iNcLuSive EduCation - documents.worldbank.org€¦ · inclusive education programs3, but rather responds to the demand for practical examples that illustrate an operational strategy

THE WORLD BANK 2006

iNcLuSive EduCation

Contributions from an experience in Uruguay

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Graphic design and print: [email protected]: +598 (2) 400 1685Montevideo, Uruguay

Dep. Legal: 338332

Printed in Uruguay

©2006 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank

1818 H Street, NWWashington, DC 20433

All rights reserved

Introduction 6

Executive Summary 8

I. ALTERNATIVES FOR SCHOOL INCLUSION

1 What is Inclusive Education? 10

2 The challenge of diversity 11

3 What are special educational needs? 12

4 Why include? 13

5 International Legal Framework 14

6 Is Inclusive Education more expensive? 15

II THE URUGUAYAN EXPERIENCE

1 Educational context 18

2 Attention to “special educational needs” in Uruguay 19

3 Legal Framework 20

4 Alternatives for School Inclusion 20

III DEVELOPMENT OF AN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION COMPONENT

1 Composition of the Inclusive Education component 22

2 A contribution to educational quality 23

IV THE INCLUSIVE SCHOOL

1 A tool for change 26

2 Types of Educational Improvement Projects (PMEs) 27

3 Preliminary Results 28

4 PMEs for School Inclusion and Transformation of Teaching Practices 29

5 Some examples 30

CONTENTS

V OPERATIONAL ASPECTS

1 How is an Educational Improvement Project formulated? 32

2 From awareness-raising to evaluation: the project cycle 32

3 Who participates? 33

4 How are participating schools selected? 34

5 How are the funds calculated? 35

6 What are the benefits received by schools? 36

VI COMPLEMENTARY STRATEGIES

1 The Role of State School Inspection Divisions 38

2 The Role of Special Education Schools 39

3 The Role of Civil Society 40

4 Development of a Network of Inclusive Schools 41

5 Advocacy and Communications Strategies 42

5 Advocacy and Communications Strategies 37

6 The role of schoolchildren as agents for inclusion 45

VII ALTERNATIVES AND CHALLENGES

1 Certification of included schoolchildren 48

2 Guide the transformation of Special Schools into Resource Centres 49

for Inclusive Education

3 Address the socio-cultural dimension of inclusion 50

4 Developing Mechanisms for Monitoring and Evaluation 56

School No. II from Colonia: A history of inclusion 57

Foreword | 5

Based on the commitments assumed by theinternational community during the MillenniumSummit, multilateral agencies are working withnational governments to promote the principles ofinclusion and equal opportunity, within the overallgoal of socio-economic development. The disabilityissue is intrinsically linked to this agenda.

Worldwide, disabilities affect at least 600 millionpeople, 400 million of whom live in the poorestcountries. If these individuals are denied inclusion inthe development strategies, it will be impossible toreduce poverty by half by the year 2015, asestablished under the Millennium Declaration. Ifchildren with disabilities are denied access to schools,it will be impossible to meet the goal of providingevery girl and boy with the opportunity to completetheir primary education by 2015.

Inclusive Education is an essential element forensuring that all children will be educated, regardlessof their physical or sensory condition or level ofintellectual development. The World Bankcollaborates with governments in Latin America andthe Caribbean to introduce activities and projects thatpromote Inclusive Education as a qualityenhancement strategy for all students. Whilerecognizing the important role of special educationinstitutions, particularly as training and resourcecenters for regular schools and teachers in general,

Foreword

the World Bank places a high priority on the inclusionof all children in the regular education system,including boys and girls with disabilities and/or withlearning difficulties.

The absence of adequate transportation, the lack ofteacher training for dealing with the needs ofstudents with disabilities, problems with equipmentand infrastructure in school buildings, scarceeducational materials, and inflexible school curriculaare just a few of the more frequent and obviousobstacles to quality education for all children. But themain obstacle is the lack of knowledge concerningthe great benefits of inclusion and the even greatercosts of exclusion.

Among other initiatives and activities in the field, theWorld Bank is currently focusing on developingimplementation guidelines to ensure that all newschools are accessible and that all teacher trainingactivities have components on Inclusive Education.

In the context of Latin America and the Caribbean,the most recent projects have already adopted thisapproach. This book documents one of these projects- the Inclusive Education initiative developed inUruguay since early 2000, as part of MECAEP1 , anational quality education project financed by theWorld Bank. The MECAEP project in Uruguayillustrates some of the numerous mechanisms for

1 The first MECAEP Project began in 1994. It is arguably one of the most innovative educational projects in Latin America, havingintroduced regular student assessments, the development of Educational Improvement Projects, implementation of fulltime schools,and universal preschool enrollment. A decade after the MECAEP Project was first implemented, Uruguayan schoolchildren partici-pated in the PISA evaluation and achieved some of the best scores in the Region.

promoting Inclusive Education. The project provides avaluable example of what a country can do to inspireand encourage the educational community to ensureinclusion in the classrooms, and through theclassrooms, to reach the homes with a neweducational paradigm, oriented towards diversity andthe inclusion of all.

The MECAEP experience has demonstrated that it ispossible to effectively expand coverage and movebeyond special settings exclusively dedicated todisabled pupils. By providing financial support directlyto regular schools, on the request of the schoolcommunities and according to their particular needs,new solutions, resources and opportunities forinclusion and a better quality of education for allschool children were generated throughout Uruguay.

The funds can cover technical assistance for teachertraining, implementation and monitoring ofcurriculum adaptations, school transport, buildingaccessibility, pedagogic materials and resources.

Uruguay: Una experiencia de inclusión escolar | 6

Besides the direct impact on pupils’ education, ithelps generate extensive awareness-raising in theeducational system and in the community at large.

In presenting this experience, the World Bank seeksto review and expand its own role in the area ofInclusive Education, beyond the financial supportprovided to countries to implement programs, butalso promoting knowledge and practice for a realinclusive approach to development.

Ricardo Rocha SilveiraSENIOR ECONOMIST, LACEDUCATION SECTOR

WORLD BANK

Rosangela Berman BielerLAC DISABILITY AND INCLUSIVE

DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST,WORLD BANK

2 The funding for Inclusive Education does not represent an “institution” within itself but the resources equivalent to one million USdollars mobilized to support Educational Improvement Programs in the framework of the Improvement of the Quality of PrimaryEducation. A significant part of these resources were earmarked in favor of Inclusion Projects

3 For further information on the conceptual aspects and main conclusions on inclusive education, we recommend the report “Educa-tion for All-Together: including children with disabilities”, by Susan Peters, part of the World Bank Series on Education.

This report describes an experience, developed jointlyby the Uruguayan National Department of PublicEducation (ANEP) and the World Bank, of theimplementation of an Inclusive Educationcomponent2 . The goal is to demonstrate a concreteexample of what countries can do to implement suchinclusive education in practice, within the frameworkof strategies proposed by the “Education for All”initiative and the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs).

This document does not attempt to provide eitherdetails of the conceptual framework or politicalarguments for setting the international guidelines ofinclusive education programs3 , but rather responds tothe demand for practical examples that illustrate anoperational strategy. One of the promisingcharacteristics of the Uruguayan experience with theimplementation of the Inclusive Educationcomponent was that it did not require additionalprograms or resources; rather, the process wasincorporated as a new tool within an overall strategyfor improving the quality of education in the country.Although the fact that the component has only

Introduction

recently been implemented (2003) prevents anexhaustive study of its results and impact thus far,publicizing the experience internationally is justifieddue to the need for documentation of actualexperiences developed on a national scale. It is hopedthat this will allow the public to envisage models forthe implementation of inclusive education.

The report was prepared by Sergio Meresman underthe supervision of Rosangela Berman Bieler andRicardo Rocha Silveira for the Department of HumanDevelopment, Latin America and the CaribbeanRegion, World Bank, and received funding from thegovernment of the Netherlands. The report wasbased on documents and contributions from theBoard of Primary Education (ANEP-CODICEN),Uruguay, elaborated by Teresita González deTantessio, Gladys Delgado, Luis Belora, Ivonne Vidal,Stella de Armas, Anahir Martinol, and Rosario Valdés.In the chapter dedicated to evaluation proposals, weconsidered drafts made by the Department ofEducational Improvement Projects from CEP and byHelena Vianna.

Introduction | 7

This document describes the experience developedjointly by the National Department of PublicEducation (ANEP) of Uruguay and the World Bank inthe implementation of an Inclusive Educationcomponent.

In 2003 and 2004, the Inclusive Educationcomponent supported the implementation of SchoolInclusion Projects in 125 Schools of Regular Educationand in 13 School Inclusion Projects in Uruguay. Theregular schools are using Inclusive Education funds toprovide architectural improvements (to facilitateaccess and mobility for children with visual, hearing,or mobility disabilities within the school space), toobtain specialized support and training for itsteachers to meet the academic needs of all theirstudents, and to promote inclusive participation byfamilies and the overall community. Special educationinstitutions and civil society organizations participatedin the strategy as support and advisory resources.

The implementation of an Inclusive Educationcomponent attempts to reinforce social integrationbased on equality and poverty reduction anddecreasing exclusion in Uruguay. Since “inclusiveeducation” aims to contribute to quality educationfor everyone, the benefits of this project are notlimited to children with disabilities or specialacademic needs but extend to the entire school

Executive Summary

population. By modernizing teaching, learningstrategies, and promoting the development of social,cognitive, and emotional skills, better participationand performance can be achieved both inside theschool and out.

