The Inclusion Philosophy of Education - Case Study Example

1 Principles of Inclusion Order No. 276522 No. of pages: 8 1st 6530 Introduction Inclusive schools or Inclusive education is gaining popularity as a very viable concept in the field of education. According to the U.N Convention of children’s rights, every child whether able or disabled has a right to education and hence it becomes the responsibility of those who are in the educational system to cater to this need. In order to be in a position to evaluate and understand our objective, it is relevant and pertinent to know the real meaning of the word, ”Inclusion” in the context of school education. It is a universal and accepted fact that every country has undertaken massive efforts in strengthening education and International organizations such as the UNICEF & UNESCO to name just these two, have embarked on various programs of education development and interconnected activities for children all around the world. Meaning of “Inclusion” According to (Knight B. A) “Inclusion is a concept which views children with disabilities as true full time participants and members of their neighborhood schools and communities.” He goes further to state that “The inclusion philosophy proposes that there may not be a range of placements but that rather that all students be educated with their peers in the same physical location.” (Knight. B. A) In today’s environment 2 fortunately, a large percentage of children are in the normal category, but however, there is a percentage of children with special needs and governments the world over have begun to see the need to create an environment where “Full participation” is achieved., by this it merely means, that steps are now being taken to help motivate and encourage “special” children into mainstream schools. Necessity for Inclusion It is rather a very shocking to know that the largest minority group consists of “people with disabilities.” (Kathie Snow) Therefore, the need of the hour is in finding the necessary solutions in dealing with different disabilities. It should be realized here, that while it is one thing to declare, that efforts towards reaching this goal be taken up, it is another thing to achieve these goals as it throws up socio-economic factors in which ability, gender, language, family status, colour, ethnic origin, and religion all play important roles. The fact that every child has a “right” to mainstream education, may take a back seat in today’s society where dog eat dog is the buzz word, it becomes all the more inevitable that an action plan has to be drawn in its favor. It does require a good degree of sacrifice, awareness and above all, the desire to care for others that eventually would create the right nodes and tools for such a policy to be put into place. Fortunately many governments having realized the value of inculcating these principles at grass root levels and have initiated laws and Acts thereby bringing in legislation into the accepting of “inclusion”. 3 Does Inclusion work? If one were to analyze, how Inclusive education would benefit society in general, we would not have to look further than knowing that it helps in promoting civil rights of all individuals., brings to the fore social value of equality., builds supportiveness & independence not to speak of high levels of confidence building., while above all it provides children a live miniature model of the democracy process. Children being the future, it gives them a- hands –on - experience of how things should be for the benefit of all. (www.nlad.ca/inclusion.html - Benefits of Inclusion) According to (Mercer 1997) “The inclusion philosophy proposes that there should not be a range of placements but rather that all students be educated with their peers in the same physical location.” So if one were to have real concern for the special children, then it stands to reason as to how ‘Inclusion’ will be the answer, whereas, on the flip side, it could have a negative impact., something like the malady being worse than the remedy. Studies and findings refuting this view are yet to be conclusive and this debate seems to be going back and forth. Stainback & Stainback (1996) While there are quite a large number of advocates pro- Inclusion., criticism of full & partial inclusion too are making their voices heard and this group includes educators, administrators & parents. This group is vociferous in their stand which is based on a logical premise. They are of the opinion, that in full or partial inclusion, what is neglected is the fact that special children need individual attention and this cannot be made available in a full Inclusion. However, there is still a very strong lobby that Inclusion is a requirement and there are quite a few arguments in its favor and as in any debate there 4 can always be two sides with both parties having valid points for and against the same issue. “In order to tackle the great variation and diversity of the effective inclusive classroom, teacher education is considered as the first step to attain the realization of an inclusive school “(Meijer, Pijl & Hegarty, 1997; Flem and Keller, 2000). According to Ainscow, ‘the aim is to transform the mainstream in ways that will increase its capacity for responding to all learners “(Ainscow, 1999). Inclusive Schools in Pakistan and reasons for its failure The following is a typical example of an Inclusive school in Pakistan and the reasons behind its failure and closure. In the case study of the school in Pakistan we see that the school seemed to be doing all that should be done in order to qualify for an “Inclusion” school. It had in place Vision and commitment, administratively sound plans that were well laid out, located in an affluent area it had all the trappings of success. There were a series of challenges that the school came face to face with and judging from the account it appears that the school lost the on- going battle and thus was asked to close down. Despite the fact that the U.N, EFA and the Salamanca Statement UNESCO (1994) has stated that every child has the right to be educated along with their peers, yet many mainstream