Theoretical Perspectives On Inclusive And Special Education - Assignment Example

Will Write A 4000 Word Assignment Which Critically Appraises Theoretical Perspectives on Inclusive And Special Education And Applies These To The Scottish And Greek, And/or Other, Professional Contexts, Drawing Implications For Future Practice Table of Contents Introduction 3 Special Education 3 Inclusive Education 4 Theoretical Perspectives on Inclusion/Special Education 5 Critical Appraisal of Inclusion/Special Education 6 Inclusion/Special Education in Scottish Context 7 Most Recent Developments in Scottish Policy, Practice and Provision on Inclusion/Special 9 Global Policy and Vernacular Influences On the Development of Inclusion/Special Education in the Scottish Contexts 10 Inclusion/Special Education in Greek Context 11 Most Recent Developments in Greek Policy, Practice and Provision on Inclusion/Special Education 11 Global Policy and Vernacular Influences on the Development of Inclusion/Special Education in the Greek Context 13 Critical Comparison of Development of Inclusion and Special Education in Scotland and Greek Context 14 Implications for Future Practice 16 Conclusion 19 References 20 Bibliography 26 Introduction Education plays vital part in the life of every individual. It is a critical aspect which determines the quality of life of a person. Due to this reason, education must be accessible to everyone and when necessary support must be available to assist students to overcome, minimise or avoid any learning difficulties so that they can increase their abilities to complete the curriculum. In this context, it can be stated that special education is a distinctive provision for pupils with disabilities and certain disorders. Special education is described by a range of initial disciplines which facilitate academic growth and personal and social improvement (Riddell, 2006). This assignment is based on appraisal of inclusion and special education. Furthermore, the assignment also describes about how special education and inclusion is being applied in Scottish and Greek contexts. On the basis of the assessment of inclusion and special education, implication for future practice has also been drawn in this assignment. Special Education Special education begins with distinct educational requirements of learners with serious learning difficulties. These learning difficulties resulted in the development of special education and special schools. There are several learning difficulties a learner can have which can negatively impact on the reading, speaking and writing skill. These difficulties of children facilitated development of certain provisions and helped to classify children into ‘special’ category. The key thought of special education is that children with learning difficulties can learn more effectively in special schools. However, it has not been evidently found that the learners obtaining education are performing better. There are increasing evidences that very few number of children return to the mainstream schools after entering in the special school. Hence, in order to deal with the educational problem of disabled students, several educationalists have started to argue for educational inclusion (Hamill & Clark, 2005). Inclusive Education The principle of inclusion focuses on active involvement of every child in education. Inclusion considers the diversity of every child and admits that each child is a contributor to the society, irrespective of the capabilities. According to United Nations Convention on the “Rights of Persons with Disability”, every child with special requirements has equal rights and liberty similar to another child. Furthermore, United Nations Convention also stated that every child has fundamental rights to education and to involve completely in society (United Nations, 2007). Inclusive education is a practice which ensures that each child upsurges to the fullest potential while certifying the uniqueness. Inclusive education is a structure which supports and accommodates miscellaneous requirements and capabilities for all children in a distinctive education background. Hence, children with special requirements must spontaneously attend schools, learn cooperatively with the peers along with completely participating in important social and academic activities (Lipsky & Gartner, 1996). Inclusion is the practice of instituting diverse classrooms where all children strive to achieve individual goals. Thus, inclusion often necessitates adjusting to the educational program and the learning environment in order to ascertain success. The implementation of inclusive education requires educational transformation and rearrangement of the school structure (Ajodhia-Andrews, 2007). Theoretical Perspectives on Inclusion/Special Education Inclusive education is a growing issue of educational system in several nations. Nowadays, education system is undergoing a revolutionary change. The traditional special education is being challenged by inclusive education. Inclusive education is a sign of admiration for all human races as it provide access to education for every child irrespective of learning disability (Bunch, 2008). In several post-industrial societies, there is an increasing interest of governments in defining and shaping the educational system. During the last few decades, two major theoretical perspectives have emerged in relation to observed socially and linguistically diverse children. These two perspectives are uniformity and diversity. The theoretical perspective of uniformity is categorised as cultural transmission which focuses on socialising children into an identical culture through homogeneous educational programmes. In contrast, theoretical perspective of diversity focuses on exclusively individual characteristics of education and requirements of schools to address the cultural, linguistic and rational heterogeneity of children (Alevriadou & Lang, 2011). Special education is based on theoretical perspective of diversity. Thus, in order to implement special education, it is essential for schools to have basic understanding regarding the approaches and principles common to the different