Abstract
There are approximately 1,500,000 students in elementary, middle and high schools in Israel. In 1996 there were 230- special education schools in Israel, catering for 18,000 children in all, and numerous special education classes in regular schools, catering for a similar number of students, together making up 3.5% of students out of the total population. A further 3% receive partial special education services in the schools while they attend regular classrooms. The official policy of the ministry of education is to expand mainstreaming, at the same time special education schools receive wide support and are entitled to get donations in order to improve their technical assistance to students. In 1996 I was asked to head a team and lead the design and development of new curriculum guidelines for all special education programs, specifically for adolescents and young adults ages: 16-21. The present curriculum guidelines emphasize quality of life as its major aim. The definition of Quality of Life used is: Quality of life refers to the level of fit between the individual - his needs, competencies, interests - and his living conditions as it is evaluated by the individual according to his own system of beliefs, ideas, attitudes, expectations and conception of 'how the world works'. Based on this definition of quality of life, the overall aim of the curriculum is to enhance students' personal development and their readiness and ability to pursue a life of quality.
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