schools close their doors on children having disabilities. In Pakistan, educational institutions are segregated according to various groups such as medium of instruction, schools for children with different disabilities and schools for children who are intellectually impaired. These schools could be government run, private or NGO operated missionary schools. This particular school was established in 5 Karachi in 1995 and the owner was in no way involved in its policy making process. This seemed to be the first major drawback of the school. The second major drawback was that children with disabilities were included into the mainstream school. Given below are the salient drawbacks of this school which resulted in its closure. Analysis of the failures are enumerated as follows – School Promoter not Decision maker: Since this was a private school, and promoted by an individual the option of the ‘Promoter’ not being a part of the decision making authority, was taken to the effect that all decisions were taken by the nominated School administrator A more attuned admission procedure and academic structure was needed for effective implementation as lacunae was visible in these areas. Teacher education is considered prime importance for success of Inclusion (Mijer, Pijl & Hegarty, 1997: Flem and Keller, 2000) which however was in a compromise in this school, as the teachers had very little training in dealing with children of special needs. Children with disabilities such as Dyslexia, Down’s syndrome, Spina Bifida, Autism and ADHD were included into the mainstream school and hence special attention could not be rendered to them. Though the goals set for the different groups varied, yet in the classroom setting, the children who had disabilities were expected to do the same work as other normal children in the class. 6 Children with special needs were expected to participate in sports and other co- curricular activities both within and outside their school. Remedial action to counter this failure Against the general view that the cost component would increase if one were to have Inclusion in mainstream schools is far from reality, as mainstream schools with a little bit of skewing towards Inclusion, can effectively have both streams together with a fraction of its cost. The Government should be involved in every area and there should be a linkage between the various Ministries like Social Welfare and Education, Human Resource Development, Child Welfare etc who are to coordinate for effective and successful functioning. Teacher Orientation and Training with special focus of handling of children with special needs should be in place and become mandatory for employment. Legislation that every Public school to have a quota or strength percentage for children with special needs and such schools funded by Government grants etc should have Inclusive education in its agenda. 7 Impact of Legislation in Inclusion education The fact that a more systematic and pragmatic approach in the arena of Inclusive Education is of vital importance can be seen from the success pattern that the NSW Schools put into place and implemented. The NSW Disability Services Act 1993., the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977., Education Act of 1980 being in place would provide the necessary platform for capable implementation and the ensuring of long term benefits. According to the policy statement of the NSW Department of Education and Training (2007 – 2009) “the difficulties may vary in cause, nature, intensity and duration.” In such a scenario different children would experience different levels of difficulty which would necessarily require “one or more educational support services over varying periods of time.” NSW Department of Education and Training (2007 – 2009) A key role is played by the school’s support team to ensure that the specific needs of learning of all the children experiencing difficulties are catered to or met. The policies of the NSW Government Disability Policy Framework (1998) and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA, 1992) and Standards in Education 2005 in addition to the policy and commitment of the NSW Department of Education and Training within its Disability Action Plan 2006-2008 and State Literacy and Numeracy Plan 2006-2008 all reflect the responsibility and commitment undertaken 8 by these groups towards this cause. NSW Department of Education and Training (2007 – 2009) Why the NSW Schools are Different In continuation of the setting up and establishing of relevant legislation, the NSW plan of the government ensured proper conduct and smooth meshing of Inclusion into mainstream schools. Guidelines were initiated for Syllabus writers and this was done to ensure that the Board of Studies set up by the NSW government was able to meet and fulfill its objectives in this area. In this regard the Pakistan school had failed because the head of the school who is supposed to be “the architect of the institution” (Singal, 2005) was not involved in the policy making decisions and left different people to take care of it. Alongside was the directive and encouragement in developing high quality course material together with relevant support aids for Primary & Secondary education which will be suitable for the needs of the full range of students including those with disability. The study materials and curriculum was the same for normal as well as disabled children in the Pakistani school and this made it very difficult for the disabled children to cope up with the rest of the class. In the NSW system of education, student assessment was initiated wherein award credentials to international standards were given after due evaluation. This served to motivate and encourage the students towards higher achievements. In the school in Pakistan the children were expected to cope up and achieve according to the standard of the 9 class and the children with disabilities had to take part in all activities in par with the normal children in which they certainly fell short and could not excel in any sphere. In an NSW school, a path breaking initiative of permitting teachers