culturally and linguistically diverse children (Peer & Reid, 2011). The basic objectives of special education have not changed since its initiation. The main objective of special education is to assist children with special education needs. The method of special education includes a variety of activities such as arrangement of flexible training for children with visual deficiency or other learning disabilities and designing of adaptive devices for children with physical disabilities (Ahmed & et. al., 2010). The objective of special education is to enhance the academic, intellectual and social functioning of individuals with special education requirements who would fail to evolve in general educational setting. Thus, in order to accomplish these objectives, special education has developed a variety of unique instructional methods and has adjusted and reformed the general educational methods along with designing adjunct interventions to nurture learning ability. Special education has also focused on prevention of the problems of the students during preschool level education (Kavale & Forness, 1999). Critical Appraisal of Inclusion/Special Education Although special education has been designed to assist children with certain learning disabilities, it has faced significant level of critiques from different perspectives. From the perspective of essentialist, special education assists in identification and treatment of those children who are naturally separated from regular academic and social prerogatives. The social constructionist perspective observes special education of learning disabilities as an unjust and normative concept positioned against minorities, imposing social relegation (Arshad, 2012). The materialist perspective observes special education of learning disability as a type of segregation which is established and maintained by the economic system. On the other hand, post-modern perspective rejects the theoretical descriptions provided by the materialists. Post-modernists observe the experiences of excluded children in special education system and suggest that it forces society to categorise children with disabilities and helps to develop a specific mind-set which can be discouraging. The disability movement perspective stated that special education devote low consideration to the production of coherent theoretical clarification of disability during the extensive pursuit for social change (Clark & et. al., 1998). The special education system has suffered from the influence of psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalytic theory states that the behaviour problem of children is viewed as a symbolic exhibition of uncertain conflicts which originate from early child interactions. Special education is unable to understand the behavioural difficulties of children at school (Thomas & Loxley, 2007). Inclusion/Special Education in Scottish Context Following the directive of Education Act 2004, special education in Scotland covers all children having difficulty in learning. In Scotland, customised educational program is usually considered as the medium for identifying individual targets for learners with additional education support requirement. In Scotland, several studies on special education has underlined a number of problems in the implementation on special education comprising possible narrowing of syllabus, absence of ownership by subject oriented educators in secondary schools and low degree of participation of parents, learners and external organisations. In Scotland, a number of problems have appeared concerning educational program and training for children with special education requirements. The first problem is ensuring equal access to common educational programs. There was an increasing conflict between equal access to common education and creation of alternative educational programs for the children with special education requirements. Since early 1980s, there has been a focus on the prerogative of children with special education requirements in order to facilitate them to access the mainstream educational program and yet the teachers seemed to face problems in making educational program accessible through effective variations. In Scotland, there were certain problems faced by the teachers in finding the appropriate courses for the children with special education requirement. In Scotland, there was increasing demand of alternative educational program at the secondary level in order to curtail the growth of disillusionment, especially for children with societal, emotional and behavioural problems. Such alternative educational programmes focus on individual and social improvement of children with special education requirements and comprise professional and empirical components (Riddell & et. al., 2006). A further problem faced by Scotland with respect to special education was the level of teaching required for children with learning disability as it is recognised that they necessitate expert teaching techniques associated with the characteristics of their deficiency. It was believed that most children can be educated effectively through the improvement of broad approaches to teaching. Reflecting upon this belief, special education divisions in universities which used to exist in colleges have amalgamated with larger divisions of educational trainings. In Scotland, there is a trend towards development of more inclusive approaches to education of children with special education requirements. The policy of Scottish education is based on the principles of Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000. This Act places a responsibility on education authorities to certify that education is focussed on the improvement of the behaviours, abilities along with psychological and physical capabilities of children to their utmost potential. The principles of Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 also formed five nationwide priorities in education where one of the priorities concentrates directly on inclusion and equality. These principles are indirectly entrenched in the other four priorities of education (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2008). Most