| John is 8 years old and lives in Ondangwa district in
Namibia and spends most of his time lying on the floor at home in a small dingy
hut. A fall from a tall date tree at the age of 7 years left him paralyzed
waist down. No medical assistance was made available to him, except that of a
local healer, six days after the fall. John wants to go to school with his
brother who is 13 years old but wonders how he will make the daily travel in
hot sand 13 kms. to and fro to the nearest school ? How will he learn in class?
Will not the other children make fun of his inability to sit on the stool/bench
like the others in the class? What will he do when his only friend Kofi goes
out to play? John asks these and many more questions about school as he had
attended one for a few months before the unfortunate fall. Seema from India is 6 years old and lives in an urban slum in the outskirts of Delhi. She has been denied admission in a neighborhood school, because her mother a tribal migrant and daily wage earner has been detected by a voluntary group of health workers to be HIV positive .The school authorities feel Seema's presence in the school will be opposed by the other parents. The detection has become the talk of the local migrant community. The father on being instigated by his male work mates blames Seema's mother for contacting AIDS. He used to bet her up badly every night before he left her and the family and remarried. Seema has five sisters and a brother who is just 5 months old. When her mother goes out to work Seema spends her day fetching firewood, cleaning the house, looking after her younger siblings etc. Khalid from Bangladesh is the first of the six children born to Begam Ahmad in the span of 9 years of married life. He has a difficulty in hearing and is oblivious of the rickshaw pullers loud bell and angry shouts directed at him as he trots along in the crowded streets of Dhaka, to deliver lunch to his father who is a tailor. He was given a hearing aid three years ago by a voluntary agency but the battery ran out and no one in the family had the know how or the means to replace it. Every morning Khalid angers some rickshaw puller or the other who are keen to get their next fare. He spends his day working with his father acquiring tailoring skills and doing small jobs like cleaning the shop and serving water to customers and attending to their needs. |
John, Seema and Khalid represent a large group of children in three-quarters of the world which form the so called "developing countries". Though efforts are on to meet their needs as a part of the global upsurge for education for all, millions of such children are still denied their human right to education. Their educational and other needs are often sadly misinterpreted and remain largely unmet.
Worldwide estimated 113 million primary school age children are not attending school (UNESCO 1998) and 90% of them live in low and lower middle income countries. Over 80 million of these children alone live in Africa. In these and other developing countries in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean there is a rapid population growth and often huge environmental, climatic, economic and material challenges to be met. Rising costs of educational provisions in many countries against a background of diminishing external aid and even faster diminishing value of money are also seen. War and civil conflicts, instability and natural disasters are on the rise and take their toll on education differently for girls, boys, rich and poor and the disabled. In many places children working is perceived as education and a process of socialization. It is seen as initiating them into skills, which will enable them to support themselves, their parents and their communities.
1. Education a challenging struggle
The immense variety of national, regional, cultural and social contexts in which learning has to be facilitated for all learners represents a challenge, which defies a single solution. It necessitates the need for determining differing modalities for inclusion. Our concern is to make schools effective for ALL children.
| Some key questions for deliberation.
But what does effectiveness mean and how can it be achieved to see a visible difference in the lives of children? How do we redesign systems of education that still bear many of the features of the purpose for which they were originally formulated? How do we provide quality education that promotes all children's participation and critical thinking, inculcating values of human dignity and peace and transform societies? How can we work towards the fulfillment of a child's right to education? A right that offers protection from a multitude of hazards, such as a life of poverty, bonded labor in agriculture and industry, domestic labor, commercial sexual exploitation or even recruitment into armed conflict with the terrorist activities in many regions etc.? What are the existing exclusionary pressures within societies and schools? How can we promote enabling education for all the disadvantaged and marginalised groups in the developing societies? How can education be made more flexible and relevant to the needs and lifestyles of the large rural communities in the developing countries? Last but not the least, how can systemic changes for inclusion be facilitated in countries. Considering the barriers what are the existing catalytic agents for promoting inclusive education in your country. |
1.1 Overcoming barriers to Participation
1.1.1 Enrollment, Retention and Quality in Education
Efforts are on in the developing countries to improve the quality and efficiency of education. In the recent past a lot of emphasis has been placed on enrolling children in schools as part of many government policies. However these enrollment drives are only a step towards providing educational provisions for all children. The lack of appropriate preparation of the systems which in many instances were not adequately done have resulted in turbulence of its own kind. Of those enrolled in primary schools large numbers were seen to drop out before completing their primary education with consequent personal, social and economic loss which the countries could ill afford. The big challenge presently continues to be to enroll out of school children, but equally to retain all including the vulnerable and marginalised to provide meaningful experiences. The agenda has to focus on overcoming barriers to participation that may be experienced by any pupil.
