Ed 124 Unit 2

Unit 2
BASES AND POLICIES OF SPECIAL AND

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Intended Learning Outcomes:
Within the unit, the pre-service teacher (PST) will be able to:
1. cite significant implications of philosophies, theories, and legal bases of special and inclusive
education including its application (BTI 1.1.1, 6.3.1; CLO 1); and
2. determine the policies, guidelines and procedures that provide safe and secure learning
environments for learners with special needs (BTI 2.1.1; CLO 5).
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SDG INTEGRATION: SDG # 4 – Quality Education (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote life-long learning opportunities for all)
CaptivaTe yo Urself
ACTIVE LEARNING – Document Review on the philosophies, statements of laws, regulations and
policies from UN, UNESCO, EFA, DepEd
Connect To Understand Part 1

A. Psychological Bases
(Source: https://education-profiles.org/eastern-and-south-eastern-asia/philippines/~inclusion)
1) Piaget’s Cognitive Development: Impact of Special Needs
(Source: https://impactofspecialneeds.weebly.com/cognitivism.html)
Cognitivism focuses on how the mind processes and uses information. Within cognitivism, tasks are
analyzed and then broken down into smaller steps and/or chunks. Information is then taught from the
most simple to the most complex based on the learner's prior knowledge. Cognitive learners use
schema or mental maps to help organize information and tie the material to existing knowledge to aid
memorization.
Cognitivism focuses on mental processes which includes how people perceive, think, remember, learn,
solve problems. Psychologists working from a cognitivist perspective, then, seek to understand
cognition. Lastly, cognitivism has influenced education, as studies of how people learn potentially
sheds light on how to teach.
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Ed 124 – Foundation of Special & Inclusive Education. This is NOT for sale. This is for instruction purposes only. Figures, tables, pictures and illustrations
used are not mine. CREDITS TO THE OWNERS/CREATORS. No copyright infringement intended. /Fitzgerald C. Kintanar/
Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development (1970) identified four
major stages in which children progress: sensorimotor, pre-
operational, concrete operational and formal operational. This
theory suggests that these stages reflect differences in a child's
cognitive abilities and that learners cannot be taught key cognitive
tasks unless they have reached a particular stage of cognitive
development.
2) Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

(Source: https://www.createwebquest.com/kaejensen/social-learning-theory-special-education)
Social Learning Theory provides a basis upon which one can evaluate learning through the lens of our
social interactions with others. It was originally proposed by Bandura and published in 1977. You can
learn more about the theory by researching the links provided on the Process Page.
As indicated in the sites noted in this WebQuest, we learn the following about Social Learning Theory:
Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:
✓ A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior.
✓ A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behavior.
✓ A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films,
television programs, or online media.
It operates on the following principles:
✓ The highest level of observational learning is achieved by first organizing and rehearsing the
modeled behavior symbolically and then enacting it overtly. Coding modeled behavior into
words, labels or images results in better retention than simply observing.
✓ Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if it results in outcomes they value.
✓ Individuals are more likely to adopt a modeled behavior if the model is similar to the observer
and has admired status and the behavior has functional value.
The necessary conditions required for effective social/observational learning include:

✓ Attention
✓ Retention
✓ Reproduction
✓ Motivation
3) Lev Vygotsky’s Scaffolding

(Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/vygotsky-scaffolding-zone-of-proximal-development)
What Is Instructional Scaffolding?