Recent Developments in Scottish Policy, Practice and Provision on Inclusion/Special Scotland has a unique method towards inclusive and special education. Uniquely, Scotland has moved away from the model of special education requirements to additional support for education (The University of Edinburgh, 2012). Following the guidelines of Education Act 2004, the description for additional support in Scotland now covers every child who faces difficulty in learning. Altering practice in Scotland also create implications for the method in which global comparisons are made. In Scotland, efforts to form an appropriate educational program for children with additional support requirements has been highlighted by an aspiration to ensure the prerogative within a common educational framework and it was targeted to provide support to each individual child. In order to improve the inclusion program, five strategies for customisation were sanctioned which include differentiation, alteration, improvement, enrichment and expansion. These approaches would allow teachers to plan a suitable educational program for individual child at the same time ensuring that their learning is framed by national curriculum strategies. In Scotland, customised education programs are recognised as the most appropriate curriculum planning instrument (Rouse, 2013). Global Policy and Vernacular Influences On the Development of Inclusion/Special Education in the Scottish Contexts Inclusive education has now been established as a global program and as such governments and its interventions attempt to create and apply strategies in order to stimulate inclusion. Scotland is no exception with respect to promotion of inclusion in educational program. In the year 2002, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) had published an examination of good practice in the area of inclusion in Scottish schools (Wright, 2010). The examination of HMIE suggested that as a consonance of inappropriate adaptation of the educational program and failure of teachers to find a way of making the educational programs accessible to children, far greater support was needed. In the year 2004, the Education Act came into action, enabling to deliver the children new opportunities to address issues that have troubled inclusive education in Scotland. Apart from Scotland, several other nations also faced similar problems with respect to inclusion education. There are significant differences between the present Education Act and previous Education Act. According to the new Act, school education must be advanced and suitable in terms of age, capability and aptitude of children. The Education Act of 2004 was an attempt of Scotland government to make a real upliftment of education. It proposes that educational support must be available to every person when they require (Rouse, 2013). The additional support for learning can be needed when children experience obstacles during their learning and complete participation in the social and cultural activities. The Education Act of Scotland precisely defines that it is the duty of education authorities and schools to work with the children and their parents in order to ensure that barriers of education are removed, conquered or diminished (Thaman, n.d.). Inclusion/Special Education in Greek Context Contemporary Greek society is characterised by enhanced variations in policy and population that have impacted on the educational structure. In the year 2004, the legislation of Greece government for “education for all” movement had assisted the diverse children along with affecting in educational program and educational infrastructure demand. Since education is highly valued in Greece, the increasing demand of education has resulted in the development of public educational quality. Following the activities of other nations, Greece has also endeavoured towards implementation of inclusive school. This endeavour started from a series of law restructuring which would ensure solid basis for success of inclusion and special education. Previously, special education was believed to be a protective space where educational and learning opportunities were delivered spontaneously to specific children with learning difficulties. However, this viewpoint of special education had misjudged the negative consequences of separation and had overestimated the capabilities of special educational programs for the improvement of children with learning disabilities. In special education program, a child with disability is separated from other normal child, which actually hampers the educational and psychosocial improvement (Kourkoutas, 2003). Most Recent Developments in Greek Policy, Practice and Provision on Inclusion/Special Education The educational system in Greece is based on competition, knowledge and discipline. It was highly concentrated on examinations and qualifications. The traditional educational system of Greece generated conflicts among people regarding inclusion and strengthening of education. In later years, this conflict has been resolved through the introduction of special classes. Special classes were presented at the beginning of 1980s and rapidly became the central model of special education system without undergoing any evaluation and research of their efficiency (Zoniou-Sideri & et. al., 2005). Currently, more and more Greek educators are facing with the challenge of children with special education requirements due to the inappropriate preparation and inadequate adaptation of children’s special education requirements. The educational system of Greece has also faced problems due to its examination oriented nature, low support services, negative attitudes of students towards disability and inflexible teaching methods. Furthermore, the general teachers along with special teachers for disabled students were not adequately knowledgeable regarding the subjects of special education. The increased requirement of disabled children’s education and incompetency of Greek education system resulted in negative consequence for children and their education. These aspects generated the requirement for planning of new educational policy concerning