Towards Inclusive Education. Announcing a new DCDD brochure.
DCDD is soon going to publish a new brochure about education within its series of publications – ‘Towards an Inclusive Policy’. With this brochure DCDD wants to encourage development organisations to make basic education inclusive for all children. Exclusion from education reinforces and deepens illiteracy, dependency and poverty for disabled children and for all those who care for them in their families. Inclusive education was, perhaps, the earliest issue which was recognised internationally as being critical within the framework of development cooperation. The ‘Education for All’ initiative is, in fact, aimed at a wide range of marginalised groups, not just disabled pupils.
This article was published in DCDD's newsletter 12. Go to www.dcdd.nl?2919 for the full contents of this newsletter. For the article in Dutch language click to www.dcdd.nl?2922 Rachna, 12, born deaf. Because her father couldn’t cope with her disability, Rachna lives with her mother in the maternal extended family home. Rachna’s mother made a real effort to enable her daughter to attend school. From the age of three, Rachna attended a kindergarten for deaf and hard of hearing children. She then went on to attend Ankur primary school - the same school that Rachna’s mother and grandmother had been to. Rachna was accepted even though she was not yet able to talk. She learned to use a hearing aid, to communicate in sign language and to speak a few words in her first year of school. Recently Rachna has become a star in classical Indian dance despite her profound deafness. She performs in public events and has gained wide recognition. Rachna’s story, although quite exceptional, illustrates that inclusive education can make a real difference in the life of a disabled child. The unexpected way of thinking that her mothers family has, inspires, not only other parents but also policy officers to find unfamiliar solutions in education. Lack of attention DCDD’s mission, from the perspective of human rights and solidarity, is to promote the inclusion and social participation of people with disabilities who are living in situations of poverty and exclusion. DCDD challenges Dutch development cooperation organisations and the government about the lack of attention given to disabled children in educational programmes. The coalition wants greater attention paid to the problems of disabled children in the Dutch campaigns about ‘Education for All’. There are no organisations active in these campaigns promoting the interests of disabled children or who are familiar with inclusive education. The present educational culture in the Netherlands may play a role here, with the integration of disabled children in education taking place only slowly. The purpose of inclusive education is that all children should go to ordinary schools. Policy and practice must, therefore, ensure that educational programmes are also accessible to children with disabilities. Inclusive education presupposes equality and accepts each child as she/he is, with her/his own unique capacities. If special programmes are necessary for disabled children, these must be integrated in normal education. In the Mazabua region in Zambia, only 3 out of 238 disabled children go to a local school….. and this is because their parents are teachers. The other 235 will grow up illiterate, because the nearest special school is 250 miles away. Many parents believe that any kind of education for their disabled children is useless and so prioritise paying the school fees for their able bodied children. Prejudices Negative attitudes create real barriers in the mindsets of people and enable them to segregate and deny disabled children the opportunity of enjoying life growing up with and in the same way as all children. There is a lot of prejudice too against inclusive education. For example: “Investing in education for disabled children is economically not interesting.” It is, however, in the economic interest of the family and the State to invest in the education of disabled children. An educated disabled child is more likely to participate, to become self-reliant and to contribute than an illiterate child or a child who is separated from mainstream schooling. In this DCDD newsletter a discussion article is published about the economic dimension of education for disabled children (click to www.dcdd.nl?2904 to read this article). Another common opinion expressed is “Disabled children in the classroom slow down the pace of learning.” But if every child is approached on the basis of her or his capacities instead of their perceived inabilities, she or he has the chance to contribute to the class, to enrich the learning process and to develop her or his own potential like all children. All the children in a class room will benefit from child centred, flexible and creative approaches. In other words, inclusive education is good for everyone. Another prejudice is that special schools are better equipped and resourced than ordinary schools. This is also not true. It may exist in theory, but even if there are higher allowances per student, special schools have lower budgets and lack the capacity to offer the range of mainstream facilities such as libraries, technology and sports. And there are many other dilemma’s like this. Despite the evidence of its success for the participation in society of disabled children, and the high-level international support for inclusive education, the efficacy of this approach and the practicality of implementing it, continue to be questioned. Worldwide, inclusive education is still a fledgling in many cases. Prejudices against inclusive education must be challenged by presenting facts. But facts in themselves are often not enough to convince people. They do not change attitudes. Stories about real people show the other side of policy. By giving good practical examples one can