Introducing Inclusive Education funding as acomponent of an on-going program to improveacademic quality utilized the previous learning andaccumulated experience of Uruguayan teachers andschools in designing and implementing projects. Thisfacilitated a rapid integration at the level of regularand special schools while the regional educationauthorities’ (called Departmental Inspections inUruguay) participation in the process was based ontheir own specific needs and resources.

Students with disabilities and other special academicneeds participate in an inclusion process whose goalis total inclusion in academic life. Schools benefitingfrom the provision of the technical and financialassistance needed to carry out such improvementsmust adapt their teaching and learning strategies toeach student’s needs and capabilities.

Uruguay: Una experiencia de inclusión escolar | 8

ALTERNATIVES FOR

SCHOOL INCLUSION

i

Inclusive Education: Contributions from an experience in Uruguay | 10

1. What is Inclusive Education?

Inclusive schools are built by the participation andagreement of all educational stakeholders andview their students’ integration in the school as apart of the learning process. Inclusive schools arebased on the rights of all children to be recognized,and to recognize themselves, as members of acommunity to which they belong, regardless oftheir social or cultural background, ideology,gender, ethnicity, or personal differences resultingfrom a physical, intellectual, or sensory disabilityor intellectual gift.

Many children enrolled in school as well as manywho are not currently attending school have spe-cial needs.

Inclusive Education is an essential resource forthese children, reintegrating them and defendingtheir space in school. The fundamental principle isthat all children should have the same opportunityto learn, and that everybody benefits when childrenwith disabilities are included. This means that regu-lar schools should be prepared not only to recog-nize and meet the needs of all students, includingthose who have traditionally been excluded fromaccess to education, but also to ensure their partici-pation in school under equitable conditions.

(4) Children with different abilities and socio-cultural situations learn together. (It is more inclu-sive.)

There are many more children with disabilitiesthan most people realize. According to a 1991 re-port by the Special United Nations Rapporteur onHuman Rights and Persons with Disabilities, in most

countries at least one out of ten persons has a physi-cal, cognitive, or sensory disability (the latter in-cludes deafness and blindness). These 10% repre-sent approximately 50 to 55 million primary school-age children in developing countries. Of these, it isestimated that fewer than 5% finish primary school- a goal set by the Millennium Development Goalsand the Education for All initiative.

Of a total of 411,000 students registered in Uru-guayan Elementary Education, about 8,800 go tospecial education schools (boys and girls with intel-lectual, visual, mobility disabilities, and with per-sonality disorders). Another 3,900 children withdisabilities are integrated in the regular schools.These children differ in the types and levels of theirdisabilities that include learning, speech, physical,mobility, cognitive, sensory, behavioral, and emo-tional. Some have disabilities that are neither obvi-ous nor easily detected. These children are less likelyto attend school and more likely to drop out earlyor to repeat a grade. Inclusive Education places

“Inclusive education” requires an adaptation ofschools and teachers to the diverse and indivi-dual needs of their students.

Diversity itself benefits the school, teachers, andstudents, by allowing them to recognize thesimilarities and differences reflected in theircommunity. The ultimate objective is a healthyand productive population in which everyonecontributes fully to and enjoys economic, social,and cultural habitation.

2. The challenge of diversity

Alternatives for school inclusion | 11

emphasis on the individual contributions that thesechildren make to the schools they attend, providingopportunities for them to play an active role whileovercoming the physical and social barriers that limittheir access.

It would be a mistake, however, to believe thatthe beneficiaries of an inclusive education are lim-

The difficulties arising from each child’s specificneeds can be compensated for, minimized, or evenaggravated by the educational response and char-acteristics of the school setting in which the childdevelops. Each school has its own culture, knowl-edge, values, rituals, and expectations; its own struc-ture and functional dynamics; and its formal andinformal communication networks. All of this af-

fects the school’s resistance (or willingness) tochange, its flexibility in the face of pressure, and itscapacity for openness to diversity. The degree ofinstitutional identity also indicates the viability of ahomogeneous culture coexisting within various het-erogeneous cultures, in tandem with a new regula-tion of different achievement levels.

ited to children with disabilities. Diversity benefitsthe school population as a whole by generatingchanges that revitalize the social, cognitive, andemotional skills and performance of everyone in theschool community.


3. What are special educational needs?

Special educational needs (whether temporary orpermanent) refer to barriers that act to block or haltlearning and participation and which affect a largenumber of persons and situations. Nevertheless,there is a longstanding tradition that equates “Spe-cial Education” exclusively with students with dis-abilities, without taking other types of children andneeds into account.

It is also true that “special educational needs”do not necessarily have to be met through special-ized services or more sophisticated materials thanthose used in a regular classroom. Transformedteaching practices, as a starting point, can help tosolve many of the requirements of children withspecial needs.

The barriers that prevent boys and girls withspecial educational needs from actively participat-

ing and enjoying school are related to highly diversefactors, including the following:

• Cultural and attitudinal barriers involving dis-criminatory behaviors by other children, theirfamilies, and teaching staff.

• Teacher training, which does not always prepareteachers to approach the special needs of theirstudents.

• Curricular design, evaluation and promotionsystems which tend to be based on standard, non-inclusive models.

• Lack of complementary technical and pedagogi-cal resources to reinforce the school’s ability todeal with diversity.

4. Why include?


All over Latin America and the Caribbean, schoolshave been rethinking their work based on new para-digms and premises, seeking to introduce other waysof reasoning, working, and living as a community.It is now widely recognized that high-quality publiceducation is a universal right and a fundamentalelement of social inclusion. It is also acknowledgedthat every child has a unique capacity and potentialwhich therefore requires a unique educational re-sponse to realize.

The overall challenge for the future is as simpleand complex as answering the following questions:Which values should a school impart in an increas-ingly segregated, violent, and competitive society?Which knowledge should be transmitted as a prior-ity? What should be done in order to move a schooltowards greater equality and better quality?

The value of Inclusive Education lies in the pos-sibility of diversifying teaching-learning strategies,adjusting institutional frameworks, linking in dif-ferent ways the approaches which students take to

complete their course of study, highlighting the evo-lution of each learning process and taking into con-sideration the different pace required by each indi-vidual student.

The main challenge of the new century will beto successfully make diversity an enriching experi-ence for all concerned. Dealing with this challengerequires taking a chance on new educational, cul-tural, political, legal, technological, and economicproposals. It will require a global effort to renderthe emerging globalized world viable and sustain-able. School inclusion becomes effective when a setof institutional, social, and community actions adaptand are organized, planned, and made operational,in order to guarantee a feeling of ownership andinclusion. This means not only placing students withdisabilities or other special needs in regular classes,but also removing the barriers that prevent theirparticipation, thereby accepting and placing valueon individual differences.


5. International Legal Framework

A vast international legal framework for childrenwith disabilities regulates their right to InclusiveEducation and establishes the responsibility of statesto provide it:

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (UnitedNations General Assembly, l989)

• First World Conference on Education for All(Jontien, 1990)

• Inter-American Convention for the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination against Personswith Disabilities (Organization of AmericanStates, 1999)

• Uniform Standards for Equality of Opportuni-ties for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations,1993)

• World Conference on Special Educational Needs,Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994)

• Santiago Statement, Second Summit of theAmericas (1998)

• World Education Forum, Dakar (2000)

• Meeting of Ministers of Education from Ibero-America (2000)

• Millennium Summit (New York, 2000)

• 7th World Congress on Educational Inclusion(San Luis, 2002)

What all of these conventions, laws, decrees, decla-rations, and regulations express is the singular com-mitment of states to effectively incorporate peoplewith different capacities into various aspects of com-munity life. While their scope varies in terms of ap-plicability or enforcement, their main objective isto combat discrimination and to uphold the rightsof children and adolescents. This public policy alsoincludes the rights of people with disabilities.

1 Audit., HMI Commission on Special Education (1992) in CSIE Inclusion Information Guide, www.inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie

2 OCDE (1994). L’integration scolaire des infants et adolescent handicapés. Ambitions, théories et pratiques. París: OCDE. It is neces-sary to recognize the need to maintain the focus on “special education” in some cases. Nearly all countries still provide specialeducation for some deaf and blind children. For the deaf population, for example, the positive self-image developed by children ina setting in which sign language is used can be more valuable than the benefits resulting from their inclusion in a regular class.

In the past, many governments failed to provideeducation for children with disabilities in regularschools, claiming that educational inclusion is toocostly and produces limited benefits. However, theevaluation of international experiences in educa-tional inclusion1 has demonstrated that it is no moreexpensive to educate a child with special educationalneeds in a regular school than in a special school. Infact, a 1994 study by OECD estimated that the in-clusion of children with special educational needsin regular classes might be seven to nine times lessexpensive than placement in special schools.2

Research has also demonstrated that when an in-clusive education approach is adopted, there is anincrease in overall learning performance by childreninvolved.

6. Is Inclusive Education more expensive?

The costs of exclusion on the other hand are highin terms of lost productivity, wasted human poten-tial, and harm to health and wellbeing, as shown inthe following table:

TOTAL ANNUAL GDP LOST DUE TO DISABILITIES

GDP LOST BILLIONS OF U$) MAXIMUM MINIMUM

ESTIMATE ESTIMATE

High-income countries 1,300 900

Medium-income countries 480 339

Low-income countries 192 135

TOTAL 1,936 1,365

Source: R. L. Metts (2000)


THE URUGUAYAN

EXPERIENCE

2


1. Educational context

The transition from social homogeneity to oneof heterogeneity represents not only one of theprincipal challenges for policies in theeducational sector but also an opportunity forrethinking schools through the paradigm ofinclusion.

