Implementing Article 24-Inclusive Education : A challenge for

Governments

Richard Rieser Disability Equality in Education r.rieser@diseed.org.uk

Developing Inclusive Education: A Commonwealth PerspectiveA guide to implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

Article 24 UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities

• “All disabled children and young people can fully participate in the state education system and that this should be an ‘inclusive education system at all levels” [para 1]

• “The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential”[para.2 ]

• “This right is to be delivered within an inclusive primary and secondary education system, from which disabled people should not be excluded.” [para.2 ]

• Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education; 2d

• Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.2e

Article 24 continued3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and

social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:

(a) Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;

(b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

(c) Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

The Value of Education• Education is a passport to a worthwhile life, a job

and family life and for decades disabled people have been disadvantaged by their exclusion from the education system.

• Education and disabled people’s experience of accessing it, or their lack of it, raises powerful emotions among disabled people, as it is so strongly linked to their development of a sense of self and self-image.

• 650 million disabled people worldwide are largely excluded from work and the economy

Inequalities in access to education.

• UNESCO[1993] identifies only 3% of disabled children as completing primary education in the South majority world; only 1% disabled girl children.

• Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education by 2015 will not be reached unless disabled children are included.

• Of 113 million children not in school as many as 50% are likely to be disabled.

Access to mainstream in the North

• In the North inclusion is still very patchy and quite recent,

• This has meant disabled people with more significant impairments being forced into special schools or,

• Having to take their chances with piecemeal integration.

• 2 million disabled children are in hospitals/institutions in Ex-Soviet republics and eastern Europe.

Challenge for Disability Movement• This history of exclusion, separation or having to fit

into settings full of barriers has been very damaging for disabled people.

• Overwhelming one gets the feeling of being rejected, not being welcomed and valued.

• If the Disability Movement around the world is going to play a leading part in implementing Article 24, then activists need to revisit their school and education experiences and reinterpret them as a denial of human rights rather than some inadequacy in themselves.

• Training the Trainer Disability Equality Courses focussing on inclusive education.

Inclusion: A Challenge for Government

• Develop training capacity for teachers, principals, administrators, disabled people and parents;

• Make schools and curriculum accessible to all learners

• Reject inflexibility and centralisation• Methods of assessment need to be flexible• The local community needs to be enlisted• Need to develop a can do approach

Inclusion is fundamentally about assuring access, permanence, quality learning and full participation and integration of all children and adolescents, particularly for members of disadvantaged and poor societies, those with disabilities, those who are homeless, those who are workers, those living with HIV and Aids and other vulnerable children. Protection against discrimination based on culture, language, social group, gender or individual differences is an inalienable human right that must be respected and fostered by education systems.

(The Dakar Framework for Action, 2000).

Shifting the Paradigm

• “Recognizing that disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction of persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

• Move from a dominant medical model to a social model approach

1981 Disabled People’s International Adopt Social Model

• “Impairment is the loss or limitation of physical, sensory or mental function on a long-term or permanent basis.

• Disablity is t’he loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community due to physical and social barriers”. DPI 1981

• Nothing About Us Without Us

CHILD DEVELOPMENT TEAM SPECIALISTS

GPs

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS

SPEECH THERAPISTS

BENEFITS AGENCY

DISABLED PEOPLE AS PASSIVE RECEIVERS OF SERVICES AIMED AT CURE OR MANAGEMENT

SHELTERED WORKSHOPS

DOCTORS

TRAINING CENTRES

SPECIAL SCHOOLS

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

SPECIAL TRANSPORT

SURGEONS

SOCIAL WORKERS

The dominant view is the Medical Model.

The Social Model of disablement focuses on the barriers

DISABLED PEOPLE AS ACTIVE FIGHTERS FOR EQUALITY WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ALLIES.

LACK OF USEFUL EDUCATION

INACCESSIBLE ENVIRONMENT

DE-VALUING

PREJUDICE

INACCESSIBLE INFORMATION

INACCESIBLE TRANSPORT

‘BELIEF’ IN THE MEDICAL MODEL

POVERTY

SEGREGATED SERVICES

DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT

Special education

An education system for ‘normal’ children (round pegs); a differentsystem for ‘special needs’ children (square pegs).

In education this has meant moving from segregation through integration to inclusion.

Integrated Education

Integrated education Trying to change children so they fit into the ‘normal’ system (making square pegs fit into round holes)

Inclusive Education

Inclusive education All children are different – we change the system to accommodate everyone

Deep rural areas – no access to special schools or support services unless in closest local school

Integrated Education

Child as Problem

Does not respondCannot learn

Has special needs

Needs specialequipment

Cannot get to school

Is different to other children

Needs special environment

Needs specialteacher

Agra Conference 1998

Inclusive Education

Education System As A Problem

Teachers attitudesRigid methods

Rigid curriculum

InaccessibleEnvironments

Many drop outsMany repeaters

Teachers and Schools

Not supported

Parents notinvolved

Lack of teaching aidsand equipment

Poor quality teaching

Agra Conference 1998

Developing Inclusive Education-NationalOrganisation

• National Curriculum Flexible• Primary education free to

all-sufficient schools and teachers available

• Pupil centered approach where all can progress at their optimum pace.

• Assessment systems are flexible to include all learners

• Specialist teachers available

Activity• Means of making

curriculum accessible to all available

• Teachers all trained in inclusive teaching

• School environments adapted

• Curriculum materials accessible

• Child centered pedagogy encouraged

• Innovative ways found to expand

Developing Inclusive Education-Regional and District LevelOrganisation

• Education administrators link with health and CBR workers with a joint inclusion strategy

• Education Administrations link with and develop disabled advisors

• Recruit sufficient teachers and support staff and to reduce class size

• Training for teachers, parents, and community leaders

• Develop centers with equipment and expertise on techniques e.g. augmented and alternative communication

• Sufficient schools and that they are accessible.

• Specialist teachers in teaching those with visual ,hearing, learning or behavioural impairments work with a range of schools.

Activity• Ensure all disabled children

identified are enrolled in their local schools

• Run regular training for and with disabled advocates and activists

• Utilise those within the community who have completed their elementary education to support learning

• Run regular training on inclusive teaching and learning for teachers and teacher exchanges

• Run regular training for parents and community leaders on inclusive education

• Train and use local unemployed to build and adapt school environments that are accessible.

• Support parents of disabled children to empower their children

Developing Inclusive Education-School/ClassroomOrganisation

• Ensure sufficient staff and volunteers are in place to provide support for disabled children

• Ensure all staff understand and know what is required of them to include disabled children

• Support an innovative curriculum• Create a school/classes that

welcomes difference and in which pupils support each other.

• Assessment is continuous and flexible

• Make the school the hub of the community

Activity• Inclusion audit regularly and

then ensure school environment & activities accessible and information available in alternative forms as required e.g. Braille, audio, pictures, signing, objects, movement.

• Make sure the curriculum and how it is taught is accessible to all with a range of learning situations, styles and paces

• Teachers support each other in planning and developing inclusive practice

• Assessment is formatively used to assess what children have learnt.

Early Years Nursery Schools Dharavi, Mumbai, Inia

Football, Inclusive School Oriang, Kenya

Inclusive Class, Zanzibar

Katie visiting shops in a social use of language group, Batheaston PrimaryBath and North East Somerset, England

A thought to end!

• “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”