1.1.2 Responding to Diversity
Societies were more inclusive in the past and education was defined in a larger context where families and communities had a major role to play. Innovations and creativity are visible and stem from the strong desire and deep respect for education, which run deep in societies around the world. The industrialized countries of "the West "are often seen to be taking the lead in policy and practice on inclusive education, yet in reality, this is far from the case. The situation is not bereft of problems as many children find their involvement in education not very fulfilling. The factors responsible for the situation of course are different. A lot of effort is currently put in seeking support for inclusion from the parallel existing systems of special education. On the other hand in many of the developing countries especially in the rural areas we are not hindered by such a legacy of segregation, there is more community solidarity, and we have over the years developed more expertise in utilizing existing resources.
In the developing countries many examples of good policy and practice in inclusive education exist and excellent initiatives are taking place at the community level. There is evidence of "casual inclusion'' in many rural areas where often the issue is that if the child is not taken in the only school existing, where else does he /she go? Children are being educated in multi-grade classrooms, large classes, under leaking roofs, mango trees, in cluster schools and by radio, etc. A movement gaining momentum is the child friendly school, which imparts education using child-centered methods and processes by creating learning situations appropriate for each child and making learning a happy experience. The task ahead is to share experiences, learn lessons from these and other initiatives and provide more support in the future for considering possible ways of up-scaling them.
National commitments to education vary. Fund allocations are inadequate and mismatched between primary and higher education, available funds are also often under utilised and/or misappropriated. Budget heads within allocated funds also need to be studied. Providing quality education to all children in inclusive settings is by no means easy. It is not simply a matter of making schools or teachers available. There is a need to link macro policies to respond to micro level issues, since education is related to wider social and economic concerns.
The needs of large number of children who may leave the school system before completing their primary school has focussed on only the learner and what happens within the school. But it is becoming very clear that the focus needs to shift to the prevailing social context, and issues related to access and equity of provisions.
2. Barriers to Inclusion
Retracing steps…
Formal and informal education though overtly designed to facilitate learning, comprises a range of barriers to learning and participation. These could be structural, pedagogical, temporal, conceptual, epistemological, professional, financial or attitudinal obstacles. The barriers can be located within the learners, within the center of learning, within the education system, within the families and within the broader social, economic and political context.
These barriers manifest themselves in different ways and only become obvious when learning breakdown occurs, when learners drop out of the system or do not join it. Equally important is to recognize the existing strengths and harness support in order to transform systems from lesser to higher levels of inclusion. It is important to consider that often the indigenous solutions have come about through processes of struggle by learners, parents, educators, policy makers etc while trying to prevent barriers to learning.
Does education begin when a child sets foot in a primary school and does it end when the school bell rings and the class is let out. It often appears to be the other way round, if one was to see the happy faces of many children as they leave schools. Many a times education systems are unable to respond to the life style of the community. Barriers in learning thus arise. This is often seen in many countries for examples, with the nomadic groups and other marginalised groups. Educational innovations based on a thorough understanding of the community needs and characteristics can be rewarding.
Assessment and analysis should include `listening' to all children and adult's perspectives. This often poses to be one of the major barriers to inclusive practice.
2.1 Understanding Inclusion
Looking into Diversity
Inclusive Education is more than including the disabled, often taking away people from examining the many other exclusionary pressures within society and its schools. The disability issue being the focus is largely because many of the professionals directing such initiatives in developing countries are guided by training in special education they have received years ago in the developed countries.
The issue of inclusion is not concerned with how a relatively small group of pupils might learn along with others but it lays the foundation for an approach that could lead to the transformation of the system and the society. As mentioned earlier, inclusive education is concerned with providing quality education with special emphasis on all marginalised groups who experience barriers to learning and participation. They include not only those within the system who have not received the kind of education required to meet their unique learning needs but many who are outside the system who have no access to education and require support to unfold their potentials.