Instructional scaffolding, also known as "Vygotsky scaffolding" or just "scaffolding," is a
teaching method that helps students learn more by working with a teacher or a more
advanced student to achieve their learning goals.
The theory behind instructional scaffolding is that, compared to learning independently, students
learn more when collaborating with others who have a wider range of skills and knowledge than the
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student currently does. These instructors or peers are the "scaffolding" who help the student expand
her learning boundaries and learn more than she would be able to on her own.
Vygotsky scaffolding is part of the education concept "zone of proximal
development" or ZPD. The ZPD is the set of skills or knowledge a student can't do on her own but
can do with the help or guidance of someone else. It's the skill level just above where the student
currently is.
ZPD is often depicted as a series of concentric circles. The smallest circle is the set of skills a
student can learn on her own, without any help. Next is the ZPD, or skills a student wouldn't be
able to do on her own, but can do with a teacher or peer helping her. Beyond that are skills
the student can't do yet, even with help.
For example, say there is a kindergartner who is learning how to read and write. He knows all
the letters of the alphabet, but he can't yet read or write words. No matter how much guidance he was
given, he could never read a novel on his own at this point, but with a teacher's help, he can learn how
to read and write short words like "at," "boy" and "dog" because this skill is within is ZPD. It would have
taken him much longer to learn this skill on his own, but it's still simple enough that he can understand
it if he has someone to explain it to him. The student's ZPD is reading and writing short words,
and the teacher who helps him learn them is the scaffolding.
Proponents of ZPD and instructional scaffolding believe they are highly effective ways to
maximize a student's learning. Scaffolding can be used to help a person of any age learn something
new, but in the classroom it is most often used with younger students (preschool and
elementary school) since they are learning new skills and concepts they haven't been exposed to
before most frequently.
What's the History Behind Vygotsky Scaffolding?

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Soviet psychologist who coined the term "zone of proximal
development" and conducted many studies that led to instructional scaffolding. This is why the concept
is often referred to as "Vygotsky scaffolding."
Vygotsky focused his work on developmental psychology, and it was in the 1920s and early
1930s, towards the end of his career, that he developed the concept of ZPD. Vygotsky believed that
educators should help students learn within their ZPD so that they can increase their skills and
knowledge without becoming frustrated by things that are currently too difficult for them to accomplish.
Vygotsky came up with the idea of ZPD after extensive studying of how young children learn
and the effectiveness of different teaching methods. He found that individual knowledge-based tests
are often an inaccurate way to measure a young student's intelligence since children need to interact
with others who are more intelligent than they currently are in order to learn. He cited many
examples of cultures where young children are taught new skills and knowledge passed down by older
generations.
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For example, when infants are learning how to walk, they often start by holding onto the clothes or
hands of an adult or older child, who guides them. The infant will continue to do this until they have
enough skills and strength to walk on their own. This way they're able to learn to walk much faster than
if they were expected to learn without being able to hold onto anything.
Vygotsky instead believed that the proper way to test young students was to test
their ability to solve problems both independently and with the help of an adult. Dr. Maria
Montessori, who established the Montessori education philosophy, also published similar research
several decades before Vygotsky. Vygotsky died in 1934, less than a decade after he introduced the
idea of ZPD, and after his death research on his ideas greatly decreased.
In the 1960s, Vygotsky's work was revived by a new group of psychologists studying
developmental psychology. Dr. Jerome Bruner coined the term "scaffolding" and connected it to
Vygotsky's work. Dr. Bruner and other psychologists began studying the use of ZPD in different
educational contexts, and they found that encouraging students to tackle the most difficult tasks within
their ZPD leads to the most learning.
Today scaffolding continues to be studied and used in schools, and much recent research has focused
on how to use scaffolding to make classes (including online classes) more effective.
4) Jean Lave’s Situated Learning

(Source: https://www.learning-theories.com/situated-learning-theory-lave.html)
Explainer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uffo_1yUAkE

In contrast with most classroom learning activities that involve abstract knowledge which is and
out of context, Lave argues that learning is situated; that is, as it normally occurs, learning is embedded
within activity, context and culture. It is also usually unintentional rather than deliberate. Lave and
Wenger call this a process of “legitimate peripheral participation”[2].
Knowledge needs to be presented in authentic contexts — settings and situations that would
normally involve that knowledge. Social interaction and collaboration are essential components of
situated learning — learners become involved in a “community of practice” which embodies certain
beliefs and behaviors to be acquired. As the beginner or novice moves from the periphery of a
community to its center, he or she becomes more active and engaged within the culture and eventually
assumes the role of an expert.
Other researchers have further developed Situated Learning theory. Brown, Collins & Duguid
emphasize the idea of cognitive apprenticeship[3]: “Cognitive apprenticeship supports learning in a
domain by enabling students to acquire, develop and use cognitive tools in authentic domain activity.
Learning, both outside and inside school, advances through collaborative social interaction and the social
construction of knowledge.”
Situated learning is related to Vygotsky’s notion of learning through social development.

