INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Inclusive Education

Inclusive Education

Introduction

Inclusion can be conceptualized as a philosophical approach to education for children with disabilities, or as a specific set of practices to support participation in general education settings. Recently, the focus of inclusion has shifted from access to quality education (Williams, 2006).

Currently, there is no agreed-upon definition of the term. However, inclusion, sometimes referred to as full inclusion, incorporates a number of principles that help illustrate what is meant by the term, such as (a) shared responsibility among all school staff for the education of every child, regardless of disability status; (b) all students educated in their neighborhood schools and assigned to classrooms based on their age/grade level; and (c) following the principle of natural proportions, meaning that the proportion of students with disabilities in any given classroom is representative of the community (Kauffman, 2008).

Additionally, inclusion assumes that all schools are physically accessible and follow developmentally appropriate practices, and that inclusion is implemented across all grade levels and schools (Artiles, 2007). Finally, inclusion generally means that all students should share the same schedule and activities, including co-curricular activities.

Inclusion should not be considered simply the placement of children with special educational needs in general education classrooms, a process known as dumping. Neither should it be confused with an earlier iteration known as mainstreaming, whereby students with disabilities left a specialized education setting to attend selected classes in the general education setting (Albritten, 2006). Rather, inclusion calls for the development of a universally designed system with the capacity to support all learners and with the infrastructure for the delivery of special education supports and services in the general education classroom (Acrey, 2005).

Emerging Issues

Several issues have emerged in recent years concerning inclusive education in countries with and without well-developed special educational systems. First and foremost, every child with a disability must have access to public education. Within developing countries, there is growing acknowledgment that a paucity of data are available pertaining to childhood disability (Williams, 2006). The WHO and the United Nations generally agree that approximately 10 percent of the world's population is affected by some kind of physical, mental, or sensory impairment (Kauffman, 2008). However, reported estimates on the proportion of disabled persons in the population have ranged from 5.2 percent to as high as 20 percent. The WHO has stated that it is not possible to determine the percentages of individuals with disabilities more accurately because of differences among the classification systems used to determine who is disabled (Artiles, 2007). For example, children with severe disabilities are sometimes not included in estimates because they are hidden from society and excluded completely from the educational system. These children may also reside in institutions or, as is the case in many developing countries, may be receiving care or education in one of a number of small community organizations supported by various charitable organizations.

Another emerging issue concerns increased demand for educational accountability in the form of higher levels of student academic achievement (Albritten, ...