Uruguay was a pioneer in Latin America in achiev-ing universal primary education (since the late1950s). This important achievement has beenstrengthened in recent years through a strong in-vestment at the preschool level, allowing the coun-try to rapidly universalize access for the four-to-six-year-old population.

But in addition to achieving universal access,Uruguay has decidedly invested in improving edu-cational quality and retention rates in primary edu-cation, so that some 90% of the population nowfinishes six years of primary education, placing thecountry above average for Latin America and onthe road to achieving the same standards as devel-oped countries.

Rapid social transformations in recent decadesand deterioration of “educability conditions”(Lopez-Tedesco, 2002) for a major portion of chil-dren attending public schools have created an un-precedented opportunity for education in Uruguay.The conditions for educability deteriorate whenfamilies cannot guarantee their children’s prepara-tion for the requirements of school and when theschools fail to adapt in order to compensate for dif-ficulties that accompany social, cultural, and lin-guistic diversity.

Thus the existence of “special educational needs”transcends the issue of disability. There is a grow-ing need to adapt the school curriculum and theteaching-learning process if we wish to cover all stu-

dents in public primary schools. The transition fromthe social homogeneity paradigm towards one char-acterized by heterogeneity and equality is one of theprinciple challenges for policies in the educationalsector. This means an opportunity for conceivingour schools through the paradigm of inclusion by:

• fostering new forms of teaching, in keeping withthe “conditions for educability” and includingeveryone;

• providing greater flexibility of institutionalframeworks in order to seek a better link betweenfamilies and the school community; and

• an inclusive approach to the completion of stu-dents’ course of study in school, highlighting eachstudent’s progress as required case by case, so asto interrupt the vicious circle of segregation andresignation by the weakest.

2. Attention to “special educational needs” in Uruguay

1 “Educating through Diversity in the Mercosur Countries”, a Multinational Project for Technical Assistance and Personnel Training inSpecial Education, OAS

The uruguayan experience | 19

In Uruguay, the right to education is linked to thedemocratic tradition and ideals of the founders of apublic school system based on the principles of uni-versal, free, and mandatory schooling and has been amodel in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Historically, attention to children with “specialeducational needs” has been the responsibility ofSpecial Education Schools. The noteworthy expan-sion of special schools led to a total of 75 establish-ments nationwide by the mid-1960s, a figure thathas remained constant since then, reflecting a policythat seeks to invest public resources in inclusive ap-proaches and equal opportunities.

Along with these developments in the field ofSpecial Education, Uruguay has been a pioneer inthe Latin American and Caribbean region in termsof including deaf and blind children in regularschools. This policy was also backed for many yearsby placing teachers with visual and hearing disabili-ties in regular schools.

In 1985, with the return of democracy to thecountry, the Board of Primary Education developeda Special Education Project proposing the elimina-tion of closed classes in regular schools, moving to-ward a system of support classes for students withspecial educational needs. Pioneering experienceswere conducted, such as that in School No. 70 andseveral kindergartens, in which the goal has been totrain and advise regular school teachers. This pro-cess led to the creation of “support teachers” and“itinerant teachers”, trained to respond to the per-

sonalized educational needs of disabled children in-tegrated within the framework of regular schools.

Since 2001, collaborative projects have been car-ried out with the Organization of American States(OAS) in 6 schools in Montevideo.1 These projectsemphasize teacher training and extend the conceptof special educational needs to include those result-ing from critical socioeconomic settings, while ex-panding into secondary education.

The “Educational Policy Guidelines” proposedfor 2001-2004 provide a new milestone that addi-tionally demonstrates an inclusive and pro-diversityapproach to the management of overall educationalpolicies. These guidelines emphasize the need to fos-ter successful learning through a series of tools basedon inclusive attention to special educational needs:

• Teacher’s attention to each child’s individual paceand unique characteristics;

• Attention to the diversity of cultural and psy-chosocial situations;

• Promotion of teaching strategies that are adjustedto work with diverse populations;

• Orientation of school management according tochildren’s rights; and

• Coordination of intra- and inter-institutional in-tegration while facilitating networks for school-community interaction.


4. Alternatives for School Inclusion

2 Other pertinent Uruguayan legislation includes Act 16592 on “Severe Disabilities”; Act 13711 on “Diagnosis of Mental Retarda-tion”; Act 16095 on the “System for Guaranteeing Comprehensive Protection for People with Disabilities”; and Act 16,169, “Amend-ment to Provision of the Act on the System for Comprehensive Protection”.

3. Legal Framework

International norms and commitments signed byUruguay in the Treaties for the Rights of Childrenand the International Conventions on Disability pro-vide the inspiration and form for educational poli-cies that seek inclusion of all children in school. Na-tional Act No. 16.095 (1989) on “ComprehensiveProtection for Persons with Disabilities” establishesthe principle of “equalization of opportunities” andsafeguards the right to education for children with

disabilities or other special educational needs, in ad-dition to emphasizing the importance of promotinginclusive environments in the school and community.2

Within this framework, Uruguay is currently re-viewing the school standards and rules related tograding and passing systems to adjust them to theprinciples of diversity and seeks to allow all chil-dren to obtain appropriate certification for theircourse of study in school.

Students with “special educational needs” (result-ing from disability or otherwise) can be part of aschool inclusion project in a regular school throughvarious curricular options:

Option 1: The student participates in all activitiesin the regular course and receives specialized atten-tion in an individual class with the help of a specialitinerant teacher (in a complementary mode).

Option 2: The student participates in all the activi-ties of the regular class and attends the resource class-room with a special itinerant teacher for those learn-ing areas or sub-sectors in which he or she requiresmore significant curricular adaptations.

Option 3: The student participates in some learningsub-sectors with the regular class, while the areas or

sub-sectors with the curriculum adapted to his or herspecial educational needs are conducted in the re-source classroom with specialized itinerant support.

Option 4: The student participates in a special cur-riculum, attending all the activities in the special-ized classroom while sharing recess, official acts andceremonies, and extracurricular activities in generalwith his or her schoolmates. This represents an op-tion for the child’s physical and social integration.

Option 5: The student participates in all educationalactivities of the regular class and receives help fromits teacher, providing access to activities with increas-ing levels of difficulty which take the student’s needsinto account.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INCLUSIVE

EDUCATION COMPONENT

3


1. Composition of the Inclusive Education component

The Inclusive Education component is implementedwithin the framework of a set of social policiesaimed at strengthening social integration on thebasis of equity and the reduction of poverty andexclusion in Uruguayan society.

The development of an Inclusive Education com-ponent emerged in Uruguay in 2003 as part ofthe process of Improvement in Educational Qual-ity that the country had been implementing since1994.

With resources from the National Departmentof Public Education and the World Bank, the In-clusive Education component funds school inclu-sion projects, providing Uruguayan schools withan opportunity to practice school inclusion poli-cies with an overall strategy of defending equityand improving educational quality.

The integration of the Inclusive Education strat-egy as a sub-component of the Project for QualityImprovement in Primary Education (MECAEP) al-

lowed the country to capitalize on the lessons learnedand the experience accumulated by teachers andschools in the formulation and management of Edu-cational Improvement Projects (PME).

The Inclusive Education component reaffirms a com-mitment to quality that transcends the traditionalview of disability and the way schools respond tospecial educational needs by joining with (and con-tributing) to the overall processes of institutionalempowerment, autonomous school management,teacher training and development, and strengthen-ing of family-school-community links.

Educational quality requires enriching the pro-cesses by which students develop their learning ex-perience. It involves adjusting and updating the cur-ricular content and teaching activities as ways ofhelping students develop socially significant andrelevant learning, allowing them to perform ad-equately on cognitive, emotional, productive, ethi-cal, and social levels.

The implementation of Educational Improve-ment Projects with financing from the InclusiveEducation component aspired to advance two con-crete objectives:

1. Decentralization of schools, school autonomyand strengthening of educational institutions’Pedagogical Projects (i.e., Educational Develop-ment Projects or School Projects) as a way oftangibly improving the quality of teaching andlearning.

Educational Improvement Projects have become aneffective tool for autonomous school managementin Uruguay, since teachers themselves (in consulta-tion with children and their families) conduct ananalysis of the school’s overall situation and its vari-ables (physical, spatial, organizational, and rela-tional), interpreting what is most visible while bring-ing to light the more obscure factors that condition

the life of the educational community. As a resultthey are able to build their own path towards theimplementation of educational changes, identifyingthe difficulties, effecting the possible changes andmaximizing the strengths and resources of both theschool institution and the community.

Participating schools have shown progress in thedevelopment of strategies for autonomy. Favorableindicators of this process include the growing useof innovative teaching and learning methodologies,increased opportunities for teacher training, andstrengthening of family-school-community ties.

2. Establishing conditions and strategies for theinclusion of all children.

In a context of significant socioeconomic deteriora-tion and social transformations that affect all groups,schools are increasingly committed to their role ofintegrating and weaving the social fabric. The ex-clusion of underprivileged boys and girls (eitherbecause of their varying abilities or differences re-sulting from their socio-cultural backgrounds) raisesthe challenge for educational institutions to providean appropriate response to such diversity.

The integration of the Inclusive Educationcomponent as a sub-component of a broadereducational program already under way allowedthe country to capitalize on the lessons learnedand the experience accumulated by teachers andschools in the formulation and management ofEducational Improvement Projects.

2. A contribution to educational quality

Development of the Inclusive Education component | 23

THE INCLUSIVE SCHOOL

4


1. A tool for change

Educational Improvement Projects provideschools the opportunity to invest in change bymeans of strategies emerging from the teachingstaff and as a function of the existing curriculum,where children are the center of the teachingprocess.