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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
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CaptivaTe yo Urself

B. Philosophical Bases
"INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IS THE FOUNDATION OF EQUITY AND COLLABORATION"
Published on January 3, 2018
(Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/inclusive-education-foundation-equity-collaboration-ms-jemi-sudhakar)
Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their neighbourhood schools
in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects
of the life of the school.
Inclusion in education is an approach to educating students with special educational needs. ... Inclusion
rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students
without disabilities.
Inclusive education means different and diverse students learning side by side in the same classroom.
They enjoy field trips and after-school activities together. They participate in student government
together. ... Inclusive education values diversity and the unique contributions each student brings to
the classroom.
What is inclusive education?

Inclusive education means different and diverse students learning side by side in the same classroom.
They enjoy field trips and after-school activities together. They participate in student government
together. And they attend the same sports meets and plays.
Inclusive education values diversity and the unique contributions each student brings to the classroom.
In a truly inclusive setting, every child feels safe and has a sense of belonging. Students and their
parents participate in setting learning goals and take part in decisions that affect them. And school staff
have the training, support, flexibility, and resources to nurture, encourage, and respond to the needs
of all students. Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their
neighbourhood schools in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute and
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participate in all aspects of the life of the school.Inclusive education is about how we develop and design
our schools, classrooms, programs and activities so that all students learn and participate together.
Neighbourhood schools are the heart of our communities, and Inclusion BC believes they are essential
for a quality inclusive education system. Therefore we believe it is important to support a public
education system in B.C.
Benefits of Inclusive Education

All children benefit from inclusive education. It allows them to:
Develop individual strengths and gifts, with high and appropriate expectations for each child.
Work on individual goals while participating in the life of the classroom with other students their own
age.
Involve their parents in their education and in the activities of their local schools.
Foster a school culture of respect and belonging. Inclusive education provides opportunities to learn
about and accept individual differences, lessening the impact of harassment and bullying.
Develop friendships with a wide variety of other children, each with their own individual needs and
abilities.
Positively affect both their school and community to appreciate diversity and inclusion on a broader
level.
Why is inclusive education important?

Inclusive systems provide a better quality education for all children and are instrumental in changing
discriminatory attitudes. Schools provide the context for a child’s first relationship with the world outside
their families, enabling the development of social relationships and interactions. Respect and
understanding grow when students of diverse abilities and backgrounds play, socialize, and learn
together.
Education that excludes and segregates perpetuates discrimination against traditionally marginalized
groups. When education is more inclusive, so are concepts of civic participation, employment, and
community life.
Isn’t it better to separate children who need specialized attention?

Separate, special education provides no guarantee of success for children who need special attention;
inclusive schools that provide supportive, context-appropriate conditions for learning demonstrate far
better outcomes. Extracurricular activities, peer support, or more specialized interventions involve the
entire school community working as a team.
What are the basic elements of inclusive education?

✓ Use of teaching assistants or specialists: These staff have the potential to be inclusive or divisive.
For instance, a specialist who helps teachers address the needs of all students is working
inclusively. A specialist who pulls students out of class to work with them individually on a regular
basis is not.
✓ Inclusive curriculum: An inclusive curriculum includes locally relevant themes and contributions
by marginalized and minority groups. It avoids binary narratives of good and bad, and allows
adapting the curriculum to the learning styles of children with special education needs.
✓ Parental involvement: Most schools strive for some level of parental involvement, but it is often
limited to emails home and occasional parent–teacher conferences. In a diverse school system,
inclusion means thinking about multiple ways to reach out to parents on their own terms.
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How can we advance inclusive education?
To make inclusive education a reality we need to do the following:
✓ ensure that educators have the training, flexibility, and resources to teach students with diverse
needs and learning styles
✓ ensure that kindergartens and schools receive adequate and sustainable financial support so
that all activities and services are fully inclusive
✓ empower parents to assert their children’s right to education in inclusive settings
✓ enable the entire community—including mainstream and special educators, social workers,
parents, and students—to work together and participate in the design, delivery, and monitoring
of education, thereby reframing inclusive education as a shared responsibility
✓ hold governments accountable for implementing antidiscrimination legislation, legal mandates
for inclusion, and policies to remove barriers
Is inclusive education expensive?