Who form this diverse group will clearly vary from time to time, from country to country and from location to location. Who are the learners within the formal and non-formal schools and outside these school systems? Are they those considered by many as lacking the required potential to learn - linguistic minorities, nomadic groups or learners excluded from the system because of a lack of resources, or children who have AIDS a misunderstood illnesses or TB or leprosy or whose family members have any of these conditions, or victims of child abuse, street and working children, school age mothers, or others orphaned by natural calamities, war or parental illness, or those who are first generation learners from poor families etc. A sadly neglected phase of development also includes the early childhood period affected badly by factors such as poor nutrition. Poverty, early marriage, cultural norms, and religious orthodoxy are the major challenges to female education in developing countries. The girls are doubly marginalised when these factors are combined with others such as disability, minority status, violence against them, malnutrition, or HIV/aids risk, poverty, etc.
To begin countries can be determining for themselves a set of inclusive principles and guidelines for the more practical aspects of the transition. Often in the past schools have ignored the origins of culture of the diverse learners, their role in community and their family's financial needs. The practice of inclusive education hinges on an understanding of this diversity among learners and planning sustainable educational provisions responding to specific situations.
2.2 The Starting Points
The starting point for different countries and within countries will be very different. In some countries there exist clear commitments embodied in the legislation, whilst in others there is no more than a general interest in inclusion or a dissatisfaction with existing provisions, while others demonstrate a serious commitment to move towards an inclusive system of education. Legislation alone cannot bring about change. In most countries like in the developed world there are supporters and opponents of inclusion, teachers and others with more or less developed skills, resources that are available and lacking.
Systems and structures and difficulties posed by low economic resources and large populations may pose challenges that do not lend themselves easily to inclusive forms. Considering that these factors are different in each country an understanding based on different change strategies are needed in each situation.
A belief based on a clear understanding to practice inclusion is essential. A workable strategy needs to be drawn from an analysis of situations with all possible stakeholders, involving diverse groups, and mobilizing public and professional awareness and support. Other initiatives may include identifying opportunities for change within the systems to further promote inclusive education. For instance, consider how administrative systems and structures can be modified; how ways of working by the education and related ministries or local bodies can be reviewed. In addition, evaluate the impact of different models and approaches of initiating change; and of a top down national reform process and bottom-up local initiatives.
2.3 Attitudes A limited understanding of the needs of the marginalised children often based on deep rooted cultural beliefs, resistance to change and ignorance are perhaps the greatest barriers to inclusive education which exist at all levels from policy makers to the local functionaries. Strategies for attitudinal shifts are generally designed on the experience alien to them. The need is to increase understanding of how people get influenced in a given context and develop mechanisms and processes to make this a continuous process.
2.4 Lack of Access Inequalities in the society such as urban/rural disparities, discrimination etc are linked with inadequacies in educational provisions as seen in the insufficient number of centers of learning and other facilities. The inability of learners to access the educational provisions and other services impact adversely on the learning process.
Out of school children are never counted. Nearly all education management information system is school based. Whose responsibility is this? Sometimes political considerations too impact children's education for e.g. children affected by war and children living in refugee camps. Host countries do not take responsibility for refugee children with the result, planning and resource allocation is based on skewed information.
2.5 Preparing the appropriate workforce In the developing countries the overall training levels of teachers are generally low. Training often tends to be fragmented, uncoordinated, inadequate, unequal and largely inappropriate to the existing needs. The move to inclusion, however, demands that regular teachers develop a high level of skill in responding to a range of diverse needs. It also demands that specialist teachers be trained to refocus their expertise into more advisory and consultative roles in regular schools. Further training needs arise with respect to other professionals such as for the community level workers, particularly parents, local level support personnel. Promoting and facilitating professional development for inclusive education is a major obstacle to overcome for inclusive education.
There is a need to set up a system for managing the resources and negotiating the percentage of resources required at the central and regional/federal levels. Considering that approaches to IE have to be experimented with to bring about meaningful educational change, resources are required. However, teachers and schools do not have the culture to get involved in exploring news ways of generating resources. There is always a divide between people who conceptualise and the large group of implementers.
