Strengths and Weaknesses of Key Inclusion and Integration Policies - Essay Example

? Strengths and weaknesses of key Inclusion and Integration policies implemented to support children with Special Education Needs In the past decade,various studies have been carried on the organization and management of approaches which are included especially for taking care of the difficulties and disabilities of the children in the educational institutions. Rigorous levels of work have been manifested on this domain at the national level and the governments also have adopted various policies with their following impacts on the schools. As for instance in schools in England, the real focus is given on the bureaucracy of inclusion and managerial approach which somewhat denies the very important role of the teacher in the schools. It therefore seems vital that a return is made to a focus on the work that teachers actually ‘do’ in classrooms (Farrell, 2003, p. ix). This is generally the crux of the movement towards the inclusive education for Special Educational Needs (SEN) (Farrell, 2003, p. ix). The paper focuses on different strengths and weaknesses of some of the inclusion and the integration policies (although there are many) adapted and implemented for the support of the children with special educational needs. Legal dimension of Special Educational Needs The children with special difficulties and needs find it harder and take much more time to adapt learning process as compared to most of the children of their same age. These children need extra effort and special treatment for their all-round development. In the legal perspective it is stated that “the children do not have learning difficulties just because their first language is not English. Some of these children may have learning difficulties as well” (Special Educational Needs (SEN), n.d.). The children special educational involves extra aid because of several reasons and several areas. The areas where the children need to be given special attentions are: “in thinking and understanding, physical or sensory difficulties emotional and behavioral difficulties with speech and language how they relate to and behave with other people” (Special Educational Needs (SEN), n.d.). Every child requires SEN at some or the other time in their education. For these reasons the schools and the organizations are the best institutions that can help the children in overcoming their difficulties easily. The basic principles for the education of the children with SEN will be required to satisfy the following criteria as: all children with SEN will have their needs met, the SEN of the children are to be normally met in conventional early education surroundings or schools, parents views should be considered and the wishes of the children should be listened to. Children with SEN ought to receive a wide, “well balanced and relevant education, including the foundation stage curriculum (for children aged three to five) or the national curriculum (for children aged 5 to 16)” (Special Educational Needs (SEN), n.d.). Inclusion policies for Special Educational Need Inclusion can be thought of a human right issue which seeks to neutralize the social exclusion and promote and implement the improvement of social cohesion. Among these one of the aspects is the educational inclusion in the society which targets at eliminating the barriers to learning and participation (Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Policy, n.d.). The agenda of educational inclusion is to respect all the students in not only to the academic curriculum but with respect to all aspects of school life including parent caring evenings, break times, school events and after school events. Exclusionary inclusion It is a general fact that studies have revealed that the disabled children are still highly excluded, marginalized in more inclusive schools. Dominant versions of educational inclusion are very often limited down “to a separatist resolution” which provides compensatory and remedial models of support. The focus is mainly highlighted on the processes of the students to overcome the barriers by devising specialist educational measures rather than devising measures which is necessary for the all round development of the child by including the social factors which preserves the existing social relations (Liasidou, n.d, p.171). Resource teacher in mainstream schools Following legal validation, new systems are introduced for the allocation to schools of research teacher posts and special needs assistant posts on full time or part time basis in mainstream schools with the focus of assessment of student’s special educational needs. Teachers are also responsible for providing long hours for meeting the special needs of the students (Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs Post-Primary Guidelines, n.d., p. 75). The primary tasks of the resource teacher is the teaching of the students with special educational needs implemented through the methods of one-to-one correspondence, in small groups or by the help of the cooperative help of the colleagues. The teachers can involve them by withdrawing students and provide them additional classes in literacy or in mathematics as needed, give special emphasis on the social and life skill development of the students and so on. Also, noteworthy to mention that the success of the resource teacher process depends to a certain extent on the model of organization adapted by the schools. But it needs to be mentioned here that whatever be the model of the organization be the resource teacher holds an important teaching function