Making education inclusive is not a cost-cutting measure. Governments must be prepared to invest
substantial resources at the outset on system reforms such as teacher and staff training; improving
infrastructure, learning materials, and equipment; and revising curricula to implement inclusive
education successfully. However, by eliminating redundancy and the high costs of running parallel
systems, such investments are an efficient and effective use of funds, and hold the potential to
improve education for all students.
Funding mechanisms must be reformed so that schools that enroll students with special needs receive
the necessary additional financial resources. When students move from special schools to mainstream
schools, the funding should also follow.
How do Open Society Foundations support inclusive education?

We promote changes to policy and practice in a variety of ways, including the following:
✓ advocate for the recognition of children’s legal rights, such as supporting organizations of
parents with children with special educational needs and disabilities in Armenia
✓ fund empirical research, including support for an organization of young people with disabilities
in Uganda that is documenting barriers to education
✓ support sustainable services like networking and learning opportunities for schools and NGOs,
such as teacher associations and parent groups
✓ strengthen civil society groups that give young people, parents, and educators a voice, including
parent-led organizations advocating for the rights and inclusion of children with disabilities in
Tajikistan
✓ engage with civil society and other actors in policy development by, for instance, providing
technical support to the development of key inclusive education–related laws, policies, and
strategies at the national level
✓ support governments and system services to pilot models of successful inclusive education
provision that could be scaled up and replicated
Developing an Inclusive Education System

Particular attention needs to be given to developing a more inclusive education system that provides
quality and equitable opportunities to indigenous and hinterland children
and children with disabilities. Gender equality and equity also need to be
integrated as a goal within a truly inclusive system.
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The Ministry of Education understands the need for an education system that is flexible and
accommodates diversity. This means that the MOE has to create the opportunity for all students to be
in regular classes where the education programme caters for their individual needs and where they are
accepted and supported.
The development of an inclusive education system also means that the MOE has to make the system
flexible to cater for children along the entire spectrum from the very gifted to the severely disabled. The
tendency in Guyana however, is to regard inclusive education as necessary for children with physical
disabilities and to cater less for the gifted and highly talented children UNICEF in a listing of the
“Characteristics of a Rights- Based and Child-Friendly School” supports the provision of an education
opportunity that “meets differing circumstances and needs of children (e.g. as determined by gender,
culture, social class, ability level)”. In Guyana, efforts have been made to reduce sex stereotyping in
education material, to offer a module in the teacher training program me on gender, to offer males and
females the same program me options and to respond to the needs of the indigenous communities
where English may not be the first language and where cultural norms may be somewhat different from
other communities. In addition, it has sought to meet Special Education Needs. There have been
different degrees of success in various areas. Sex stereotyping in materials has certainly been
significantly reduced and although there are still perceptions in society about traditionally male and
female subject areas, and males and females cluster in different specialties in the higher grades, the
Ministry offers the same curriculum to all students.
There have been limited attempts to respond to the language issue with the Ministry supporting the use
of the children’s mother tongue, where possible, in the early years of school and giving support to
projects such as the Macushi Language project. These are very preliminary efforts and more needs to
be done at the teacher training level to respond to the needs of different genders or groups.
One of the areas of greatest concern has been the inability to adequately meet special education needs
of children with physical or mental disabilities. Although some efforts have been made in the last five
years to meet special education needs (SEN) it is probably true that this is one of the most neglected
areas in the education sector. This is reflected in surveys and consultations that were conducted by
other organizations such as the National Commission on Disability (NCD) and the Volunteer Service
Organization (VSO), from which the education sector has benefited. In a study carried out under the
auspices of NCD with the assistance of VSO, it was found that of the persons surveyed 15% have never
attended school, 42% of which were under 16 years. There are some children with disabilities who are
able to access education in Special Education Institutions; however, data shows that less than 40% of
the teachers in these schools have sufficient training. Further research also reports that persons with
disabilities who are mainstreamed in regular schools have to contend with negative attitudes from other
students and teachers.
During the period under review a special education module was developed, which every teacher trainee
at CPCE must take. This is a very basic module however and there is a critical need for higher levels of
specialized training to be offered. It is also essential to the effective implementation of SEN programmes
that the Ministry appoints a Special Education Coordinator who will drive the process from the level of
Central Ministry; especially since so much inter-ministry and other levels of coordination is crucially
necessary. The Ministry also needs to make several policy decisions to give direction to the scope and
strategies/methodologies of implementation. These include the management and funding of special
schools, level or scope of inclusion, teacher training, curriculum modification, support services, levels of
parent education and partnership and career paths for teachers. Indeed, there are few persons willing
to work in this area, especially teachers, because the career path is very limited. The new plan must
also address these issues.
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Barriers to Inclusive Education
There is a long list of barriers that hinder inclusive education. These are summarized below.
Attitudes
The greatest barriers to inclusion are caused by society, not by particular medical impairments. Negative
attitudes towards differences result in discrimination and can lead to a serious barrier to learning.
Negative attitudes can take the form of social discrimination, lack of awareness and traditional
prejudices. Regarding disabled children some regions still maintain established beliefs that educating
the disabled is pointless. Often the problem is identified as being caused by the child's differences rather
than the education systems shortcomings.
Physical Barriers
The vast majority of centers of learning are physically inaccessible to many learners, especially to those
who have physical disabilities. In poorer, particularly rural areas, the centers of learning are often
inaccessible largely because buildings are rundown or poorly maintained. They are unhealthy and unsafe
for all learners. Many schools are not equipped to respond to special needs, and the community does
not provide local backing. Environmental barriers included: doors, passageways, stairs and ramps and
recreational areas. A major problem identified by many students is physically getting into school.
Curriculum
In any education system, the curriculum is one of the major obstacles or tools to facilitate the
development of more inclusive system. Curriculum is often unable to meet the needs of a wide range
of different learners. In many contexts, the curriculum is centrally designed and rigid, leaving little
flexibility for local adaptations or for teachers to experiment and try out new approaches. The content
might be distant to the reality in which the students live, and therefore inaccessible and unmotivating.
Teachers
Teachers' abilities and attitudes can be major limitations for inclusive education. The training of staff at
all levels is often not adequate. Where there is training it often tends to be fragmented, uncoordinated
and inadequate. If teachers do not have positive attitudes towards learners with special needs, it is
unlikely that these children will receive satisfactory education.
Language and communication