providing additional education to teachers, designing of new educational programs and expanding school spaces (Kyrini, 2006). Until recently, there were only few special classes in Greece in certain mainstream schools. These classes were intended for promoting inclusion of a range of children with learning disabilities. Presently, the educational structure of Greece is highly concerned towards educational requirements of children. One of the basic objectives of Greek educational policy is to improve the creative abilities and talents. Indeed, the Greek government is attempting to improve the quality of inclusive and special education for children. Recently, education has been improved in tertiary area. Greece has also made significant progress towards converging standard educational quality, shaping the higher education system and increasing the mobility of students. In Greece, several reforms in legislation has been made in order to protect self-governance of tertiary educational organisations, encouraging more democracy and transparency in education, promoting better access towards secondary and vocational education and implementing the principle of equal treatment among others. In Greece, significant improvement has also been observed in the field of technological implementation. Incorporation and development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become of the major priorities of government with respect to education. The government of Greece has invested significant amount of money in order to enhance equality of education and to reform the educational system. In addition, educational program has been improved by providing curriculum for cultural education and a wide variety of subjects alongside the mainstream subjects. The improvement of education program is aimed at preparing the children for effectively playing the role as a responsible citizen in the society. The school infrastructure has also been improved by the introduction of new school units. In order to enhance the quality of special education, several programs for the education of teachers have also been conducted. The major objective of teacher education is to effectively deal with the educational problems faced in classrooms (Papazoglou, n.d.). Global Policy and Vernacular Influences on the Development of Inclusion/Special Education in the Greek Context At present, special education has shifted towards educational inclusion of all children irrespective of having learning disability. A series of global discussions on the ground of special education originated the right of education for all children as a movement to fight discrimination and to succeed in providing education for all. Being influenced from global policies on education, Greece had also developed new educational bill in the year 2000, labelled as “Education of People with Special Education Needs”. This new bill was designed to make availability of inclusion of children with special education requirements in the mainstream school with the support of special instructors. It cannot be doubted that global policies can have significant influence on the procedure of overcoming learning disability conditions. However, the law was not sufficient to safeguard the rights of the children with special education requirements and to satisfy the idea of open society and education provision. In reality, the legislation of Greece was not and still is not completely supported by the development of adequate systems and resources which can assist in implementation of education for all system (Vlachou-Balafouti & Zoniou-Sideris, 2000). Critical Comparison of Development of Inclusion and Special Education in Scotland and Greek Context In Scotland, there had been major developments in inclusion or special education from the year 2005 with the introduction of new ‘Special Educational Needs’ (SEN). In accordance with the new SEN, children who require extra support due to any factors are provided better assistance for their learning process (Ellis & et. al., 2008). The ‘Standards in Scotland’s School’ determines that children are required to be provided with knowledge through mainstream schools. In contrast, Greece’ education system specifies that special education is considered to be a major component of the educational system of the country. SEN was integrated in the educational system of the country with the intention of providing SEN pupil better education along with offering ‘special vocational training’ in accordance with their abilities as well as age along with SEN requirement (The European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2011). The educational system of both the countries i.e. Greece and Scotland are different with respect to cultural as well as societal viewpoints. The society of Scotland is believed to be inclusive which signifies that people believe in individualistic rights. In contrast, people of Greece are exclusive as well as protective towards the family. The educational systems of Scotland are task oriented. Moreover, children are educated on the basis of their requirement as well as are provided to the entire pupil. Contrary, the educational system of Greece provides knowledge as well as education to children on a narrow basis. The educational systems of these two countries are different with respect to the adaptation of the SEN programme. In Scotland, SEN is adapted with the motive of minimising as well as eliminating educational or learning difficulties. Moreover, the learning difficulties faced by educational system of Scotland include identifying the exact location of problems. The main responsibilities of providing education are mainly placed on the head teacher of the mainstream. The support teachers perform as a consultant teacher. Conversely, the educational system of Greece is mainly concerned with the SEN programme and their limitations. Moreover, there is also a lack of cooperation as well as coordination among head teacher of main stream and support teachers (University of Stirling, 2010). These are the various factors which differentiate the educational system of these two countries with regard to SEN. In Scotland, teachers are provided