The Educational Improvement Projects (PMEs) arean initiative of the National Department of PublicEducation (ANEP), the head educational authorityin Uruguay. The Projects’ implementation is madepossible by national budget funds from the Boardof Primary Education (CEP) and financing from theWorld Bank, within the framework of the Projectfor Quality Improvement in Primary Education(MECAEP).

Uruguay began implementing the PMEs in 1995as a tool for institutional and pedagogical transfor-mation with the aim of producing a positive impacton the quality of learning. The Educational Improve-ment Projects aim to enrich the teaching-learningprocess and provide the school with a medium- andlong-term plan to integrate classroom and extra-cur-ricular activities in a theme chosen by the educa-tional community itself, based on its relevance andcapacity to optimize learning processes at all levels.

Until 2001 the Educational ImprovementProjects underwent a process of experimentation andvalidation under the MECAEP. Having evaluatedtheir success and achieved consolidation, the Projectswere incorporated institutionally as a regular pro-gram by the Board of Primary Education. MECAEPmonitors the entire process of capacity-building forthe schools in both the drafting of proposals andthe management of projects.

Since the beginning of the program in Uruguay,more than 1,600 PMEs have been funded, reachinga total of nearly 420,000 students and at least 18,050teachers participating directly. Some 64% of thesePMEs have targeted urban schools, 19% ruralschools, and 17% special schools. More than halfof the projects are in schools with students fromsocially underprivileged backgrounds. An averageof one out of three proposals has been funded, andeach project has lasted from one to two years.

The funds allocated have averaged U$ 2,100 perproject, depending on the size of the student bodyat each school.

2. Types of Educational Improvement Projects (PMEs)

Through the Educational Improvement Project, theschool seeks to generate spaces for creation andreflection that allow it to identify its main problemsand build possible strategies to solve them, withthe teaching staff as directors in the process ofchange and the children as its main protagonists.

The inclusive school | 27

From their initial implementation until 2001, thePMEs covered the more traditional areas of theschool curriculum: Language, Mathematics, SocialSciences, Natural Sciences, and Art Education, aswell as those linked to crosscutting areas: Educa-tion in Values, Health, and Environment. ThesePMEs are known as “classics”.

In the year 2002 a new classification was adoptedto give greater specificity to projects in the areas ofHealth and the Environment. These projects aimedto integrate “education for life and the environment”into the school’s daily functioning as part of a com-mitment to the children’s formation and develop-ment, fostering healthy habits and responsible be-haviors between themselves and their environment.


3. Preliminary Results

An impact study conducted in Uruguay in 2000showed the following in relation to EducationalImprovement Projects:

• The Projects improve school efficiency and effi-cacy in management and scheduling.

• They strengthen teachers’ work culture and im-prove their relations with students’ families andcommunities.

• They improve students’ curricular performance.

• They help reduce the gap between the academicperformances of schools from privileged andunderprivileged socioeconomic settings.

• From 1996 and 1999, the improvement in stu-dent performance was greater in schools withPMEs as compared to the national average.

In addition, it was shown that the benefits of PMEsgo beyond their direct educational impact on stu-dents. The school dynamics as a whole are trans-formed when PMEs are implemented. These includethe relationship between school and community,teachers and students, and among teachers them-selves, all of whom are concentrated on a projectwith a common objective. This kind of teamworkstrengthens and increases the level of motivation,which influences everyone’s attitudes. The prepara-tion alone of a work plan to submit as a proposalfor a PME is a highly positive step because of thecritical analysis and strategic thinking it requires ofthe school.

WHAT ARE AN INCLUSIVE SCHOOL’S VALUES?

• To build a sense of community, promotebelonging and participation, and help achievedemocracy and citizenship.

• To develop a sense of empathy by teaching thatall persons have unique characteristics andabilities.

• To promote the value of diversity by favoringlearning skills for living in a community.

• To help recognize that all students havestrengths, cultivating self-esteem, andstrengthening the sense of self-respect andindividuality.

• To use creative ways of dealing with challenges,teaching collective problem-solving anddeveloping teamwork skills.

• To provide all children with stimulatingsurroundings in which to grow and learn.

The inclusive school | 29

4. PMEs for School Inclusion and Transformation of Teaching Practices

The PMEs for School Inclusion and Transforma-tion of Teaching Practices (ITP/PMEs) incorporatedin Uruguay since 2003 are another highly valuableresource for the democratization of education. Theyare implemented within a series of public policiesaimed at strengthening social integration based onequity and the struggle against exclusion in Uru-guayan society. School inclusion is thus seen as astrategy that helps promote an inclusive society.

The main proposal of the ITP/PMEs is to con-tribute to improving the quality and equity of Uru-guayan education. A specific goal is to provide anappropriate and relevant response to the diversityof needs emerging from the students’ families andthe individual realities which impact teaching prac-tice in classrooms.

The ITP/PMEs are based on teachers’ priorknowledge of the methodology for formulation andmanagement of school projects. Contextualizationand decentralization of the pedagogical task are twocharacteristics that facilitate the gradual process ofempowerment in the schools.

When a regular school’s classrooms receive chil-dren with special educational needs (SEN) and en-sure the completion of their schooling and the full-ness of their participation, it becomes an InclusiveSchool. The ITP/PMEs offer regular schools the

possibility of accessing “special” technical and fi-nancial resources that allow them to organize strat-egies for inclusion.


Since 2003, Uruguayan School Inclusion Projectshave been developed in 125 schools and in 13 De-partmental Inspections.

Some of these projects use Inclusive Educationfunds to pay for architectural changes needed to fa-cilitate access and mobility for children with visual,hearing, or mobility disabilities. Other projects makeuse of the Inclusive Education component resourcesto hire specialists and to incorporate innovative prac-tices such as “yoga in schools” (which fosters a cli-mate of friendship and openness).

Still other projects have improved their institu-tional capacity by training teachers and updating

5. Some examples

their libraries and academic resources.To learn from selected ITP/PMEs examples in

Uruguay in 2003-2004, visit:

http://www.cep.edu.uy/InformacionInstitucional/InspecDivDptos/Deptosyservicios/PME/Inclusion/selccionados_2004.htm

Access stories written first-hand by teachers and stu-dents by visiting Uruguay’s Elementary SchoolCouncil’s electronic bulletin at:

http://www.cep.edu.uy/InformacionInstitucional/InspecDivDptos/Deptosyservicios/PME/Inclusion/ultimo_boletin.htm

OPERATIONAL ASPECTS

5


The forms used by schools to design theirInclusion Projects and Operations Manual andother support material can be obtained at thefollowing internet address:

http://www.cep.edu.uy/InformacionInstitucional/InspecDivDptos/Deptosyservicios/PME/Inclusion/documentos.htm

1. How is an Educational Improvement Project formulated?

The development of an Educational ImprovementProject involves a series of stages aimed at institu-tional relevance and development of appropriate anduseful objectives in light of the priorities of eachschool and community (relevance). A project cyclethus evolves in which a series of successive stagescan be observed:

• Awareness-raising, the stage in which it is neces-sary to encourage and motivate the various play-ers in the school and community to become in-volved in producing changes in the school.

2. From awareness-raising to evaluation: the project cycle

EVALUATION

AWARENESS - RAISING DRAFTING

EXECUTION

FOLLOW-UP/MONITORING

The procedures for drafting a proposal for an Edu-cational Improvement Project (PME) can be ex-plained as follows:

• The school’s faculty starts with the observationof a current situation within the classroom whichis considered unsatisfactory and improvable.

• Having analyzed the situation, the school’s staffproposes to search for solutions to what is con-sidered the “main problem” by proposing strat-egies and actions that focus on an integrated,thematic line.

• A project document is drafted based on the PMEDrafting Manual.

• The project’s documents are evaluated and se-lected by an ad hoc committee including school

inspectors, directors of Teacher Training Insti-tutes, and superintendents/principals of so-calledPractice Schools (for teachers-in-training).

• Drafting or formulation, in which the entireschool community is involved in envisaging theproject’s achievements and “expected results”based on the identification of a problem situa-tion, target-setting, and development of an ac-tion plan.

• Execution, consisting of the implementation ofthe activities planned in the Project.

All institutions belonging to public primary educa-tion participate in the call for Projects financed bythe Inclusive Education strategy:

• Regular Urban Schools

• Special Education Schools

• Rural Schools

• Full-Time Schools

• Practice Schools

• Kindergartens

All schools are invited to draft proposals and applyfor the resources available through the InclusiveEducation strategy. In order to be selected, the ap-plicant schools (both urban and rural) should havea staff of three or more teachers. Rural schools withonly one or two teachers are eligible as are so-called

3. Who participates?

• Follow-up and monitoring, the process of on-going evaluation and verification of the project’sdevelopment and results, including adjustmentsin the original plan.

• Evaluation, the process which evaluates learn-ing experiences and provides information for theachievement of goals and objectives that can thenserve as input for reopening the project cycle.

Operational aspects | 33

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES FORDRAFTING SCHOOL INCLUSION PROJECTS?

• A regular school drafts a School Inclusionproject.

• Several regular schools from the same ruralarea pool together to draft a School Inclusionproject.

• A State School Inspection Division drafts aSchool Inclusion project.

“consolidated school groups”, where up to threeschools pool together to develop an InclusionProject, sharing the technical and financial resourcesallocated to them.


The allocation and distribution of funds for Educa-tional Improvement Projects is based on an opencontest in which all public schools in Uruguay areinvited to participate. Schools only participate if theyare interested in doing so.

The Call for Projects is conducted annually. Theprojects are evaluated by a designated panel whichbases its work on an Evaluation Manual specificallydesigned for this purpose.