relation in relation to students with special educational needs and they also needs to be monitored properly in their execution procedure (Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs Post-Primary Guidelines, n.d., p. 74) . A case study An example can be cited in this case. In Minnesota, Rynders and his colleagues worked on the development of the educational result of the kids with Down syndrome for over three decades. They concluded with their data analysis that these students with Down syndrome were considered to be moldable rather than he possibility to teach. Their results found out that the teenagers in the mainstream schools responded positively to the inclusion principles. The results showed that the teenagers reflected much better spoken language development than their peers in special schools and also showed better writing and reading skills. Not only that they were also ahead in the fields of mathematics and general knowledge. The disadvantage which still persists is that there is lack of opportunity in development of the close and reciprocal friendship based on mutual understandings and support. The reason may be that several teenagers with similar type of difficulties were still in the segregated special schools (Education for individuals with Down syndrome - An overview, n.d.) School enrolment policy The main virtue that decides the enrolment of the kids in the educational insitution is the equality of admission. The general notion is that no child will be refused admission in the school based on ethnicity, special educational needs, disability, language/accent, gender, political and religious belief (Enrolment policy, n.d.). Studies reveal that many post-primary schools have prevalent restrictive enrolment policies which lead to the exclusion of the children with special educational needs and learning difficulties. There may be also existing operating policies within the schools that adversely affect the full participation of the children with SEN and failure to the reasonable accommodation of these students. Parents of children with SEN experienced difficulties in the enrolment of their child of their choice. Appeals have recorded in written terms under section 29 of the Education Act (1998). The management board should be liable for judging the discrimination in terms of admission with compliance of the Equal Status Act (2000). The management board is also liable for devising reasonable provision and accommodation for students with disability or SEN. The Department of Science and Education also complies that if discrimination occurs in terms of enrolment that practices should be immediately curbed and discontinued. The schools must revise their existing policies for an unbiased system of enrolment so that the children with disabilities will get the scope of learning equally (Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs Post-Primary Guidelines, n.d., p.44). In August 2006, the Irish school Colaiste an Eachreidh was established with 8 pupils and it was recorded in 2010 that the number of enrolment in the school is 98. It is an example of school where successful application of special educational needs have been adapted. The policies include examination of psychological and physical development evaluation, independent professional evaluation, and utmost efforts in the recognition and attainment of the student’s need (COLAISTE AN EACHREIDH, n.d.). Involvement of the parents-Parent partnership services In the full availability of the special educational needs of the students the role of the parents hold an indispensable part and their role, means of communication and their involvement should be specified in school policy in relation with the parents (Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs Post-Primary Guidelines, n.d., p.49). In this respect Parent partnership services (PPS) is one inclusion principle which is noteworthy. PPS are generally formulated to ensure that the parents and their careers of the children with SEN have total access to information, advice, and guidance on SEN matters to support them by providing informed decisions about their child’s education and overall physical and mental development (Evaluation of the Special Educational Needs Parent Partnership Services in England, 2006). For this purpose, the local authorities ( LAs ) should be responsible for information, advice and support provision to parents of children with SEN (Support for special educational needs: parent partnership services and other organizations, n.d.). These services are supported by The National Parent Partnership Network with funding from the Department for Education and Skills and the National Association of Parent Partnership Services in order to cover the costs (Parent Partnership Services, n.d.). The local educational agencies (LEAs ) posses a wide scale responsibility of providing optimal services to the parents but the parents prefers their dependence on the local authorities. The disadvantage of independence of the independence from the LEA is seen in the lack of funding and inability. Disadvantages of independence from the LEA were seen to be a lack of funding and the inability to influence LEA policy and practice from within, as well as a need for noticeable LEA ownership and commitment to the aims of the PPS (Rogers et al, 2006, p.6). Integration policies for supporting children with special educational needs EBD practices in the schools Pupils with EBD (emotional and behavioral difficulties) have been a challenge to the teachers in the mainstream as well as special schools (Helping children