Teaching and learning often takes place through a language which is not the first language of some
learners. This places these learners, at a disadvantage and it often leads to significant linguistic
difficulties which contribute to learning breakdown. Second language learners are particularly subject
to low expectations and discrimination.
Socio-economic factors
Inadequacies and inequalities in the education system and are most evident in areas which have
sustained poverty and high levels of unemployment. The impact of violence and HIV/AIDS can also
have adverse effects.
Funding
A major constraint is serious shortages of resources – lack of schools or inadequate facilities, lack of
teachers and/or shortage of qualified staff, lack of learning materials and absence of support. The
inadequacy of resources available to meet the basic needs in education is a pervasive theme. It is
estimated that achieving education for all will require additional financial support by countries and
donors of about US$ 8 billion per year (Dakar Framework for Action, 2000).
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Organization of the education system
Education systems are often centralized and this can inhibit change and initiative. Responsibility for
decisions tends to be located at the highest level and the focus of management remains orientated
towards employees complying with rules rather than on ensuring quality service delivery. There is also
a lack of information within many systems and often there is not an accurate picture of the number of
learners excluded from the school system. Only a small percentage of learners who are categorized as
having ‘special needs' receive appropriate education in ordinary schools or special settings and there is
no support available for those learners who are outside the system. Existing provision after primary
school is inadequate to meet the needs.
Policies as barriers
Policy makers who do not understand or accept the concept of inclusive education are a barrier to the
implementation of inclusive policies. In some countries there may still exist policies that facilitate the
possibility for authorities to declare that some children are ‘uneducatable'. Usually this practice applies
to children with severe intellectual disability. In some other countries, the education of some specific
groups of learners might the responsibility of another authority than the Ministry of Education. Very
often this leads to a situation where these learners are not expected to participate in mainstream
education and, consequently, they do not have equal opportunities for further education or employment.
These are the principles that guide quality inclusive education:
1) All children belong. Inclusive education is based on the simple idea that every child and family is
valued equally and deserves the same opportunities and experiences. Inclusive education is about
children with disabilities – whether the disability is mild or severe, hidden or obvious – participating in
everyday activities, just like they would if their disability were not present. It’s about building friendships,
membership and having opportunities just like everyone else.
2) All children learn in different ways. Inclusion is about providing the help children need to learn
and participate in meaningful ways. Sometimes, help from friends or teachers works best. Other times,
specially designed materials or technology can help. The key is to give only as much help as needed.
3) It is every child’s right to be included. Inclusive education is a child’s right, not a privilege. The
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act clearly states that all children with disabilities should be
educated with non-disabled children their own age and have access to the general education curriculum.
Common Misconceptions About Inclusive Education