In order to avoid Project selection from pool-ing in schools with the greatest institutional andproject-drafting capacity, the Educational Improve-ment Projects establish a system of equitable allo-cation based on socioeconomic characteristics, in-cluding a positive discrimination for schools dis-playing the greatest needs and/or unsatisfactoryeducational results.

An index based on socioeconomic, institutional-functioning, and results indicators was created toelucidate the project distribution in urban and ruralschools. For rural schools, the indicator adopted wasthe repetition rate. Distribution is as follows:

1. 50% of PMEs in “high-risk” schools

2. 30% of PMEs in “medium-risk” schools

3. 20% of PMEs in “low-risk” schools

This overall strategy led to a distribution of PMEswith approximately 85% in urban schools – includ-ing special schools - and 15% in rural schools withmore than one teacher.

4. How are participating schools selected?

5. How are the funds calculated?

Operational aspects | 35

The financial support for Educational ImprovementProjects is provided by the National Departmentof Public Education through the Project for Qual-ity Improvement in Primary Education (WorldBank). As of the year 2003, the MECAEP Projecthad funded a total of 1,250 Educational Improve-ment Projects in public schools all over Uruguay.

The amount allocated per project varies fromU$ 1,500 to U$ 3,000.

The amount of funds that the school receives todevelop its Improvement Project is calculated onthe basis of the number of students enrolled for the

school year under way at the time the proposal issubmitted, applying the following formula:

BASIC AMOUNT(same for all schools)U$ 1,000

ADDITIONAL AMOUNT(proportional to the number of students)U$ 4.40 X N(where N is the number of students enrolled)

Having signed the institutional agreement, the fundsare disbursed in two equal installments.


The schools selected to develop an IPT/PME receivetechnical and financial assistance for a period of oneyear. This assistance is provided gradually over thecourse of the year in which the Improvement Projectis implemented. During the development of theProjects, each school must submit regular progressand accounting reports, as well as a Final Reportwhen the Project is concluded.

Financial Assistance

The financial assistance covers a series of additionalexpenditures beyond the school’s regular budget,allowing it to make investments and improvementsas a function of its Improvement Project objectives.

Technical Assistance

1. At the beginning of the year, Project ManagementAdvisory Workshops are held with the Principaland Teachers who are named the “EducationalImprovement Project Teacher-Coordinators”.

2. In the middle of each year, “Learning School”workshops are held with the participation of theteachers and principals of all the schools thatare implementing Educational ImprovementProjects. These workshops aim to foster a for-mal space for exchange on the progress and dif-ficulties faced by the Projects, and to share inno-vative strategies and materials.

3. Many school districts hold Educational Improve-ment Project exhibits completed by students andteachers in order to publicize progress to thebroader community.

4. Monitoring and follow-up of each ImprovementProject is done by the State School InspectionDivision, specifically by the School Inspectorcorresponding to the given School, in coordina-tion and collaboration with staff from the PMEDepartment in the Board of Primary Education.

6 What are the benefits received by schools?

THE SCHOOLS RECEIVE

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

• Teacher training

• Follow-up and supervision

• Participation in exchange activities

• Access to national and internationalnetworks

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

• For purchase of educational materials

• For extra expenses linked to project activities

• For minor improvements aimed at removalof architectural barriers and improvement ofnon-classroom spaces

COMPLEMENTARY

STRATEGIES

6


The schools that implement School Inclusion PMEsbegin a long process, full of challenges and difficul-ties, for which they require on-going and follow-upsupport.

Uruguay has worked to develop a sustainabilitystrategy that promotes mechanisms for cooperationamong all those participating in the School InclusionProject, fostering greater and more efficient utiliza-tion of resources, exchange of information, and de-velopment of educational networks. This strategy seeksto develop and strengthen some key areas for supportand follow-up of work done by Inclusive Schools:

• Institutional commitment and technical supportby the State School Inspection Divisions of theBoard of Primary Education.

1 The Role of State School Inspection Divisions

• Conversion of Special Education Schools intoCenters for Inclusion Resources.

• Mobilization of (and collaboration with) civilsociety and nongovernmental organizations.

• Development of a Network of Inclusive Schoolsand a virtual community of teachers and studentsinvolved in the Project.

• Sustained action in advocacy and social commu-nications.

• Facilitation of a component involving youth lead-ership and inclusion.

1 Uruguay is divided into 19 Departamentos, the equivalent of States or Provinces.

The State School Inspection Divisions1 can also par-ticipate by submitting proposals oriented towardsimproving school inclusion in their jurisdiction. TheEducational Improvement Projects carried out by StateSchool Inspection Divisions were introduced in 2003and have been receiving highly positive feedback.

The School Inspection Divisions propose an Im-provement Project based on the same criteria usedfor drafting school projects: identify a priority situ-ation or institutional weakness, propose the actionstrategies to solve it, and draft an annual activitiesplan. These projects act complementarily by mak-ing School Inclusion feasible at the State level andplaying a key role in consensus-building and mobi-lization of regional resources.

The ITP/PMEs headed by the State School In-spection Divisions receive a fixed sum of U$ 1,000that generally helps to finance objectives such ascommunity awareness-raising, training of teacherswithin their jurisdiction, or development of exchangeand networking activities among the participatingschools.

Examples of recursive ITP/PMEs headed bySchool Inspection Divisions approved in 2003 in-cluded: school district courses, meetings and ex-changes between participating schools and teach-ers, professional symposia to disseminate the themeof inclusion, consultancy for the drafting and man-agement of ITP/PMEs, and networking.

2. The Role of Special Education Schools

Complementary strategies | 39

The Inclusive Education initiative also allows forthe conversion of Special Schools into Resource Cen-ters that provide support to the regular schools andtheir communities in the inclusion process. SpecialEducation Schools are invited to submit Improve-ment Projects oriented towards the development ofResource Centers, and if selected, can receive a fixedsum of U$ 2,000.

The ITP/PMEs headed by the Special EducationSchools may include:

• Relocation of students to regular schools

• Dual school programs

• Organization and management of itinerant teach-ers’ services

• Pedagogical research and consultancy

• Multidisciplinary reports and diagnoses

• Collaboration in curricular adjustments

• Monitoring and follow-up of inclusion

• Response to queries and requests by parents

• Technology consultancy to regular schools forthe formulation, management, or evaluation ofschool inclusion projects.


3. The Role of Civil Society

The relationship between schools and civil societyorganizations is not new to Uruguay. Experienceswith collaborative activities and civil society orga-nizations date back many years and exhibit a dis-tinct degree of development. Nongovernmental or-ganizations collaborate significantly with schools onprojects in such innovative areas as environmentaleducation. This type of relationship provides awealth of significant experiences that have yet to befully evaluated, but whose sustained expansion sug-gests that schools regard them highly.

At the international level, all specialized agen-cies emphatically recommend that schools promoteparticipation by civil society organizations both inschool management issues and in quality improve-ment and strengthening of the school-communitylink, recognizing the latter as social capital and con-sidering it an indicator of the quality of social re-sponsibility and citizenship. According to these rec-ommendations, several elements have been proposedregarding the quality of “principles” that developan effective link between schools and civil societyorganizations:

Definition of adequate and pertinent goals

It is necessary for civil societies’ collaboration toadjust primarily to the school’s needs and prioritiesand concomitantly to the supply of cooperation.

Program monitoring

It is necessary to provide follow-up on the collabo-rative activity, regularly monitoring and evaluatingits quality, feedback, and impact.

Sustainability

To the extent that the involvement of civil societyorganizations in school activity is only possiblethrough volunteer work or the mobilization of ad-ditional resources, it is necessary to consider the is-sue of sustainability and define reachable objectivesand results in the short and medium term.

Dissemination

It is important to create a “database” that recompilesthe available technical, financial, and human re-sources in nongovernmental organizations.

4. Development of a Network of Inclusive Schools


Technological progress in communications opens upnew challenges and opportunities for education. Thecirculation of knowledge, experiences, educationaltools, and school support materials is increasinglyintense, among other reasons, thanks to the Internet.With the constant growth and progress of connec-tivity and new communications technologies, theutilization of web-based strategies and online toolsincreasingly becomes a real alternative for teachers,students, and schools all over the world.

The utilization of network strategies and infor-mation and communications technologies to sup-port inclusion projects has valuable antecedents inexperiences carried out in the United Kingdom,Spain, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, andelsewhere. The development of these virtual net-works and communities has sought to foster, underthe premise that interaction among peers enrichesthe teaching and learning processes, participationby students, their families, and civil society organi-zations,.

Uruguay has proposed to develop a virtual com-munity that seeks to provide a tool to solve problemsof permanent support, time, distance, and resourcesby joining the Inclusive Schools and all those whoparticipate in the teaching and learning processes.

The cooperative work involving State SchoolInspection Divisions, Special Schools, and teachersparticipating in the project through a “Network ofInclusive Schools” allows implementation of thefoundations for Inclusive Education as well as pro-viding the instruments and resources produced dur-ing projects at the classroom and school levels. TheUruguayan Network of Inclusive Schools points tothe provision of the following services:

• Making specialized information available to theschools

• Responding to queries

• Facilitating exchange of experiences

• Orienting information searches through links tospecialized sites

• Organizing forums on issues and concerns raisedby the participants

• Announcing events (congresses, courses, semi-nars)

• Sustaining the membership of persons and insti-tutions in a network of inclusion-based practices.