2.6 Inflexible Curriculum
One of the most serious barriers to learning and development can be found within the curriculum itself and relates primarily to the inflexible nature of the curriculum which prevents it from meeting diverse needs among learners. Materials used for teaching and learning, which constantly reflect only a culture or life experience, may lead to learners from other cultures and life experiences feeling excluded and marginalised. One of the most serious ways in which learners are prevented from accessing the curriculum is through inadequate provision of materials or equipment they may need for learning to take place. Such barriers often affect learners especially with disabilities who do not receive the necessary assistive devices, which would equip them to participate in the learning process. Learning breakdown also occur through the mechanisms, which are used to assess learning outcomes.
2.7 Language and Communication
A further area of barriers arising from the curriculum, are those which result from the medium of teaching and learning. Teaching and learning for many learners takes place through a language, which is not their first language. This not only places these learners at a disadvantage, but it also leads to linguistic difficulties, which contribute to learning breakdown. Second language learners are often subjected to low expectations, discrimination and lack of cultural peers. Educators often experience difficulties in developing appropriate support mechanisms for second language learners.
2.8 Poverty and Underdevelopment
Many national policies in order to show their achievements impose false notion of equality in unequal segments of society thereby neglecting the relevance of equity. Only by desegregating the national averages can the poor who are huddled in the margins be located - in many countries, they are the difficult to reach.
A link between poverty and disability is also evident. People with disabilities are often those most easily excluded from the education system and from the labor market and are therefore the most poverty stricken in any population. Countries need to plan their own ways of engaging this group in continuously structured learning and development activities like the other children.
2.9 Inappropriate and inadequate provision of support service
Lack of a shared conceptual understanding, timely resources, inter ministerial linkages, inter sectoral connections, and, bureaucratic hurdles and, inappropriate planning are the key contributing factors to inappropriate and inadequate support provision. Another major compounding factor relates to the nature of human resource development of both educators and personnel who provide services to learners and their families. Lack of awareness, service provision which is fragmented and inappropriate to the context in which it takes place, demoralization and a fear of dealing with a diverse range of needs all result from inadequate and fragmented development of human resources.
2.10 Inadequate Involvement of Parents and Communities
Like disability, belonging to ethnic or linguistic minorities, poverty etc. has created a disadvantage in the education system creating wider social stigma. Education has often involved separating children from their families and communities to a greater or lesser extent. A lack of parental involvement in centers of learning and resources to facilitate such involvement, low levels of empowerment particularly in poorer communities and support for parent organizations are visible barriers in the system .
Promoting parental and community involvement poses to be as a barrier since the parents and community members of marginalised learners themselves often experience marginalisation living in poverty, or in isolated communities, or be members of ethnic and linguistic minorities. Most often they are uneducated and feel they have nothing to contribute to the schooling process. Sometimes, where women take the lead in issues to do with children, they live in societies where men are expected to be concerned with work outside the family as the bread earners. In such situations for overcoming these barriers school authorities need to develop the parents confidence and consider varied ways of involving them.
Promoting parental and community involvement poses to be as a barrier since the parents and community members of marginalised learners themselves often experience marginalisation living in poverty, or in isolated communities, or be members of ethnic and linguistic minorities. Most often they are uneducated and feel they have nothing to contribute to the schooling process. Sometimes, where women take the lead in issues to do with children, they live in societies where men are expected to be concerned with work outside the family as the bread earners. In such situations for overcoming these barriers school authorities need to develop the parents confidence and consider varied ways of involving them.
In many countries, religious and social organisations create a powerful infrastructure, providing support, advocacy and education to their members. Elsewhere, members of religious and ethnic minorities form their own support networks, which may supplement the formal efforts of the state education system.
There is also a particular contribution that members of marginalised or minority groups can make in promoting inclusive approaches within regular schools. By becoming involved with schools, they can raise the status of the groups to which they belong and/or can offer role models to learners within those groups. For instance, members of cultural, ethnic or religious minorities can make a direct contribution to the curriculum by explaining their customs and practices to learners from majority groups. Similarly, parents of disabled children or representatives of disability groups may have a role to play in 'demystifying' disability for learners.
In some cases, the most telling contribution will not come from direct attempts to explain minority cultures, but from the mere presence of minority group members in positions of responsibility in schools. Similarly, there is growing evidence that learners who are members of minority or marginalised groups can benefit from having access to positive role models from those same groups.
