Inclusive Education at the Kindergarten Level - Research Paper Example

The terms ‘inclusion’ or ‘inclusive education’ have, more often than not, been used interchangeably by educators and policymakers to refer to the availability of education for all learners regardless of social backgrounds or physical limitations (Weber, 2012). In most cases, these terms serve to mainstream the handicapped or disabled (with special needs) into the traditional classroom or rather the regular and formal method of education.

The United Arab Emirates is among the countries that have undergone a number of reforms in the education sector over the past few years. Leading educationalists, scholars as well as professionals have been instrumental in driving these reforms. This is because of the rapid economic growth and the increasing need for wide-ranging changes in the educational arena (Usman, 2011). In 2006, the UAE recognized the need to empower and support children with special needs. According to the Ministry of Education - Special Education Department (MOE) (2015), the government ratified the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations (UN), the Federal Law 29/2006, and the Disability Act to protect the rights of special needs children and adults.

Moreover, the government also developed rehabilitation and vocational centers, supported Special Olympics, and made an effort to incorporate special needs children within the ordinary school setting (MOE, 2015). Within the education sector, the UAE government strives to ensure that all children have access to private and public schools. In addition, the government also makes it illegal for any learning institution to reject an admission, fail, or hold back a special needs child (MOE, 2015). Furthermore, the UAE government facilitates the inclusion reform by providing special education teaching permits to the Ministry of Education, developing university curriculum for special needs educators, and adapting at least 100 public schools for SN education (MOE, 2015) This ensures that teachers receive appropriate training on specialized courses for the inclusion of SN children in their classrooms.

Lastly, the government supports the inclusion reform by ensuring that schools meet the much-needed equipment requirements for sponsored SN children. An inclusive assessment team is responsible for evaluating the needs of disabled children in these schools, following up on the children’s progress, and ensuring teachers develop Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for every student (MOE, 2015). Statement of the Research Problem Despite the existence of the Education Ministry’s Regulatory Framework, the inclusion process has been affected by a myriad of challenges in UAE schools.

To start with, most teachers still find it difficult to teach special needs, children. Anati and Ain (2012) argue that this is true for teachers who do not receive pre-service training in special education. Such teachers feel ill-equipped to handle the needs of disabled students alongside those of non-disabled students. Another prevalent challenge is that the Ministry of Education is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring special education is provided at all levels in public schools and monitoring the adoption of inclusion in private schools.

As Alghazo and Gaad (2014) agree, it can be challenging for national governments to ensure that each and every school is complying with the inclusion reform and to monitor the adoption of this reform in every school. Based on the author’s arguments, the UAE government could find it difficult to ensure reform compliance due to financial and personnel limitations to visit each school for evaluation. Even worse, is that some schools are quite unaware of how best to implement the inclusion principles.

Gaad (2011) confirms this could be attributable to a lack of training for school principals and administrators on the tools and techniques to facilitate differentiated teaching. Furthermore, the lack of standards or procedures to objectively assess the effectiveness of inclusion progress in most schools as well as limited feedback on the impact of inclusion on teachers and other students could affect the implementation of inclusion reforms in schools.