5. Advocacy and Communications Strategies

SOME SCHOOL INCLUSION NETWORKS AROUND THE WORLD

• Red de Inclusión Educativa de Chile www.inclusioneducativa.org

• Inclusion International www.inclusion-international.org

• Inclusion Network www.inclusion.org

• Centre for Studies on School Inclusion (UK) www.inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie

• Red de Integración Especial www.redespecialweb.org/

• The School as a Caring Community in Canada, www.quasar.ualberta.ca/ddc/incl

• Supporting Individual Educational Needs in the United Kingdom www.inclusion.ngfl.gov.uk/

• Inclusive Education www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion/

• Inclusive Education in Europe www.uva.es/inclusion/

• Alliance for Inclusive Education in the United Kingdom www.allfie.org.uk/

• Circle of Inclusion www.circleofinclusion.org/spanish

• Red de Discapacidad e Educación Especial www.especiales.org/

• Inclusión Interamericana. www.inclusion-international.org/Regions/americas.htm

• Paso a Paso, Venezuela www.pasoapaso.com.ve

• Educación Inclusiva para Niños Ciegos www.manolo.net

• Enabling Education: resources for inclusive education http://www.eenet.org.uk/

It is necessary to support the work done by InclusiveSchools through permanent advocacy and dissemi-nation of principles, objectives, and achievements,because the social demand for these kinds of projectsis often low, and frequently, the potential benefits arenot clearly visible. Sometimes the issue of School In-clusion runs up against established beliefs and socialnorms, or the erroneous perception that inclusion willdemand more resources (both technical and finan-cial) than those available to carry out the proposals.

As a result, advocacy and communications becomefundamental tools for support and follow-up to de-velop and advance Inclusive Education. This meansmaintaining a sustained strategy in public relations andconsensus-building with all the stakeholders: middle-level employees in the State School Inspection Divi-sions, teachers, families, unions, and NGOs.

In the Uruguayan experience, both communica-tions work and advocacy (through political and in-stitutional support by education professionals and


Inclusive Schools, participates in exchanges, andshares educational resources, information andteacher training materials.

The advocacy and communications strategy of theInclusive Education strategy has targeted a set ofactors and sectors in which it has sought to raiseawareness and a sense of commitment to act as pro-moters and key disseminators of inclusion. This taskhas included all those directly involved in the themeof Educational Inclusion (the educational commu-nity, professionals, and related institutions), socialleaders, opinion-makers, and the community at largethat involve “segmented” actions and messages bothwithin and outside the educational system:

Internal Public

• State and national school inspectors

• School superintendents and principals

• Teachers

• Students

• School promotion committees

• Families and the Community

External Public

• Social communications media

• Public forming a support network for educa-tional inclusion:

• National agencies (Ministries and Social ActionAgencies)

• International Agencies

• Academic Institutions and teacher training in-stitutions

• Civil society organizations (parent associations,NGOs, academic and scientific societies, socialand sports clubs, religious institutions)

authorities) have been key factors, ever since it waslaunched, that level the playing field and seek a posi-tive response to the projects in the schools support-ing Inclusive Education.

Advocacy and communications activities seek toachieve four essential objectives: information, mo-tivation, dissemination, and networking.

Information: explaining and awareness-raising

It may be the case that the various social actors areaware of the existence of socio-cultural diversity andthe right to Education for All, but not everyone feelsequally committed to its implications. To informmeans to make the issue known and to generate acollective awareness of the rights elucidated by so-cial and economic inclusion.

Motivation

Since inclusion represents a new way of conceivingof education, it is important to not assume that ev-eryone will automatically understand this conceptualframework and its implications. To communicate thevarious dimensions and scopes of an inclusive strat-egy means to provide backing and commitments to adiverse and inclusive school, and not merely a cam-paign “to be nicer” to “different” people.

Presenting the project

Presenting the project requires making the theme ofinclusion known to the various actors in the educa-tional community and related institutions in orderto be understood and accepted by the strategy’s vari-ous target audiences.

Connectivity network

This activity involves collaborating in the develop-ment of a connectivity component that integrates


2 It was considered more appropriate for each school to be able to develop its own “tailor-made” leaflet rather than having a singleleaflet. A support document for teachers was developed for this purpose.

3 A monthly newsletter targeting teachers, educational institutions, and families.

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF ADVOCACYAND COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGIES

• Achieve adherence by key actors (schoolinspectors, special education administratorsand teachers, principals, and teachers) for theproject drafting stage.

• Encourage the development of an inclusiveschool culture.

• Position the Educational Improvement Projectsfor School Inclusion and Transformation ofPractices as benchmarks for establishing In-clusive Schools.

• Make the initiative known to the entireeducational community to ensure support andparticipation.

• Raise overall public awareness concerning theissue of social inclusion in order to commitstakeholders to the implementation of thenecessary changes.

Communications pieces developed to date

• PME/ITP logotype

• Poster

• Promotional leaflet on the initiative

• Teachers’ support document for “communicationwith families”

• Teachers’ support document for developing aninformational leaflet for parents2

• Webpage

• Newsletter3

Suggested promotional and communications

actions

• Public awards for community members whowork to promote inclusion

• Art / music / dance workshops for children inpublic places

• Inclusion Concert

• Art Exhibit for Inclusion

• Walk for Inclusion

• A star soccer match for inclusion, held in theNational Stadium

• Distribution of flyers at stoplights by the chil-dren and teachers themselves

• Creation of a song by local musicians

• Reading of stories on inclusion in public places(by writers and academics)

• Posters, flyers, and leaflets in public-use areas(public and private)

• Painting of murals in schools (paint donated bya private sponsor, with collaboration by volun-teer artists)

• Inclusion workshops for parents in schools (ledby people from the support network)

• Painting contest among schoolchildren to be usedin an almanac

In the final analysis, the future of every school in-clusion strategy depends on schoolchildren andteachers making the objectives and strategies theirown. It is necessary for the principles of inclusionand diversity to succeed in permeating both the classand recess.

During 2004, Uruguay has carried out a pilotexperiment seeking to develop a child leadershipcomponent in the School Inclusion initiative.

These “inclusive leadership” training and em-powerment activities with boys and girls participat-ing in the ITP/PMEs have attempted to:

• Record the living dimension of the experienceof children participating in the Project for Inclu-sion and Transformation of Practices in a groupof schools.

• Investigate in a pilot mode a methodology tostrengthen the leadership and participation ofchildren who can act as agents for school in-clusion.

• Examine the perceptions of children concerningthe inclusion process and share a first analysisof the initiative’s principal barriers, strengths, andweaknesses.

4 regular schools are currently participating in SchoolInclusion Educational Improvement Projects. Theschools invited to participate in the Projects showeda strong component of schoolchildren’s participationin achieving the objectives of inclusion.

The selected schools were:

In Montevideo

• School No. 38, classified as a regular urbanschool with an inclusive modality that has stu-

dents with special educational needs based onvisual disabilities.

• School No. 336, with a critical socio-culturalcontext.

In Las Piedras

• School No. 226, classified as a Practice Schoolwith an integration modality, has students withspecial educational needs based on hearing dis-abilities.

• School No. 149, a regular urban school.

In each school the activity involved fourth- and fifth-grade children. The sample population was chosenon the basis of strengthening each institution tomultiply the experience. The groups had diversecharacteristics in terms of their social situations andcognitive skills. They were chosen at random, with-out explicitly seeking students with special educa-tional needs.

The exchange activity group included a total of63 children selected by their own peers.

In a first stage (preparation, sensitization, warm-up), the team of educators and specialists headingthe project visited the selected schools and carriedout the preparatory activities in a meeting amongthe schools. These activities focused on play by:

• exploring game dynamics in relation to the issueof inclusion (participation, leadership, segrega-tion, resistance);

• laying the foundations for the preparation of a“project task” to be developed by the boys andgirls with the objective of raising their aware-ness and providing continuity for this first activ-

6. The role of schoolchildren as agents for inclusion



ity, while preparing groundwork for the secondactivity; and

• identifying the boys and girls most sensitized tothe issue of inclusion.

Subsequently, an exchange meeting was held amongthe schoolchildren from participating schools, seek-ing to take a first step towards the integration of anetwork of children committed to the principles ofinclusion. It is expected that in the future they willbe able to replicate in their own schools the activi-ties they experienced in this exchange. Such a pro-cess serves as a way of facilitating feedback and dis-semination of the learning process, while practicingmodalities of leadership and participation.

TRAITS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN THAT ACT ASAGENTS FOR INCLUSION

• Attuned to cooperative group work.

• Ability to engage in dialogue with peers.

• Willingness to organize themselves andothers for the group task.

• Positive attitude towards the task.

• Know how to clarify and precisely describeideas and feelings.

• Ability to sum up the key points in the inclu-sive message.

• Ability to show empathy.

ALTERNATIVES

AND CHALLENGES

7


1. Certification of included schoolchildren

Just as the curriculum must adapt, grading andevaluation must also be made flexible, assessingthe students’ achievements based on individualcharacteristics, pace, and learning style. Apersonalized curricular proposal and flexibleevaluation will allow the student to movethrough the various stages in the mandatorycourse of study. Certification is provided througha document that reflects the level of competenceachieved by the student.

1 Act 16.095 “Comprehensive Protection for Persons with Disabilities”

The certification of children attending inclusiveschools is still one of the main administrative, le-gal, and qualitative challenges. How has this issuebeen dealt with in the Uruguayan experience?

Traditionally, upon completion of their courseof study, students attending Special Schools in Uru-guay have received a certificate which enables themto continue studying; in night schools, courses inthe National Plenary for People with Disabilities,and through the (scarce) vacancies offered at theUniversidad del Trabajo del Uruguay (Work Uni-versity). The latter has consolidated and expandedits number of included students, depending on thewillingness of the various departments to become“inclusive centers”. The enactment of new legisla-tion in 19891 established the principle of “equal-ization of opportunities” and launched the processof approval of standards in Secondary Educationto allow the effective inclusion of students with dif-ferent abilities.