2.11 Intersectoral and Inter-ministerial collaboration
Inclusive education is a multi-sectoral concept. It has links with gender, health, social welfare and protection, poverty, conflict, natural disaster. Different ministries govern these sectors. However, there is a strong need for these Ministries and The Ministry of Education/Department of Education to plan collectively. Developments of monitoring systems, processes and indicators also need to incorporate this principle. Mechanisms need to be developed so that information generated through monitoring is used for review and future planning. There is a dichotomy where the delivery systems of inclusive education is often concentrated in the urban areas which is compounded by poor delivery of local services. So appropriate strategies need to be planned and their implementation evaluated.
2.12 Linking micro to macro issues
A lack of a clear understanding of inclusion poses challenges in all education systems. Sometimes inclusion is seen as location integration of special classes in mainstream schools, which hampers efforts for real inclusion and improvements throughout the education system. Political instability in many countries does not encourage innovations, neither does continuous financial constraints. Attitudes of the decision-makers, as well as lack of policies and support from the government and education authorities may discourage initiative towards inclusive education at local level.
The stark reality facing many practitioners can be off-putting with a lack of basic facilities, rigid school systems, lack of innovations, and school buildings in a state of despair etc. Teachers' low salaries might not motivate them to get involved in a development process that require more work and more time. These barriers to inclusive schooling are often the opposite side of the positive aspects of inclusion which are related to education, and some to the socio-economic situation of the community for example, religious, cultural and ethnic beliefs can sometimes hinder inclusion, as well as poor nutritional status of learners, chronic illness and poverty impact on the learning capacity of learners.
Inclusion is not an utopian dream, which leads to an inclusive society overnight. Conflicting views, contradictions, war, inequality will continue, the struggle is to find approaches, which will help, find continuous options to address exclusion.
3. Change Strategies : the road ahead…
3.1 Voices and Perspectives of Children
Understanding barriers through their experiences
Children experience life differently from adults, however, it is adults who plan for them. Is there a need to change? Considering children are going through the schooling process, should we not be asking them how they experience the learning in the classroom and the school. What learning situations are available within and outside the school? Is this learning a positive experience? Can they be involved in planning and monitoring learning?
When you talk to children the often quoted reasons for being pushed out, or not join school is the fear of punishments especially beating in schools, of being bullied by older children especially boys and peer pressure. Other reasons are related to learning experiences planned by adults: long hours of sitting, emphasis on rote memory, non interesting lessons, lack of connections between subjects/sessions. There are enough examples available.
3.2 Managing the Transition towards Inclusion
How can inclusion permeate the whole education system? Inclusive systems have to develop a coherent form of education provision from pre-school through the end of formal schooling. Strategies need to be developed to take account of this considering that learners are scattered across large numbers and types of regular schools and they choose to go on to wide range of vocational or higher education placement. Inclusion introduced at one stage does not grow into other stages (pre-school to high school and beyond). So how can planning and monitoring systems be set up so that, lessons learnt at one stage are transformed and modified to the next stage. How can we make links between educational systems and post education provisions ensuring that marginalised and disabled groups are supported in employment independent living lifelong learning and other forms of social inclusion.
The starting points will vary. Ideally it should start at the pre-school stage, but the movement may need to take other forms as there are learners who have gone beyond the pre-school stage and separate starting points and strategic inputs have to be developed.
3.3 Who is responsible to bring change?
Stakeholder analysis: roles and responsibilities
How do communities define the purpose of education? What do children and young people and their families think of the current educational arrangements? An understanding of this will help in analysing with them to answer the question - who have the responsibilities to deliver inclusive education? Most often quoted stakeholders are: Children, Parents, Teachers, School, the Education Administration, government, educationist, NGOs and donors.