to design and implement an integrated learning process attuned to the needs of the individual student, was put into force through the enactment of the 1993 Special program of study. By this ‘School Certificate Credentialing’ could be given to those students with special needs permitting entry for higher education and certification. This was not in the case of the Pakistan school because children were expected to be in par with the rest of the class and had no special certification allowing for higher education. Conclusion It becomes a conjecture for any school to be able to declare that it is fully Inclusive as it can be seen that there is still a lot more work to be done. There is a definite need for Inclusion in schools and even inspite of advocates for and against, yet Governments the world over are of the opinion, that it should be implemented to strengthen socio - economic principles and have been going in for such programs that help to enhance them to a higher level. In order to ensure success then it is advisable that the efforts of NSW, in their striving towards perfection in Inclusive education, be adopted and implemented. According to Carrington, Suzanne B. (2008) “Collaboration, team work and good communication have long been recognized as important qualities for teachers and a 10 characteristic of high performing schools.” She also goes on to state that the “Communities that value and respect members and provide a safe learning environment for everyone to express their views, build awareness and develop capabilities together are more likely to be inclusive.” Carrington, Suzanne B. (2008) 11 References Ainscow, M. (2005). Developing inclusive education systems: What are the levers ... Miles, S. & Kaplan, I. (2005) Carrington, Suzanne B. (2008) Home, school and community relationships. In: Ashman, Adrian and Elkins, John, (eds.) Education for Inclusive and Diversity. Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W., pp. 385-410. Dr. Kausar Waqar. A Case of an Inclusive School. Aga Khan university-institute for educational development. Meijer, C. J. W., Pijl, S. J. & Hegarty, S. (1997). Inclusion: implementation and approaches. Place and publisher Mercer, c. (1997) Students with learning disabilities (5th edition). Columbus, Ohilo: Assisting Students with Learning Difficulties – NSW Department of Education and Training https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/general_man/general/learndiff/PD20060342.shtml Stainback, S. & Stainback, W. (1996) Inclusion: a guide for educators. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework of Action on Special Needs Education (Salamanca, Spain: UN) Inclusive Classroom http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inclusive_classroom#what_is_inclusive_education.3f Benefits of Inclusion http//www.nlad.ca/inclusion.html Snow, K. (2003) People’s First Language. http://www.disabilityisnatural.com/peoplefirstlanguage.htm (Accessed online on 11th March) UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework of Action on Special Needs Education (Salamanca, Spain: UN) UNICEF http//www.unicef.org/rosa/inclusivePak.pdfhttp//www.nlad.ca/inclusivon.html Annotated Bibliography Ainscow, M. (2005) Developing inclusive education systems: What are the levers for change? Interpreting and analysing policy and legislation, Journal of Educational Change, 6, 106-134. This enlightening article by Ainscow, M. (2005) is based on research that was carried on for 10 years on an international level and highlighting the salient factors of the successful implementation of “Inclusion schools.” The article begins with an introduction of United Nation’s Salamanca conference on Special Education and goes on to explain why ‘inclusion’ should be considered as an international movement and the necessary steps to be taken in this direction. Dr. Kausar Waqar. A Case of an Inclusive School. Aga Khan university-institute for educational development. It’s features and reasons for failure. Reflective Paper (Part 1) This reflective paper written by Dr. Kausar Waqar serves to enlighten us on the Inclusive school in Karachi, Pakistan. The paper outlines the working of the school, its staff and its rules and regulations. It also highlights those points which were responsible for its closure. UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework of Action on Special Needs Education (Salamanca, Spain: UN) The UNESCO Salamanca Statement endorsed the implementation of ‘Inclusive Schools’ for the education of children with disabilities. The World Conference which took place in June 1994 had representatives from 25 international Organizations and 92 governments. The Salamanca Statement declare that regular schools should accommodate children regardless of their intellectual, physical, linguistic or other emotional drawbacks. NSW Department of Education and Training. Assisting Students with Learning Difficulties. The NSW Department of Education and Training (DET) released a policy statement in favor of all the children with disabilities. Their emphasis was on different levels of educational support which would necessitate the provision of different support systems which could be made use of over different periods of time. According to the NSW policy, the support system had to be very strong because they played a key role in the education of disabled children. Carrington, Suzanne B. (2008) Home, school and community relationships. In: Ashman, Adrian and Elkins, John, (eds.) Education for Inclusive and Diversity. Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, N.S.W., pp. 385-410. In her book titled “Home, School and Community Relationships” Carrington, Suzanne B. (2008) enlightens us on the importance of inclusive relationships between the schools, communities and the homes of children. She lays great emphasis on good communication and collaboration between the teachers and the parents in order to bring about changes for the better. She also highlights he importance of community organizations and other business groups who could involve themselves in different ways in order to bring about a good social change. Read More