Awareness-raising in society and expansion ofthe inclusion policy have made it necessary to re-think the types of support provided to teachers andstudents that guarantee quality and equity in theschoolchildren’s mandatory course of study. Inclu-sion projects have demarcated a “before and af-ter” stage in the inclusion process and become akey factor for establishing standards and guaran-teeing the students’ completion of the full courseof mandatory schooling. This means that for everyincluded student in the regular school system, acurriculum will be developed that is adapted to his

or her possibilities. In addition, it is necessary tosign inter-institutional agreements that guarantee aninclusive setting and support network and allowaccess to the curriculum.

Some strategies for certification of included stu-dents

• Incorporate a “Student’s Portfolio” from PrimaryEducation through the third year of SecondaryEducation

This portfolio records basic information on thechild (report cards, technical reports, records ofoutstanding moments in the process) in order forteachers to be able to accommodate the curricu-lum and adapt it to the student’s educationalpossibilities.

2. Guide the transformation of Special Schools into Resource Centersfor Inclusive Education

Although it is important that special educationschools comply voluntarily with the inclusive edu-cation focus and generate their own strategies totransform themselves into resource centers, this pro-cess must be spearheaded and guided by clear poli-cies that stimulate changes and present tangible toolsto favor inclusive education.

The Inclusive School strategy can and should puteconomic incentives and institutional policies inmotion that can overcome the logical resistances tochange. This can be accomplished in part by pre-senting concrete alternatives for transformation andby spreading awareness of the most successful ex-periences.

3. Address the socio-cultural dimension of inclusion

Alternatives and challenges | 49

Any strategy for School Inclusion is ultimately a strat-egy for social inclusion. That is why the existing bar-riers in the socio-cultural dimension of the inclusionprocess should be taken into account and dealt with.We can list some of the barriers that have been moreevident in the Uruguayan experience:

• Attitudes of parents:

– resistance to change, both for the children al-ready attending the schools and those seek-ing to be included;

– fear of having less individual support avail-able; and

– fear of losing special benefits;

• A strong “culture of homogeneity”:

– It is felt that children with special educationalneeds will achieve worse results in regularschools.

– It is believed that the presence of children withspecial educational needs in regular class-rooms will delay the learning process for theentire group.

Removing these barriers is a long process, since itrequires behavioral changes. Along the way, thereare some guidelines that can orient the process andhelp everyone overcome the barriers to inclusion:

• Get families involved.

• Open the schools to the community and civilsociety organizations.

• Strengthen networks and alliances between theschool and the community.

• Work together with the Special Schools to nar-row the gap between regular education and spe-cial education.


A tool is being developed to evaluate the inclusionof PMEs and Practice Transfers. It works to enrichthe teaching/learning process and provide schoolswith a flexible plan that meets the diversity of de-mands by its students.

This is a timely moment to conceptualize theframework of the term evaluation as “the continu-ous ordered and systematic process of tapping quali-tative and quantitative information that respondsto certain requirements - validity, dependence, re-sponsibility, utility, precision, viability - obtainedthrough diverse techniques and instruments that,after being compared with established criteria, al-low us to issue value judgments aimed at facilitat-ing decision-making related to the object of evalua-tion.” (Torres, Gonzales, 2004).

Therefore, the educational thrust of evaluationis not limited to specific moments outside the edu-cational process but is developed parallel to andintegrated within it. The evaluation process mustthus be developed in a continuous and personalizedway, with student education and the teaching pro-cesses as its goals.

The first evaluation undertaken thus far by theSchool Inclusion Projects in Uruguay therefore in-volves an analysis of the implementation of some ofits basic items2 :

1. Changes in institutional culture.

2. Modifications in pedagogic and teaching prac-tices.

3. Teacher’s attitudinal changes towards collabora-tive work.

4. Family intervention in the process of inclusive edu-cation.

5. Relationships with institutions servicing the com-munity.

6. Real and active participation by students.

7. Benefits obtained by (all) students.

8. Educational continuity (adherence to the regula-tions on mandatory attendance until completionof the first section of middle school, equivalentto junior high school).

The analysis of these factors involves a “rearrange-ment” (Enguita, 2001) of school organization, in-cluding such diverse dimensions as:

a) different utilization of times in the school calendar;

b) involvement in problems and opportunities that“exceed” the limits of the classroom group; and

c) an active and harmonious relationship with thecommunity-sustained process of innovation inteaching strategies that encourages reflection andguides the school towards an institutional model.

4.1 Changes in Institutional Culture

The changes to be detected in the institutional cul-ture presuppose an interaction where different peoplehave entered into communication and achieved un-derstanding in all areas: affective, ethical, and cog-nitive. An inclusive institutional culture should pro-

4. Developing Mechanisms for Monitoring and Evaluation

2 This considers the proposals drafted by a team designated by the Uruguayan C.E.P. (Board of Primary Education).

mote learning models in which each student con-tributes his or her own culture. This can mean us-ing individual skills and ways of learning and com-prehending to achieve greater self-reliance on thoseskills and scholastic improvements.

The inclusive school culture should be seen as aspace that recreates cultural life for the students,rebuilding knowledge, feelings, and behaviors, in aconscious and autonomous way.

It is thus necessary to develop communicativeskills based on cooperative and inclusive dynamics.These approaches, specifically including those deal-ing with families belonging to minority, poor, or non-academic cultures, offer a suitable framework toovercome exclusion.

A diversity paradigm in education implies agree-ing that every educational organization should beshaped around a community in which students,teachers, and parents are integrated. All membersof educational communities tend to come from dif-ferent cultures, present different needs, or simplyhave different concepts towards education, includ-ing interests, rhythms, learning styles, motivations,and expectations. Some indicators that represent theprocess of development of communicative skills driv-ing change in institutional culture are:

• collaboration among teachers

• collaboration between teachers and administrators

• horizontal communication

• family participation in the school environment,including the classroom

• teacher and community participation in schoolmanagement

• community involvement by teachers

• parents’ perception of the school as an institution

• use of community resources

• spaces created for reflection by families withschool center personnel

1.2 Changes in Pedagogical and Didactic

Practices

Dealing with each student’s needs requires design-ing and adapting the curriculum and teachers’methodology in an individualized way, integrat-ing both the culture and characteristics of eachstudent in more enriched and diverse ways. It de-mands a commitment to an interdisciplinary andcreative vision of good teaching practices. Thiscommitment includes both self-knowledge ofteaching strategies which favor each student andallowing for group reflection on the best proce-dures to teach diversity. Curricular adaptationimplies rethinking contents in at least three differ-ent levels of adequacy so that all students can dotheir schoolwork according to their strategies andknowledge. Students thus feel encouraged becausethey all have a purpose and the teacher is familiarwith their specific ways of learning.

Working from this perspective also requires ex-amining the classrooms, schoolwork, and curricu-lum through the prism cultural content. It meansachieving group relationships between areas ofknowledge based primarily on aspects of everydaylife. This view establishes intellectual habits that forceone to take into consideration the human interac-tions from as many viewpoints and perspectives aspossible. It is necessary to use curricular adaptationsas an opportunity to diversify educational proceed-ings and to attend to individual differences. Somerelevant indicators will thus be considered:

• Teaching resources

• Curricular adequacy vis-à-vis the teacher

• Individualized work

• Selection of interdisciplinary contents

• Quantity and destination of teaching alterna-tives



1.3 Teachers Attitudinal Changes towards

Collaborative Work

To achieve the levels of interdisciplinary curricula,schools should promote collaborative work amongteachers to reflect on the development of aptitudesbetween all grades. A broader vision of what takesplace in each classroom can thus be achieved andthe subject content will serve as an axis balancingindividual needs with elementary dimensions fromthe educational system. This implies access to otherphases of the school system.

Attention to diversity generates challenges anduncertainties which lead to the promotion of cre-ativity and innovation, thereby strengthening theschools. This could be evaluated by using:

• Times and spaces for teachers’ reflection andcoordination

• Expectations of achievement regarding teachers’tasks

• Expectations of achievement regarding learners’tasks

• Spaces for communication and reflection for stu-dents (forums, assemblies, etc.)

1.4 Family Intervention in Inclusive Education

Processes

Family intervention in pursuit of an Inclusive Edu-cation process implies both achieving a good rela-tionship with the environment and an opportunityfor improving coordination of diverse services thatrequire children’s attention. The idea is to strengthenthe feeling of belonging and promote a school spacein which all feel secure and where the family alsohas its place. Families’ fundamental expectations andviews about schools must thus be considered.

Inclusive schools tend toward the learning com-munity model, affirming that everyone can partici-pate and contribute to the educational dynamics.Classroom participation and intervention by other

educational agents (parents, grandparents, etc.) im-proves the perception of learning and lessons. Co-ordinated action by these agents in the classroomenvironment with their different cultures, knowl-edge, and viewpoints, determines the degree of com-munity involvement in the school.

It is thus important to encourage the following:

• Relationships between classes and families

• Attention to parents’ expectations

• Families’ participation in the learning processwithin the classroom

• Institutional regulations regarding the parent/school interface

1.5 Relationship with the community

Overcoming social exclusion requires introducingagents and institutions from all areas. If other actorsand sectors are involved, they will share with theschool the overall goal of inclusion, participating inthe planning, implementation, and evaluation ofschool projects. All sectors of the community canparticipate by contributing their ideas, sharingprojects, and promoting inclusive learning models.

The degree of participation in school manage-ment, as well as the links that are established withvarious social organizations, both formal and in-formal, will determine the degree of progress aschool makes towards greater involvement in theenvironment and the knowledge and services avail-able there.