Approach to work for inclusion should include:
| . | Building partnerships and relationships: the beginning will be to arrive at a shared understanding of the purpose of inclusive education by all stakeholders. Following this, development of processes and mechanisms of working together to achieve a common goal - clarity on what are the attributes of partnerships is required. How can teams be encouraged to work together? Will they be different depending on who you collaborate with? Country's need to look into the existing partnerships, their roles and how did these come about? |
| · | Networks and Collaborations: Country's need to clarify on what networks and collaborations are there, what are the gaps and accordingly what needs to be further developed and strengthened. Though the world has shrunk with the use of ready technology, there is still a major question of how to make experiences available especially in developing countries (currently available by and large available in urban areas). |
| · | Documentation and Research: this is a major area of weakness across the globe. Nevertheless, extremely important. Teachers who are closest to the experiences with children do not have the culture of recording their successes and perils. Researchers do not give the required weightage to grass root level study. Secondly, most researches are concentrated in developed countries and these models are replicated to developing countries without taking into account the contextual factors. Research findings are not translated for classroom practitioners. Third, research related to organisational climate of classroom practice is often not seen as a priority in developing countries, so funds are not available. |
| · | Public Education: Information, Education and Communication: If schools reflect what happens in the larger society then is there a need to address how we can reach out to them? Strategies need to be developed based on the present understanding. Accordingly, information materials rooted in the local context and communication processes need to be designed for public education. |
Considering the local context in countries other components will need to be identified and included.
3.4 Human Resource Development Strategies
The development of educators, service providers and other human resources is often fragmented and unsustainable. The absence of on-going in-service training of educators, in particular, often leads to insecurity, uncertainty, low self-esteem and lack of innovative practices in the classroom. This may result in resistance and harmful attitudes towards those learners who experience learning breakdown or towards particular enabling mechanisms. In service training is essential because it creates the conditions for inclusion to be realised. Pre-service trained teachers do not come to an unreformed segregated system. The senior teachers in school hold the positions of leadership by virtue their long serving experience and effectively control progress of school reform. They become potential change agents in direct contact with children, the parents and the school.
How can the cascade model of training a large number of teachers be made workable. Can we consider ways of school-based training and cascade forms of training giving better results? How can shared understanding of regular schooling issues be reached through joint training of regular teachers, special teachers, social workers, health workers, psychologists etc?. How can the aim of systemizing training into a coherent whole be achieved by countries? Can the different stakeholders work together on national plans to provide a framework to prioritize, identify gaps and assess existing resources?
Identify the stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities:
Often the focus of improvement in education has been on teachers. Promoting inclusion requires a shift in this mindset to include teacher trainers, administrators, education managers from Ministries of education and other related offices, local government officials, district personnel and NGOs etc. New skills and knowledge about the challenges that inclusive education poses with implications to the system at different levels need to be discussed. Special educators also require a new role as consultants to regular teachers and need to equip themselves with these and other skills related to the transaction of the regular curriculum. All stakeholders need to develop a shared understanding of the concept and what needs to be done. There is also a need to develop a working relationship between the different stakeholders.
Assess the competency skill, knowledge required:
The impact of teachers time away from classroom activities when called for in-service training need to be examined. The scope for distance learning supplemented with hands on classroom experiences for rural teachers who are often neglected need to be explored. Innovative approaches for upgrading levels of training amongst teachers and other professionals who have not received required formal education may need consideration. A crucial issue deals with the selection of trainers. Often higher education institute academicians are involved. Can we consider local and regional support staff or other school teachers promoting the teacher teach initiatives? Ways of building morale and motivation along with pedagogical skills and knowledge and opportunity for building proper attitudes and values need to be focussed. Teachers collectively know more than they use.
Can we consider planning training programmes on inclusive lines without the rigid segregation between regular education and special education? How can we organize support for teachers which is of a supportive kind than the current policing that goes on in the name of monitoring and supervision. There is a need to focus on advising and management related issues and approaches to inclusive education. Formal training is not always necessary. Opportunities can be arranged for different professionals to work together. These promote appropriate attitudes, ways of working and a common set of understanding.
Recruitment policies:
Rationality and criteria for the selection and recruitment of teachers need to be reviewed within IE context. To promote the participation of marginalised groups and provide for good role models, positive discrimination principle for their teachers needs to be followed.
3.6 Curriculum development and transaction
If inclusive schooling is to be more than just placement of learners in regular schools some of the following issues need to be constantly monitored by all stakeholders and necessary changes made.
What level of curriculum specification is necessary at the national level and how much discretion can be left at the local level? What aspects of current curriculum are likely to promote exclusion? What steps can be taken to ensure that the curriculum is inclusive in its impact on diverse social and cultural groups in the country? How can teachers be supported in implementing an inclusive curriculum? How can school level adaptations to meet individual learner needs and teachers preferred styles of working be coordinated?
