through the same curricula as Shevlin et al. (2008) found that a barrier to inclusion for deaf children was the lack of access to the curricula in Irish Sign Language. Many schools have failed to implement the EPSEN Act which has resulted in lack of access to assessment and an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for children with SEN. According to O’Sullivan (2002) the lack of training and knowledge about IEP’s, schools not implementing frameworks fully and the logistics have resulted in these barriers. Restrictive policies and practices with regards to enrolment, curricular inclusion and perceptions result in rejections for such students or in obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in the school. As mentioned before the teacher plays an extremely important role in the delivery of inclusive education and many barriers are faced at the teacher/class level. Teachers cite lack of time as an obstacle to inclusive education. They claim that they are unable to give the appropriate amount of time to the students with SEN due to other administrative tasks as well as other regular students (Drudy and Kinsella, 2009; Smith and Leonard, 2005; Anderson,2007). Additionally, teachers are concerned with IEP’s, gaps in learning and failure to provide additional support. Another issue related to the lack of time is the lack of coordination and collaboration between the learning needs of the schools and those that are directly involved in providing them. There is no collaboration between health, education and welfare in Ireland resulting in failure to provide students with the required services. Schools at the post primary level especially avoid collaborating with other agencies in order to encourage inclusive education (Drudy, Kinsella 2007). Teachers are often confused about their roles when it comes to students with SEN. Many children are assigned assistants and teachers are confused on where their role begins and ends, thus the roles need to be clearly defined. As a barrier to inclusive education, teachers also cite lack of non teaching time available to them as it hinders them from creating and planning study schedules and teaching techniques specially designed for students with SEN. Other barriers with regards to teachers are their attitudes and expectation, many teachers may look upon students in their class that have SEN as burdens and may just ignore them instead of helping out, or expect them to achieve more and thus place greater pressure on them. Negative teacher attitudes will invariably be a cause of the failure of inclusive education, teachers that are focused on academic results or the ‘points race’ will not be open towards inclusion ( Drudy and Kinsella, 2009). Teachers that do not perceive a child with SEN as a child with greater needs but rather a misbehaved or stubborn child or do not adapt their teaching styles to meet the needs of the students with SEN are unsuitable for inclusive education. Monsen and Frederickson (2004) found that when children with SEN were taught by teachers with positive attitudes experienced higher classroom satisfaction. Inclusive education faces further barriers with at the child/parent/community level. The environment, background and parents play the most influential role in the success of inclusive education. The major barrier is social inclusion in mainstream schools, as many children with SEN face social stigmas that inhibit them from making friends and adjusting into the social environment. This is harmful to the concept of inclusive education as it propagates inclusion of these children in society and an increase in the quality of their life. The quality of life is also dependent on the quality of their relationships thus if these children are ostracized and feel socially isolated then the purpose of inclusion is defeated. Feelings of loneliness and friendlessness affect learning ability and hinder academic progress. Studies have shown that the inclusion of students with SEN in mainstream schools improves their academic performance however; they also suggest that many students experience social exclusion. Children with SEN often lack social skills and their communication styles are often different thus causing them to be excluded in the class and at play. Children with intellectual difficulties are often more commonly excluded than those that have relatively mediocre disorders. Although, children without SEN are also prone to being excluded due to their characteristics, SEN children are often targeted or ignored completely. In cases where children with SEN do succeed in forming friendships, their role is more passive and these friendships do not develop into mutually reciprocal friendships. There is also an argument in favor of developing relationships between children with SEN. According to the concept of homophily, people tend to form social relationships with similar people and this goes against the concept of inclusive education .According to this concept children with SEN would be able to build mutually satisfying friendships with other children with SEN which would be possible in a segregated school and not in a mainstream school. Advocates of inclusive education do not place due importance on the value of friendship for children with SEN. According to Chappell (2004) many people with learning disabilities would choose a segregated setting over an inclusive setting due to the quality of social relationships available to them. Other challenges at this level are barriers for parents, as they feel there in not adequate information provided to them about the educational system and they are not encouraged to take active part in the child’s educational activities. According to Cook and Swain (2001) most parents viewed inclusive education favorably but where unimpressed by the method of transferring the child into a mainstream school and the lack of communication by the school. This resulted in parents facing confusion and skepticism about the change at times leading them to seek recourse through the courts. Thus the matter of collaboration with parents of students with SEN is of utmost importance. At times though, parents are not responsive to inclusive education as it threatens the established family set up. Thus it is important to involve parents and encourage them to be actively involved in their children’s education to help them adjust and assist their children in gaining the maximum benefits out of inclusive education. It is also vital to coordinate family involvement in mainstream settings as families of children with SEN are more involved in their education at every step, this will aid the integration of the child into the school. Conclusion Inclusive education for those with special needs has been propagated by the UNESCO for many decades but the issue remains of whether it is practical and beneficial in an imperfect school system with discrimination and untrained teachers. From the Irish perspective, the government has taken multiple steps including legislation and the setting up of bodies to encourage the development of inclusive education all over the island. However, the benefits of inclusive education must be compared with its implementation in the real world. Theoretically speaking inclusive education is an ideal system to integrate students with special needs into the mainstream. Inclusive education not only results in better academic performance by such students but also increased social interaction and rehabilitation for them. Inclusive education results in students in SEN receiving the same education and environment that regular students and thus preparing them for the real word and enabling them from the beginning. This helps adjustment in real life and greater chances of success in the future; it also helps in maintaining social relationships with other children and learning socially acceptable norms of behavior. It also increases a sense of belonging and decreases discrimination. However, there are many barriers to the success of inclusive education that may belie its benefits. In order for inclusive education to be implemented successfully changes need to be made in the entire school system. Schools that are focused on results and grades cannot accommodate students with SEN that have will have lower academic achievements compared to other students. However, most importantly students with severe disability may not be able to adjust in mainstream schools at all due their behavior and may not be able to use the same curricula as other students. It is important that inclusive schools change their methods and are fully prepared for students with SEN or else the results could be damaging. Another factor in the application of inclusive education in practicality is the role of the teacher. Teachers are not trained or prepared to teach and manage students with SEN and they may do more harm than good. Teachers cite many issues such as lack of time and knowledge that hinder them from better catering to the needs of the students. Teachers with discriminatory views and a negative attitude will harm the child with SEN rather than help him. Thus it is important that teachers are professionally trained. Although one of the benefits of inclusive education is social inclusion, many students feel socially isolated in mainstream schools and are unable to form lasting friendships. These feelings of loneliness lead to poorer development and unhappiness. Whereas in segregated settings, such students can develop mutually beneficial friendships. Parents also may face issues such as lack of information provided by schools and the lack of encouragement for parents who want to be actively involved. Issues of distrust and suspicion may arise causing them to pull out their children. Inclusive education for children with special needs is a concept that works in practical life as well but like most other concepts it needs proper regulation and structure. 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