touch people’s hearts. And by asking the right questions. The point is that people see children with disabilities as children in the first place; children who have a right to education. That does not require any expertise about disability. Changing attitudes Inclusive education is a process. Asking questions about who is excluded from school, and who is excluded from participating in learning, can be a very practical way of starting this process. The Index for Inclusion(*) suggests that inclusive policies, practices and cultures need to be developed if schools are to provide education for all children in the communities they serve. This requires a process of consultation and discussion among key stakeholders, and the Index contains many ideas about how to lead such a process. In India, before disabled children try to gain admission to mainstream schools, several special schools organise pre-school classes to train them in the skills they will need regarding daily personal care and, for example, in alternative or augmentative communication. Primary school teachers are trained in the use of alternative communication styles in the classroom with all the children. Both forms of support enable more disabled children to enrol, retain and succeed in mainstream schools. Successful strategies In many developing countries inclusive education is a dream rather than reality. But there are ways of making basic education accessible for children with a disability: - Developing a language of inclusion: encourage practitioners to agree on the meaning of common terms in order to prevent confusion and the misleading use of words. - Developing inclusive learning environments: the improvements will benefit all learners, not only those with disabilities. - Creating inclusive classrooms: the understanding that children learn at different rates and have different learning styles, ensures that all children are included, not just the average child. - Teacher training and development: short, in-service courses provide teachers with the confidence and competence to respond to the individual children – even in huge classrooms. - Sharing information: the dissemination of practical publications and the exchange of ideas builds confidence and helps teachers to find their own solutions. - Promoting inclusive policy development: use inspiring examples and internationally accepted policy documents like the Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 1993); the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (Unesco, 1994) can also be used to campaign for national inclusive policies. In Zambia a child-to-child project was set up to identify children out of school. The children identified first of all the disabled children who were invisible in the community. Consequently the project moved to encourage families to send their disabled children to school and to promote inclusive education. Disabled and non-disabled children were ‘twinned’; they used the same table, helping each other to take notes. The twinning system proved successful in helping disabled children to attend school, make friends and to participate in games. Target groups The new brochure has been compiled under the supervision of DCDD’s education working group. This working group focuses on influencing the policies of Dutch organisations and the government involved in Education for All in development cooperation. The educational policies of these actors need to change so that the right to education for children with disabilities becomes an integral part of them. There are other target groups which are also important for achieving the goal of a more inclusive society. They include the parents and the immediate environment of children with disabilities as well as the special-interest organisations of people with disabilities on the one hand, and policy-makers in developing countries on the other. DCDD’s approach is to stimulate awareness in Dutch development organisations, in whatever part of the world they work, about the need to ensure proper education for all. If these organisations make inclusive education a precondition, they will reach the parents and the policy-makers as a matter of course. Partner organisations rarely ask for inclusive education, because they usually know little about it. Also, they do not expect the donor organisation to sponsor it. This means that a vicious circle must be broken so that the donor organisations bring inclusive education to the attention of partner organisations and that the latter become convinced that education is a precondition for the further development of children with disabilities too. “I enjoy teaching more. The Inclusive Education programme in Lesotho has equipped us with different techniques for our so-called normal pupils; we even stay after hours to prepare. Even without the inclusive education programme we would still have to cope with the individual differences… I find that having the knowledge of assessing strengths and weaknesses helps me to understand the student’s needs individually.” (A teacher from Lesotho) DCDD’s newest brochure on education can be ordered from DCDD free of charge. The text can be downloaded from www.dcdd.nl?2924. Former publications in the DCDD series of brochures: - “As strong as the weakest link” (November 2004). An incentive to development organisations and governments to make disability an integrated element of policy and action. (Downloadable as a Word document from www.dcdd.nl?2485) - “Moving up the learning curve. Inclusive development today” (May 2005). Examples from projects of the Southern Partners of Dutch development NGOs illustrate good practice and show the way. (Downloadable as a Word or PDF document in English from ) (*) The Index for Inclusion is a set of materials to guide schools through a process of inclusive school development. More information on u>inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/index-overview.htm.