3.7 Assessment Processes
What sort of assessment procedures are possible? Assessment processes are often inflexible and designed to only assess particular kinds of knowledge and aspects of learning, such as the amount of information that can be memorized rather than the learner's understanding of the concepts involved. The seriousness of such barriers is most obvious where there are large number of learners who are forced to repeat aspects of the curriculum, even if this means remaining in levels where the age gap between the learner and the other learners is significant. There is also an emphasis on quantitative outputs to assess the baseline status and improvement without considering the qualitative needs. Both qualitative and quantitative information should be given equal weightage.
4. Who pays for Education?
In inclusive education additional resources are desirable to meet the needs of a wide range of learners. It may mean unlocking of resources previously located outside of the school or it may mean optimal utilization of available resources. In developing countries this management needs to be done sometimes with a severe shortage of funds while at other times with an agreed non-negotiable amount.
There is an increasing concern that the support to education by donor agencies will not help sustain continuous education especially for the marginalised in the long run. We need to find new ways of generating internal revenue and reduce this external dependency. Country's have to make resources available for innovations in IE especially to the teachers and schools especially through decentralized rights based planning. Often global priorities and themes guide national priorities and budgeting processes without due recognition to the contextual priorities.
5. All for Children, for All the Children …
Societies were more inclusive in the past and education was defined in a larger context where families and community had a major role to play. Innovations and creativity are visible and stem from the strong desire and deep respect for education, which run deep in societies around the world.
| · | Inclusion is an idea a belief to discuss and elaborate according to local conditions and concepts not a universal prefab model to impose. Inclusion defies a single solution and necessitates the need for determining different modalities. Our concern is to make schools effective for ALL children. |
| · | The challenge for inclusion and overcoming exclusion are a challenge for all; the rich and the poor alike; rural and urban needs etc. The focus needs to shift from only the learner within the school to prevailing social context and issues related to access and equity of provision. |
| · | Inclusion requires everyone working together involved collectively in supporting learning at whatever level and identifying and responding to priorities of development as they exist locally. It is about maximising community resources, building new links and strengthening old ones. |
| · | Building local ownership and creating a "new space" for the voices of the excluded children and adult alike. |
| · | Countries need to consider ways of involving all stakeholders in a process of internal reflection and sensitisation on priority issues related to inclusion. A coherent policy and practice bridging the existing gaps is required. Inclusion is a cross cutting issue. |
| · | Barriers to exclusion are contextual and can be identified within national policies and cultures, communities and education institutions. |
| · | One of the major steps in overcoming barriers to learning is to focus on the nature of the barriers what causes them and how they manifest themselves. Equally important is to recognize the existing strengths and harness support. |
| · | It is essential to find ways to reduce external dependency and find ways to generate internal revenue. External agencies to give equal weightage to both the quantitative and qualitative needs of nations for extending support to inclusion. |
| · | Who are the marginalised children with in and outside the learning system? Who is responsible for children who are out of school? Sometimes political considerations too impact children's education for example children affected by war and children living in refugee camps. Planning and resource allocation is based on skewed information. |
| · | Formal educational systems need to determine ways of adopting methods used successfully in non-formal educational- innovations. |
| · | The implications for teacher training, curriculum development, building local capacity, community involvement, redirecting resources and intra-sectoral collaboration are key issues. |
| · | The urban bias in provisions of services and lack of efficient service delivery and infrastructure in rural areas. |
| · | Inclusion is premised on success and not failure and thus a cost effective system of education. |
| · | Working with differences opens up rich possibilities that might otherwise be missed. |
| · | Assessment and analysis should include listening to ALL children and adult perspectives. This often poses to be one of the major barriers to inclusive practice. |
Inclusive Education is more than including the disabled, often taking away people from examining the many other exclusionary pressures within society and its schools. Exclusion in educational settings (formal and informal) is also a reflection of where the society is and the people they marginalise. Inclusion in schools should help in promoting inclusive societies. It is not the children we must change; it is the education that needs to respond to the needs of the children and their communities. It is clear however that there are no readymade recipes, nor quick fix solutions or uniform remedies. Contextual issues impact the strategies developed for inclusion. It is primarily because many of the difficulties children face in their learning are connected to factors other than educational.
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