Some opinions about inclusive education are based on unsound information. Three common myths
about inclusion are:
Myth 1: Separate is better.
Reality: 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.
Myth 2: Children must be “ready” to be included.
Reality: All children have to the right to be with other children 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 their class to
benefit from being a full-time member in general education.
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Myth 3: Parents don’t support inclusive education.
Reality: 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.
Making Inclusion a Reality

What you can do to promote inclusion for your child:
✓ Encourage your child to participate in activities where she can meet children her same age with
different abilities.
✓ When looking for activities, consider your child’s interests. The local school, library, and
recreation or community centers are good places to check out. You also may want to consider
national organizations that encourage diversity, such as 4-H Clubs or Girl Scouts of America.
✓ Search the Internet for activities or organizations that your child may want to join.
✓ Two community Web sites with numerous resources are The Family Village and Kids Together:
Information for Children and Adults with Disabilities.
✓ Help your child develop friendships with classmates or other neighborhood children.
✓ Set up opportunities for your child to be with children he likes or children who show an interest
in him. Teach your child how to make and keep friends. For other recommendations, visit the
article Let’s Play Together: Fostering Friendships Between Children with and Without Disabilities.
✓ Share your goals and expectations for your child.
✓ Before you meet with the school and decide upon your child’s Individualized Education Plan
(IEP), meet with his teachers, therapists and others to discuss your goals, expectations, and
future placement preferences for him.
✓ Know the rights you and your child have to an inclusive education.
For more information on your rights, visit the article Family Rights: The Educational Rights of Children
with Disabilities.
What schools can do to promote successful inclusive education:
✓ Consider inclusive education first.

✓ Special education services can be provided in many different settings. Schools are required to
consider the general education class before considering any other setting for your child to receive
special education services.
✓ Support each child’s learning.
✓ Teachers support learning in inclusive classrooms in three ways. First, they teach so that
students with differing abilities and learning styles can understand and participate. Second, they
modify assignments when they are too difficult. Third, they model respect and encourage
friendships.
What families can do when they meet resistance in accessing inclusive education for their
children:
✓ Get and share information.

✓ Some schools do not support a family’s desire for inclusion, because they are used to providing
special education services to students in separate classes. Or they may not understand how to
make inclusion work for all children. Visit general education classes and separate classes for
students with disabilities. Carefully explain to your child’s teachers, principal or IEP team why
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you believe inclusive education would be best for your child. Share information with your child’s
school about the benefits of inclusive education.
✓ Enlist the help of others.
✓ Sometimes it is helpful to bring in an expert or advocate. This person will make sure that your
preferences about your child’s placement are heard. This person can also help explain the
benefits of inclusive education and how to make it happen in your child’s school. You may find
someone to help by contacting advocacy organizations, special education parent groups in your
child’s school, and local colleges with teacher training programs.
✓ Become your child’s advocate.
✓ It takes time and energy to make inclusion happen in a school that is resistant to change. Stay
focused on what you believe is best for your child. Listen carefully to the arguments against your
child’s inclusion in a general education class and use what you learn to advocate for change. For
example, if you are told that your child is not ready for the general education class, ask what
supports could be provided to help make her successful in the class.