with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD), n.d.). The terms attached generally attached with EBD are ‘maladjusted’, ‘disturbed’, ‘disruptive’ or ‘psychiatric’ implying the fault of the students to adjust to several psychological and behavioral constraints in the school ( Layton et al, 2004, p.138). The characteristics of the students with EBD can be held responsible for various reasons that include neglect of the child due to acute poverty, parental stress, and biological menace like over drinking of alcohol by the mothers and so on (9 Basics of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, n.d.). The symptoms of the pupil with EBD which are often found are difficulty to form friendships, often become victims of bullying, school phobia, and others (Helping children with emotional and behavioral difficulties (EBD), n.d.). The school staff has a widening (teachers forming the major part) understanding of the cause and effect of EBD and they should be held responsible for the implementation of the policies relating to all aspects of life. These policies should include caring and listening to schools students that work closely with individual pupils and their families (Daniels et al, 2006). Since September 1994, when for the first time special schools where included in the OFSTED's school inspection programme, various schools were found lacking in the effective implementation of the policies which can attributed to the pessimistic behavior of the school management in delivering these students with actual help. So policies need to be more stringent for the effective evaluation of this process (Principles into practice: effective education for pupils with emotional and behavioral difficulties, n.d.). Supporting the children suffering from the EBD within the mainstream classrooms requires the perfect intersection of the behavior management policies along with optimal schooling policies and drive for raising the academic standards (Evans et al, 2003, p.1). Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) Students with deferred skills and other problems in schools might be entitled to special educational services which provide one-to-one education programs in public schools free of cost, which is provided by the Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) ( Individualized Education Programs(IEPs), n.d.). With the increase in the accountability for the improvement of the academic achievements, the school based professionals are on the verge of investing more in the development and use of the standards based Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) (Holbrook, 2007, p.1). In the IEPs the parents can work with the educators and develop plans to make their children achieve success (Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), n.d.). Generally in a school the principal has the overall responsibility for ensuring that IEP is written for each child with SEN but the tasks are generally executed by other members and staffs of the school who are known as the IEP Coordinator. Sometimes in the meeting with the parents a large number of school staffs are involved in the discussion and sometimes an IEP is drafted before an IEP planning meeting. This process may involve certain people to draft an IEP framework before a formal IEP planning meeting (Special Education Advocate, n.d.). The individuals may adapt a documented approach to the child’s abilities and needs, present educational level and performance, formulation of strategies which can be forwarded and discussed in the IEP planning meeting. The work drafted for the meeting is discussed and argued in the meeting. The advantage of this approach is that it allows rigorous thought and preparation in advance. But the disadvantage to this approach is that all the sides will not be sharing jointly the process of thoughts and scheduling which directs to targets and strategies. If this approach is to be used then it has to be ensured that the parents should posses the opportunities of sharing their prior demands and concerns. If the parents feel that the other parties have prepared IEP without enough collaboration and conversation they will be unlikely to be committed to it (Guidelines on the individual education plan process, 2006, p.19). Conclusion Special Education Needs is definitely a very significant policy which needs to be formulated in a proper manner and implemented in such a way that majority of the children can receive the most benefit of the policy. Difficulties of the children to cope with the school environment are a great issue which needs to be solved as the fate of the future generation is attached with it. Various policies have been also implemented and they have their own strengths and weaknesses. The teacher’s role for the development of the child’s future is indispensable and in the world of commercialization and business oriented education the role of the teachers are minimized. The teachers will have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the students in learning and have to monitor them as well as guide them in the appropriation of the future learning (An integral part of the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment cycle, n.d, p.1). It is a fact that many schools still provide pessimistic approach in taking admission of the children with disabilities. Enrolment policies need to be strengthened. Local authorities of the educational institutes and Individualized Education programs must be more active in generating a bridge between the parents and their understanding towards their child’s difficulties. 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