Inclusive Education: What It Is And How It Has Transformed The School
Formal education is one of the most effective methods of socialization that Western societies have built. That is why its theories, models and practices have been constantly modified and in response to the social, political and economic events of each era.
In this journey, and especially after education began to be conceived as a universal right, a paradigm emerged that defends that we must all access formal education regardless of our gender, ethnic origin, disability or socioeconomic condition. This paradigm is that of Educational Inclusion or Inclusive Education
Below we will explain in more detail, although in an introductory manner, what inclusive education is, where it comes from and what are some of its scope and challenges.
In 1990, a UNESCO conference was held in Thailand, where several countries (especially Anglo-Saxon) met and They proposed the idea of “a school for all”
Specifically, they wanted to complement and extend the scope of what was previously called “special education,” but they did not limit themselves to discussing the conditions of exclusion in which people with disabilities found themselves, but rather they recognized many other contexts of vulnerability in which they were found. find many people.
Four years later, at the Salamanca Conference, 88 countries agreed that education should have an inclusive orientation, that is, that it should not be limited to guaranteeing access to education, but also must ensure that this education is effective and efficient
That is to say, inclusion is a social phenomenon that for almost three decades has been placed at the center of the debate on education, which has generated and expanded an entire inclusive movement, which is not limited to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, but it has allowed change the welfare and rehabilitation model for an accessibility model in disability care, where problems are no longer sought in the person but in the conditions of the environment.
In short, inclusive education is the implementation of the inclusion paradigm in all areas related to formal education (for example and mainly in schools, but governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions as well as policies also participate). public).
Inclusive education or Educational Inclusion?
Both concepts refer to the same process. The difference is that the term educational inclusion refers to the theoretical approach or model, that is, the organized set of ideas that promote equal conditions in access to efficient education, while the term inclusive education makes a more specific reference to practice; for example when a school is implementing specific strategies to promote inclusion and accessibility.
Difference between special education and inclusive education
The main difference is in the paradigm that underlies each of them. Special education emerged as a tool to ensure that people with disabilities, in some contexts called people with special needs, could access formal education.
It is called “special education” because it is assumed that there are people who have particular problems or needs that general (non-special) education does not have the capacity to address, so it becomes necessary to create a different way of educating and meeting those needs
For its part, inclusive education does not consider that the problem is people, but education itself, which hardly recognizes the diversity of ways of functioning that coexist among human beings, therefore, what had to be done was not a “ special education” for “special people”, but a single education capable of recognizing and value differences and address them on equal terms
That is to say, education for all, or inclusive education, is not about expecting us all to be the same, and much less about forcing children to have the same abilities, interests, concerns, rhythms, etc.; On the contrary, it is about creating an educational model that in practice allows us to recognize that we are very different, both in our way of functioning and in the ways of processing or transmitting information, which is why we must create strategies, programs and policies that are diverse and flexible.
Finally, although inclusive education is often directly associated with the intention to incorporate people with disabilities into educational systems, it is rather about recognizing the barriers to learning and the barriers to participation that are put in place. for reasons not only of disability, but also of gender, cultural, socioeconomic, religious etc.
From agreements to actions
So what could we do to make education inclusive? In principle barriers to learning and participation must be detected For example, carrying out qualitative evaluations that allow a broad and deep understanding of the particular educational context, that is, the characteristics, needs, facilities and conflicts of a specific school.
Hence, evaluate the possibilities of action being realistic and raise awareness for the educational community (teachers, family members, children, administrators) so that a paradigm shift is promoted and not just politically correct discourse.
Another example is the curricular adaptations or the accompaniment within the classroom that are carried out after having detected the particular needs of both boys and girls as well as the teaching staff. It is largely about being empathetic and receptive and having the willingness to analyze phenomena not only at a micro level.
Although it is a project very committed to human rights and with very good intentions, as well as many success stories, the reality is that it continues to be a complicated process.
One of the problems is that it is a proposal that “developed countries” aspire to, and “developing countries” under unequal conditions, which means that Its impact has not been generalized to all countries and socioeconomic contexts
Furthermore, barriers to learning and participation are difficult to detect because frequently, the pedagogical activity is focused on the needs of the teacher (the time he or she has to teach, the number of students, etc.), and the problems are focused on children, which also promotes in many contexts an excess of psychopathological diagnoses (for example, overdiagnoses of ADHD).
Inclusive education is then a project that gives us very good future forecasts, especially because children who live together and recognize diversity are the future adults who will create accessible societies (not only in terms of space but in terms of learning and knowledge), but it is also the result of a very complex process that It depends not only on professionals, much less on children, but on educational policies and models the distribution of resources, and other macropolitical factors that must also be questioned.