with little or meagre educational programmes in order to offer extra support for performing the SEN programme in an effective manner. Moreover, blind as well as deaf students are educated by teachers who do not acquire certain specific qualifications as well as do not possess additional teaching requirements. Furthermore, the changing educational policies have added to the complexity for teachers in delivering better education as well as knowledge. Teachers also face the problem of identifying the purpose and extra teaching requirements in order to provide better special education in schools (Rouse, 2013). In Greece, special schools are supplied with specialist teachers for providing better special education in schools. These specialist teachers approach students directly for delivering better knowledge. Moreover, teachers of schools are provided with valuable teaching materials as well as curriculum in order to ensure better cooperation between the student’s family and the school (Spiteri & et. al., 2005). These are the various differences in special education delivered in both Greece and Scotland. The notion of adaptation of SEN is the main point of difference in these two countries. Moreover, it can be observed that Greece has adopted these policies in a more efficient manner in comparison to Scotland. Implications for Future Practice Modern schools generally consider equality and isonomy in order to ensure common curriculum and accessibility for all. However, in order to make inclusion and special education successful, there is a need for applying certain implications. Curriculum Adaptation The core principle of inclusion is that every child must have equal opportunity of education. Thus, in order to teach children with disabilities, there is a need for providing particular educational material. Since different children have distinct personalities, the curriculum must be developed in such a way so that it can effectively adapt with the requirements of diverse children. Besides, education must not only dependent on theoretical materials; there must be certain degree of practicality which can help to make the children more knowledgeable. Equality of education denotes acceptance of differences of children. Thus, comprehensive planning must be done by considering requirements of children with learning difficulties so that they can attain the maximum educational and professional potential (Florian, 2008). Teacher Education The other future implication for special education is teacher education. The way teachers arrange the classes, take decisions, express the relationship with children and implement particular theoretical methods and practices can facilitate the procedure of inclusion and special education. Thus, it is vital that teachers get appropriate education regarding special requirements of children. Teacher education can help them to become more sensitive towards children with special needs. Hence, teacher education can contribute greatly towards changing the negative beliefs about children with learning difficulties (Stylianidou & et. al., 2004). Joint Planning for Inclusion Government and educational institutions need to significantly take responsibility to ensure good practice in inclusion and special education. Good practice in education requires joint development of strategy by setting out proposed activities to satisfy the requirements of every child. The educational strategy must reflect a careful appraisal of possible effectiveness of different mainstream education options for children with special needs (Audit Scotland, 2003). Establishing Capacity for Inclusion While designing new educational program or refurbishing the educational system and school structure, government must ensure that the requirements of all children irrespective of learning disabilities are considered. There is a need for providing appropriate physical setting so that adaptations of children towards new educational system become easier. Furthermore, teachers and other senior executives of schools must ensure that they have adequate time for leading and handling provisions for children with special education requirements. Besides, the schools with special education must have the capacity to operate effectively without providing excessive stress on existing teachers. In order to enhance the capacity of schools for providing education, the number of teachers can be increased so that they can satisfy the growing demand of education (Audit Scotland, 2003). Outdoor Activities In order to enhance the educational system, outdoor education should be available in every school. It can have positive impact on children with certain difficulties such as mental hindrances and behavioural problems. Outdoor education provides the opportunities for children to acquire real-life experiences and interact with other children without any special requirements. The outdoor activities can enrich the educational program, increase the understanding of concepts and motivate children towards educational activities. Furthermore, outdoor activities allow the development of personal skills and promote self-confidence among children with special education requirements (Liarakou, 2002). Conclusion Education is a right for every individual irrespective of any kind of learning difficulties. Considering this factor in mind, the special education and inclusion has been developed by several nations. In this context, it has been observed that Scotland and Greece have their own individuality with respect to special education and inclusion. However, both the nations have faced significant issues due to the implementation of special educational programs and inclusion programs. The above implications would be helpful for schools and teachers to provide education to all children. In conclusion, it can be stated that it is the responsibility of the society to accept and prepare all individuals by providing proper education. Thus, special education and inclusion must be developed in such a way so that it can help to fulfil the educational requirements of all children. References Ajodhia-Andrews, A. D., 2007. 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