Theodora Papadopoulou, PhD
Program Manager of Special Education Courses
Lecturer at New York College
theodora.papadopoulou@gmail.com, dpapadopoulou@nyc.gr, 6947809078
Throughout the world, educators try to develop positive educational experiences that all children can enjoy and benefit from. This is the basic notion of inclusive education. Inclusive education means enriching and rewarding educational experiences in a school that accepts diversity and finds ways to make all students benefit from the educational system.
The National Centre on Educational Restructuring and Inclusion developed the following definition of inclusive education:
“Providing to all students, including those with significant disabilities, equitable opportunities to receive effective educational services, with the needed supplementary aids and support services, in age appropriate classrooms in their neighbourhood schools, in order to prepare students for productive lives as full members of society.”
Inclusion is about belonging and participating in a diverse society.
Teachers make modifications, adaptations and accommodations to classroom activities, in order to include children with disabilities and other special needs in their classroom and to enhance their participation.
In the last few decades, the view of special education has changed in all societies. Instead of segregating students with special needs in special classes and schools, inclusive education supports the notion that schools should be made to meet the needs of all students. The educational system is responsible for including students with different educational needs in the mainstream schools. The idea of inclusion seems to be a major challenge in many countries (Flem & Keller, 2000; Haug, 1999; Snyder, 1999; Hughes, Schumm & Vaughn, 1996).
Several laws have been legislated worldwide in order to open doors of public schools to students with special educational needs. The first one was Public Law 94-142, the Education for All the Handicapped Act (1975).
This law features two provisions:
§ All handicapped children should be provided a free appropriate public education
§ This education must take place in the least restrictive environment.
The previous law went through several revisions and in 1990 it was renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The law states that a continuum of placement options be made available to meet the needs of students with special needs. The law requires that:
To the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities are educated with children who are not disabled, and that special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from regular environments occurs only when the nature or severity of disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be attained satisfactory (IDEA, Sec 612 5B).
Teacher’s attitudes towards inclusion vary across the education field. Numerous studies have involved teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. In some studies the term integration or mainstreaming is used, while in others the term inclusion is preferred. They all seem to refer to a situation in which a class, a school, or an educational system tries to meet the needs of students with different educational needs.
Inclusive education is an ideology that mirrors equality among learners, barrier free participation and integration. The core of this ideology is that each institution must be ready and flexible to change its policies and curriculum in order to accept and absorb students who need different teaching approaches and in some cases appropriate adaptations in order to develop their potentials in the regular classroom. Inclusive environments value the integral right of each individual to share equal educational opportunities that will help them enjoy positive learning experiences.
In an inclusive school environment, all professors are trained in behaviour management techniques and specialized teaching strategies. (Anne-Marie Wright, Sina Abdi-Jama, Susan Colquhoun, Jan Speare, Tracey Partridge, 2006).
Inclusion has become a critical part of a worldwide effort to improve the delivery of services to students with disabilities by focusing on the placement of these students in the general education setting. Educators focus on the strengths of the students, not on their weaknesses, helping them not only to progress but also to boost their self esteem. The educators are trained to be able to successfully solve and bypass any issue that may come up in the classroom. (Gavin Reid, 2005)
Since the federal mandate that all children with disabilities be educated in the least restricted environment, the notion of including students with disabilities in the regular classroom has generated considerable discussion worldwide. Although the basic belief of the inclusion model originated within the social justice movement (Dunn, 1968; Edmonds, 1979; Lipsky & Gartner, 1987; Villa, Thousand, Meyers, & Nevin, 1996), the actual implementation of educating students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment has received enormous criticism (Coates,1989;Kauffman, 1989; Kauffman, Gerber, & Semmel, 1988; Lieberman, 1985; Manset & Semmel, 1997; Semmel, Abernathy, Butera, & Lesar, 1991). Supporters of inclusion have stated that children with disabilities should be educated in the general education classroom with the provision of supplementary aids and services (Lipsky & Gartner, 1989; Stainback & Stainback, 1984).
It is worth mentioning that although inclusion movements have received positive remarks by educators (Coates, 1989; Kauffman, 1989; Kauffman et al., 1988; Semmel et al., 1991), a lot of effort and serious training can reassure positive results in the general field of school and social inclusion.
That means that in order for inclusion to be effective, the school personnel, both teachers and administrative staff, must be responsive to the demands of educating students with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers (Garvar-Pinhas & Schmelkin, 1989).
School inclusion is an inseparable part of social inclusion. Learning to accept and appreciate diversity is the first and most important step towards social inclusion.
It has to be pointed out, though, that not all educators and educational systems around the world are in favour of inclusion. As mentioned before, a lot of debates have taken place and a lot of researches have been conducted. It cannot be questioned, though, that in an inclusive setting, all students are benefited by the interaction with both students with and without disabilities (Block, 2000). An inclusive environment benefits all students by providing them (a) opportunities to learn and practice social skills in more natural environments, (b) giving them opportunities to learn appropriate behaviour, (c) interact with peers who have disabilities as well as those without ones, (d) participate in age appropriate activities for all students, and (e) develop relationships with others (Block, 2000).
There is a long way to go regarding the placement of all students in a regular classroom with equal learning opportunities. It requires training, knowledge, patience, persistence and a lot of flexibility. As mentioned before, the individual needs of each student with or without disabilities should be highly taken into serious consideration in order to achieve the utmost benefits of an inclusive environment.