What is inclusive education?
Inclusive education that recognizes and respects human diversity is attracting attention. It is a system that builds a society in which children with disabilities and children without disabilities are both educated and coexist.
Consider the ideal inclusive education system and the merits of introducing it.
What is inclusive education?
Inclusive education is an educational system in which children with disabilities and children without disabilities learn together.
The purpose is to provide reasonable accommodation that each person needs, and if desired, anyone can study in a local class. Reasonable accommodation requires a case-by-case awareness.
“Inclusive” means “inclusive, wrap up.” Rather than being able to divide the learning place according to the presence or absence of disabilities, we find it meaningful to envelop all children and live in harmony with them with the support of reasonable accommodation.
Inclusive education began in 1994 when “Education for All” was advocated at an international conference of UNESCO. The move towards education for all children has become widespread
In Pakistan as well, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has begun to take measures, such as making the classrooms that were divided according to the presence or absence of disabilities the same.
Differences from integration education
“Integration education” is often confused with inclusive education. Integration education is also called integrated education. It is an educational philosophy based on the awareness of normalization in which people with disabilities live the same as people without disabilities.
However, it is hard to say that integration education was successful because it emphasized too much emphasis on “letting children with disabilities enter regular classrooms and learn in the same environment.” Due to the lack of necessary consideration for each person, problems such as excessive difference in academic ability and bullying occurred.
After that, integration education improved the problems and changed to inclusive education. The Ministry of Education, presented the direction of the inclusive education philosophy. Specific guidelines were set out, such as the improvement of the environment and the need for individual consideration.
Inclusive Education System and Realization
Inclusive education aims at comprehensive education. The idea is to participate and learn in school life without giving birth to children who are excluded because of their disabilities. It is necessary not only to put the excluded children in the same place, but also to support and build a system to coexist.
Attempts are being made to build an effective system for the realization of inclusive education. For example, to support children with physical disabilities, reduce steps in the school. Assign teachers with corresponding skills to children with learning disabilities. This is because it is important to prepare a learning environment.
The cooperation of local governments is also a great support. An environment needs to be improved for the coexistence of children in need of support. First of all, the policy of allocating volunteer staff is drawing attention. For children, the government and local adults should be aware of system construction.
Background of the establishment of inclusive education
Inclusive education began to spread mainly in the United States and Canada around 1990. In 1994, the “Salamanca Statement” was made at the “World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality” held by Spain and UNESCO. Special Needs This is about the principles, policies and practices of education.
“Special needs” correspond to individual considerations in inclusive education.
This Salamanca statement presented the ideal form of inclusive education and raised global recognition.
In 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a treaty that mentions inclusive education and has helped build the system. In Japan, it was ratified in 2007, and since then, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has been playing a central role in inclusive education.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Inclusive Education
Pick up the advantages and disadvantages of inclusive education. It can be seen that it differs depending on the position involved.
Benefits of inclusive education
For children with disabilities and their parents, it is a great benefit to have educational opportunities that have not been available before. You will be able to go to a local school from a life that you could only attend a special school.
Children without disabilities can learn the principles of a symbiotic society by engaging with children with disabilities. A symbiotic society is the basis of inclusive education.
For teachers, instructors, and educational institutions, there are benefits to deepening their knowledge of disabilities. It is expected that further improvement of educational skills will be expected by connecting with a wide variety of children and expanding their insights.
Disadvantages of inclusive education
Disadvantages are not without them. One of the possible disadvantages of children with disabilities is that they may be repelled by those who interpret the reasonable accommodation of inclusive education as “special treatment.” There are also voices concerned about the occurrence of bullying. This is the part that requires action on the part of the educational institution to gain understanding.
Children without disabilities may slow down their lessons, and inexperienced instructors may overwhelm the support of children with disabilities. In fact, it’s a sight seen in integration education. Adults need to be careful not to follow the same rut.
Teachers and instructors may feel burdened due to increased work due to reasonable accommodation for each individual. Educational institutions must also consider the costs of renovations, such as making facilities barrier-free.
Challenges and future prospects of inclusive education
Inclusive education is still in the process of growth. The first issue for the future is the enhancement of personnel at educational institutions. Reasonable accommodation is essential for inclusive education, but many teachers and instructors feel burdened due to lack of personnel.
It is also important to establish a teaching method that does not consider reasonable accommodation for children with disabilities as special treatment for children in regular classes.
In addition, the school facilities will need to be renovated so that children with physical disabilities can study in the same place, which raises budget issues.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology cites the renovation of school facilities and the improvement of the environment as short-term goals. Building a more effective system for inclusive education is a medium-term goal, and future measures are drawing attention.