Zürcher Fachhochschule Inclusive Education: Ending Exclusion and Segregation in the Educational System Workshop 1 Sandra De Nardo & Sandra Pilok

Zürcher Fachhochschule

Inclusive Education:Ending Exclusion and Segregation in the Educational System

Workshop 1

Sandra De Nardo & Sandra Pilok


What is the present situation in the Swiss school system

School system CH• Preschool

• Primary school

• Secondary School (Sek I)

• High school, specialized middle

school, professional school (Sek II)

• Orthopedagogy

• University, Paeagogy highsschool,

college of higher education,

higher professional school

• further education


Example: where do children with a physical handicap receive their education?

Students with disabilities are entitled to receive assistants adapted to their needs in education and vocational training.

The placement criterias for students with disabilities are adapted to their needs, taking into account welfare and development opportunities, as well as school environment and administration.

The special educational program promotes tailored education, personality development and school integration for students with special needs. As well as promoting independent living with a disability. (Kantonales Bildungsgesetz, § 4, 5a und § 47)

Special educational concepts for canton BL and BS


Which strategies, policies and regulations exist in the EU regarding inclusive education

•The tagline (motto) of the schools in Finland is: "No one should remain behind at school". Including disabled children, they attend the same school with others. The Finnish school system is a success: Already three times, Finland ended up in the PISA study in the first place.

•The general question is, which school system is the best?


Is this strategy implemented anywhere else in the EU? Example in Germany

Integrative Kindertagesstätte, St. Franziskus

• In the kindergarten, 22 children with disabilities and 55 children without

disabilities made up the group and the following areas where promoted:

Integrative three groups, a special education group, an open group.

• There is therapeutic support at the same place where the lessons take part

• Occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech therapy

• Team and treatment (s)

• Special educated teachers, occupational therapist, curative in, child

care taker, educator / social worker and group management (training?).

• The team is completed in the day care center by a practicing

physical and speech therapist.


Tolerance rather than exclusion in St. Franziskus

Tolerance rather than exclusionIn addition to the targeted individual support the goal was to pursue an integrated approach for children with various conditions to know each other unconditionally and jointly through experiences. The cooperation is quickly perceived as "normal".

The children learned on their own, their strengths, as well as the strengths and respecting the limits of other children.

The children formed a community through common experiences, learning from each other and learning to respect each other. Acquiring social skills is the first step away from discriminating and be discriminated against due to disadvantages; resulting in equal participation in society.


Definition

• Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational needs. Under the inclusion model, students with special needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Implementation of these practices varies. Schools most frequently use them for selected students with mild to severe special needs.[1]

• Inclusive education differs from previously held notions of ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’, which tended to be concerned principally with disability and ‘special educational needs’ and implied learners changing or becoming ‘ready for’ or deserving of accommodation by the mainstream. By contrast, inclusion is about the child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept the child. Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities. A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights.


Inclusive Education: Positive effects

•positive effects for children with disabilities in areas such as reading individualized education program (IEP) goal, improving communication and social skills, increasing positive peer interactions, many educational outcomes, and post school adjustments. Positive effects on children without disabilities include the development of positive attitudes and perceptions of persons with disabilities and the enhancement of social status with nondisabled peers


Which methods/instruments have proven to be successful in Switzerland?

Integrative Education (IF)• Pupils at primary schools in need of temporary special education may, under § 28 of the basic school rules will receive integrated advertising campaigns by special education teachers. Integrated advertising campaigns are a form of special education, the nature of these incentives is their involvement (integration) in the teaching of elementary school.Special education• Remedial teachers work as integrative teaching force at all levels of mainstream education and special education in schools. They cover the needs and strengths of children. As support, they develop support plans and implement them. They support the children so that they acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to achieve individual learning goals and to make everyday life as independently as possible.


Critics of inclusion

•Critics of full and partial inclusion include both educators, administrators and parents. Full and partial inclusion approaches neglect to acknowledge the fact most students with significant special needs require individualized instruction or highly controlled environments. Thus, general education classroom teachers often are teaching a curriculum while the special education teacher is remediating instruction at the same time. Similarly, a child with serious inattention problems may be unable to focus in a classroom that contains twenty or more active children. Although with the increase of incidence of disabilities in the student population, this is a circumstance all teachers must contend with, and is not a direct result of inclusion as a concept


Myths and Reality• Separate is better• Segregation doesn't work. Whether children are separated based on race,

ability, or any other characteristic, a separate education is not an equal education. Research shows that typical children and children with disabilities learn as much or more in inclusive classes.

• Children must be "ready" to be included• All children have the right to be with other children with their own age. A

child with disabilities does not have to perform at a certain grade level or act exactly like the other children in the class to benefit from being a full-time member in general education.

• Parents do not support inclusive education• Parents have been and continue to be the driving force for inclusive

education. The best outcomes occur when parents of children with disabilities and professionals work together. Effective partnerships happen when there is collaboration, communication and, most of all, TRUST between parents and professionals.


The End

•Thank you for your attention

Documents

Zürcher Fachhochschule Inclusive Education: Ending Exclusion and Segregation in the Educational System Workshop 1 Sandra De Nardo & Sandra Pilok