Possible indicators will be:

• Coordinating with other educational institutions

• Networking with other community organizations

4.6 Student Participation

Students’ active participation should include spaceswhere they feel stimulated to question the knowl-edge, activities, and behaviors of those with whom

they share everyday life. For all students to partici-pate in this process it is necessary to implement flex-ible groups in spaces which often extend outside theclassroom, organized according to different domainsand the potential for learning rather than the school’sgrading system.

Forming groups according to levels of readingcomprehension (rethinking the separation by grades)fosters cooperative participation and integration ofall teachers and students, favoring the teaching pro-cess according to diversity in learning.

Group work enhances dexterity and negotiationskills that are part of the indispensable communica-tions skills for autonomy. Teachers assume a facili-tating and supporting role towards the studentsthrough cooperative learning, using various strate-gies. Tasks seek to create and support interdepen-dence among group members, which is the essenceof collaboration.

Working in different group dynamics, such asclass assemblies, forums, etc., where students feeltheir opinions are heard and taken into account,strengthens communication and interpersonal ties.Flexible and open curriculum proposals reinforcethe possibilities for students to choose, introducechanges, and focus their attention. This has organi-zational implications both inside and outside theclassroom for cooperative and flexible spaces. Theinterdependence that this process intends tostrengthen increases when the students are respon-sible for the processes and group products in whichthey participate.

To assess the impact of work under this modal-ity, the following indicators are considered:

• Classroom organization for group tasks

• Grouping criteria

• Task assignment

• Mediation of output differences and group par-ticipation

• Institutional support for group work

4.6 Benefits Obtained by All Students

The educational sense of a diversity-friendly activ-ity or strategy depends less on technical componentsand more on the values and meanings acquired inan organizational context. The benefits of inclusionare read tacitly through all components of the schooland acquire strength as they grow.

Some indicators of these benefits are:

• Underlying values and conceptions in the schoolculture

• Meaning and intentionality ascribed by teachersto inclusive activities

• Degrees of participation and agreement from thestudents

• Group quality in line with individual benefits

4.8 Educational Continuity

The lessons learned from an inclusive educationalapproach allow students to achieve successive goalswithin the school system and to maintain continu-ity in the formal subsystems. A school character-ized by a comprehensive and diversified work modelshould also find points of equilibrium with regulareducation, guaranteeing that students be able to meetmandatory educational requirements by the end ofthe first section of middle school (junior high school).Integrating this model with other subsystems posesa real challenge. Thus, mechanisms are still neededto articulate and involve all the subsystems, in or-der for solutions to be found to the problems aris-ing in each of them.



In the year 2003, some 35 proposals submitted byschools from all over Uruguay were selected to developImprovement Projects with a focus on School Inclusion,receiving resources from the Inclusive Education initiativeranging from U$ 2,000 to U$ 3,000 each. One of them,School No. 2 in Colonia, has been working since thenon an innovative strategy that seeks to fully transformthe school’s work, making it more inclusive and open todiversity. The school has a total enrollment of 335children and in the first year achieved the permanentinclusion of 2 girls with hearing disabilities, while 7 otherboys and 5 girls are being integrated and participate inthe majority of the school’s activities and spaces.

“Our Educational Improvement Project for Inclusion andTransformation of Practices is interweaving the work thatthe school had already been developing for several yearsin terms of citizenship training. We seek to foster agreater sense of social responsibility and a greatercommitment by the children to the city and all itsinhabitants,” reports School Principal Sandra García.

“For many years the school had a classroom that wereferred to as “speech therapy”, attended by childrenwith hearing disabilities. However, these children werenot even integrated into the school’s life, there were alot of conflicts, and we realized we weren’t handling allthe codes needed for communicating well. We thereforeproposed that the entire school (students, teachers, andadministrative staff) learn sign language. We thus thinkthat the project will benefit the entire student body, notonly the children with difficulties. The interest also grew

spontaneously among all the schoolchildren, and theythemselves began to ask to learn sign language.”

The school has highlighted the commitment andmotivation among teachers and administrative staff, whohave found this experience to be a refreshing andgratifying educational “adventure”. The ITP/PME hasprovided training for the school staff to deal with specialneeds. It has also allowed for the purchase of educationalmaterials and organization of activities that are open tofamilies and the community.

In the subsequent months there have been significantimprovements in overall school performance. “Theopportunity to learn and use sign language has been ahighly enriching experience for everyone. We have seenthe progress both in the acquisition of reading andwriting and improvements in the possibilities for symbolicand body expression. We see the contribution by theinclusion focus to the school’s overall project and to thedevelopment of values by children, whose ability tocommunicate opens them to others to whom they wouldnot previously have related.”

The challenge now is to consolidate and systematize theexperience, strengthening its visibility and impact on thecommunity. For this purpose, an agreement is beingorganized between the school and the UruguayanAssociation for the Deaf, which has offered to provide apermanent instructor in sign language which willreinforce the teaching and foster follow-up of theeducational project by a civil society.

D) SCHOOL NO 2

ATTACHMENT

In Uruguay, mandatory education includes two yearsof preschool and nine years of basic education: sixyears of Primary School (1st through 6th grades) andthree years of the Basic Middle School Series (1st

through 3rd years), provided in lyceums and techni-cal schools with the same curriculum. From the ad-ministrative point of view, primary schools depend

ATTACHMENT I

Organization of the Uruguayan EducationalSystem

on the Board of Primary Education, the lyceums onthe Board of Secondary Schooling, and the techni-cal schools on the Board of Technical and VocationalEducation, which are in turn decentralized bodies ofthe National Department of Public Education (ANEP),an autonomous institution governing pre-primary,primary, and middle-level public education.

PRIMARY SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL STRUCTURE IN URUGUAY

LEVEL AGE GRADES TYPE

Mandatory

Inclusive education fund: the uruguayan experience | 56

Initial or Pre-primary Education 4-5 years

Primary Education 6-11 years 1st through 6th grades

First Series of Middle School (Ciclo Básico, or CB) 12-14 years 1st through 3rd year

Second Series of Middle School (Bachilleratos) 15-17 years 4th through 6th years Non-mandatory

ATTACHMENT II

Stages in the Social Communications Strategy

Logotype design

Design and production of poster and leaflet.

Design of manual.

Design of website content structure.

Design of newsletter content structure.

Design of document for joining the project (Support Network).

OBJECTIVES PROPOSALS

“School Inclusion” Project submittedin various formats.

STAGES 1: INITIAL STEPS

Informational leaflet.

Personal letter.

Presentation of the initiative by the inspectors.


Educational community informedof the initiative.

STAGE 2: LAUNCHING / INTERNAL PUBLIC

INFORMATION:

Build a database of the resources available in various support formats(bibliography, web pages, audio cassettes, audiovisuals, etc.).

Newsletter.

TRAINING:

Facilitate participation by teachers and principals in workshops, courses, seminars,and conferences on the theme of educational inclusion.

CONNECTIVITY:

Present the project on the Internet (www.anep.edu.uy).

Facilitate other communications channels with the project: bulletin boards, fax,telephone, mail.

Exchange of experiences with principals and teachers from inclusive schools.

Educational community motivated forproject participation and development.

Attachment | 57

Prepare informational materials for families.

Develop an outstanding presence for the projects inside the schools: posters,leaflets, and announcements on bulletin boards.

Promote the use of the project’s webpage.

INFORMATION:

Update the database of available resources (in different support formats).

Continue the newsletter.

TRAINING:

Facilitate participation by teachers and principals in workshops, courses, seminars,and conferences related to the theme of educational inclusion.

VISIBILITY:

Develop a strong presence for the project inside the schools: posters, leaflets, andbulletin board announcements.

CONNECTIVITY:

Promote the use of the project’s webpage.

Exchange of experiences and resources.

Promote the development of shared projects between various schools.

Foster the development of an electronic group (chat) of teachers.


Public School principals and teachersmotivated.

STAGE 3: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT / INTERNAL PUBLIC

The promotional committee in eachschool evaluates the benefits of anEducational Improvement Project.

Present the Project to institutions that are outstanding in their support to the community in order toinvolve them and empower the project. Official letter of introduction, MECAEP/CEP.

Present the Project to all the professionals and institutions involved in the education of children andadolescents. Official letter, MECAEP/CEP.

Issue invitations that imply a commitment to the initiative by signing a symbolic network membershipdocument.

Invite members to participate and engage in exchange, providing details on the project’scommunications mechanisms.

Present the project’s webpage and establish links to the pages of the network’s members.

Organize a seminar for exchange among the institutions and professionals belonging to the networkand project.

Consolidate a database of the network members to send the electronic newsletter.


Support networkformed.

STAGE 2: LAUNCHING / EXTERNAL PUBLIC

Inclusive education fund: the uruguayan experience | 58

Promote participation and exchange through a discussion forum (chat) onthe webpage.

Make room for innovations and proposals that favor the project’sobjectives.

Generate stories and interviews in the mainstream news programs inMontevideo and the interior of Uruguay to provide more in-depth information.

Distribute leaflets, posters, and stickers to the institutions and businesscenters where large numbers of people circulate.

Programmed press campaign.

Dissemination of the project’s webpage.


Support network consolidated.

Public opinion aware of the rights of personswith different abilities.

Attitudes to support social inclusion achieved.

National coverage obtained.

STAGE 3: PROJECT DEVELOPMENT / EXTERNAL

Attachment | 59

Documents

iNcLuSive EduCation - documents.worldbank.org€¦ · inclusive education programs3, but rather responds to the demand for practical examples that illustrate an operational strategy