| Welcome
to our second contribution to The Educator. Our column in the last issue
was praised and I wish to share the compliments with all the contributors.
Many thanks for making it happen.
The theme for this issue is "Inclusive
Education". Some parents see Special Schools as the answer to their
child's education. Some see Special schools as the problem and
not the solution. Others feel that their child is a refugee from poor
mainstream school inclusion. Several parents that I spoke to said that
their child was "integrated" but not included. "What is
inclusion and what should be done about it?" I asked parents. Before
I go on to the individual contributions lets take a look at the Salamanca
Statement of the UNESCO World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access
and Quality (June 1994). It makes a number of statements. Three of those
relate to our present theme.
# Every child has a fundamental right to education
and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain acceptable levels
of learning;
# Those with Special Educational Needs must have
access to mainstream schools, which should accommodate them within a child
centred pedagogy capable of meeting those needs.
# Mainstream schools with this inclusive orientation
are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating
welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education
for all.
The statement went on to urge Governments to:
# Give the highest policy and budgetary priority
to improve the education system to enable them to include all children
regardless of individual differences or difficulties.
# Adopt as a matter of Law or policy the principle
of inclusive education, enrolling all children in mainstream schools,
unless there are compelling reasons to doing otherwise.
# Encourage and facilitate the participation of
parents, communities and organisations of disabled people in the planning
and decision making processes concerning the provision of Special Educational
Needs.
So, after almost 10 years - from 1994
to 2003 - inclusion is very much on the top of our agendas and here are
some views for this theme. A big thank you to Liu Guitao from Inner Mongolia
and Dorine in ët Veld from the Netherlands who took the time to write.
Your contributions are greatly appreciated. |
| Inclusive Education in My Village
Liu Guitao, Yong Chang Village, Yang Qun Tan town, Zheng Xiang Bai Banner,
Inner Mongolia |
| I am the mother
of a blind child named Jianfeng. Though he lost his sight at birth, he
is still my beloved son. In 1997 when he was seven years old, I sent him
to school. Because of his blindness, some of his peer classmates gave
him a nickname; some threw small stones at him. There was even once when
they dug a hole on his way home and he fell in and was greatly hurt. After
that he was reluctant to go to school.
In 2000, the Golden Key Project brought
the spirit of humanitarianism to our remote village. Everyone in the village,
including the adult villagers, school children, teachers and school headmasters
all gain a new and fresh look towards the disabled children. To make it
easy for the disabled children, they levelled the way to school and made
it free of obstacles.
His teacher, named He, took the advantage
of his summer vocation to teach my son Braille. On the day when he was
integrated to school, an opening ceremony was held on his behalf. A Volunteer
Group was formed to help the disabled children. To make the teaching more
effective, Teacher He not only formulated an Individual Teaching Plan,
but also made touchable teaching aids for him. In addition, when Teacher
He realized that Jianfeng liked to sing songs, he bought an electric musical
instrument with his own pocket money. He began to learn it first and then
taught my son how to play it.
Now there is always a classmate accompanying
him on his way to school and back home. I can often hear them talking
and laughing. His peers finally regarded him as an equal pal. |
What do I feel
about inclusive education? I, like many other parents, support inclusion.
What better than my VI son being educated in the local mainstream school
alongside his sighted and VI peers instead of in a special school further
away or perhaps even in a residential school.
But now, in secondary education, I find
there are many ëgaps' in my son's education. Often in Physical Education
and in many inaccessible parts of the ëvisual' methods that are in
use in mainstream schools, he's excluded from education. In addition to
that he learns no special skills, not even Braille; all that stops after
primary school in Holland. Sadly, in our case, inclusion is really not
working. Now he wants to study certain subjects that are "not on
offer" at his inclusive school. Even worse: they are not on offer
for blind students in special education in Holland either. There is no
Special education at the equivalence of A-levels at all.
I found a specialist school in Great Britain
that can meet his talents where, if I can find the means (money), he could
go. He's been assessed and made very welcome. I am reluctant to part with
my son for 6 weeks at a time, but of course I will not deny him a proper
education and I am fighting to get him there.
And my son? He says: "Right now I will
go to a special school no matter how far it is from home, if it means
that I can be taught the subjects of my choice." He realises it will
be difficult in another culture, speaking another language all the time.
But frankly I think he will adapt quickly and be happy, with peers with
the same interests, situation and intelligence around him.
Full educational inclusion should run parallel
to social inclusion with equal opportunities of accessing the chosen educational
subjects. At present we effectively identify what is ìwrongî
with a Special Needs children and then attempt to apply treatment to "cure"
what is wrong and we overlook their talents! In addition to that budgetary
and priority policies become barriers to having the child's needs met
so the child cannot reach his/her true potential.
These barriers also prevent structural international
cooperation. In all European countries due to "integration"
we see a loss of specialist knowledge, especially for certain "categories"
of very small numbers of children. We should create in Europe knowledge
centres for these "exceptional children" and from there support
mainstream schools and thus gain and expand knowledge in this field. This
doesn't necessarily mean travelling a lot. Once personal contact is established,
internet and online contact, using webcams for instruction and supervision,
can be a great help.
For inclusion to work, inclusive schools
should take a pro-active approach to the development of practice, procedures
and policies so that they can accommodate SEN pupils.
I would like also to make another point
- that of "pupil participation" - and I quote from the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: “Children who are
capable of forming views have a right to receive information, to give
an opinion and to have that opinion taken into account in any matters
affecting them”. Are we seeking the views and opinions of our children?
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