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
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CaptivaTe yo Urself

C. Historical/Sociological Bases
(Source: https://www.eenet.org.uk/resources/docs/hist_theorectic.doc)
In 1945 the League of Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the field
of education, Article 26 of the Declaration proclaims the right of every citizen to an appropriate education
regardless of gender, race, colour and religion. This right is also enshrined in the constitutions of all
independent nations. The question is: To what extent are national governments guaranteeing the right
of 'every' citizen to an 'appropriate' education as we approach the new millennium? What measures are
in place at national and local level to address imbalances in education?
In almost every country, children and adults are being excluded from formal education
altogether; some of those who go to school do not complete. They are gradually and deliberately
pushed out of the school system because schools are not sensitive to their learning styles and
backgrounds. In a gesture of sympathy some children are sorted out into categories and placed in
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separate special schools, away from their peers. This has led to the development of two separate
systems of education within countries, regular and special education. However, in recent years the
rationale for having two parallel national systems of education has been questioned and the
foundations of 'special education' have begun to crumble. The thinking that has developed during
the last 50 years in the disability field has had significant influences not only on special education but
also on practice in regular education. Current thinking and knowledge demands that the responsibility
for ALL learners should remain with the regular classroom teacher. It is this thinking that we are here
to explore during the two days of this workshop.
The theme, “Inclusive Education: A Challenge for Teacher Education” chosen for the workshop,
provides us with an opportunity to re-examine our thinking and practice in the context of Namibia,
whether we are in special or regular education, especially those of us interested in teacher education.
However, it is important that the re-examination of our thinking and practice is also set within the
wider international context.
We are all now familiar with the 1990 World Declaration on Education for All: Meeting Basic
Learning Needs. The Declaration states that, inter alia:
Basic education should be provided to all children... To this end, basic education
services of quality should be expanded, and
consistent measures must be taken to reduce
disparities (Article 3.1).
(UNESCO, 1998:3)
Despite the rather token mention of special needs at the Jomtien Conference, there is now
greater recognition that the special needs agenda should be viewed as a significant part of the drive
for Education for All (Ainscow, 1995). The idea is that the concept of integration should be replaced
by a move towards inclusive schooling/education. Integration demands that "additional
arrangements will be made to accommodate" pupils with disabilities "within a system of schooling
that remains largely unchanged"; inclusive education, on the other hand, aims to restructure schools
in order to respond to the learning needs of all children (Ainscow, 1995: 1). Thus integration calls
for separate arrangements in the regular school for exceptional children, mainly those traditionally
labelled as disabled, through such practices as withdrawal, remedial education and/or
mainstreaming. However, inclusive schooling, in the first instance, recognizes that special learning
needs can arise from social, psychological, economic, linguistic, cultural as well as physical (or
disability) factors, hence the use of the term "children with special needs" rather than "children with
disabilities". Second, it recognizes that any child can experience difficulty in learning, short-lived or
long-term, at any time during the school career and, therefore, the school must continually review
itself to meet the needs of all its learners.
But how has the concept of inclusive education developed? Was it sparked off by the Jomtien
Conference? Who is behind this movement? I, therefore, intend, in this paper, to show how the
inclusive education movement was born and the inclusive education approach can ensure that the
right to an appropriate education is guaranteed. I also want to argue that the measures currently in
place will not guarantee this right unless there are major reforms in the education systems. The tide
is moving towards those reforms, some experiments are already underway, but obstacles to the
changes are indeed great. Perhaps the greatest of these obstacles is the unwillingness of those who
wield different types of power, and thus make important decisions as to why and who should be
excluded from receiving an appropriate education, to surrender power. Many disability groups,
including Disabled People's International (DPI), have argued that disability is socially constructed; it
is the barriers that society places on certain groups of people that create disability. Mike Oliver, a
wheelchair using professor of social work at Greenwich University, has argued that the politics of
13 | P a g e
disablement is a lively area of social engagement (Oliver, 1990). A number of sociologists have also
argued that we have the politics of special needs (see, for example, Fulcher, 1989). All these analyses
point to some explanation why some people are excluded from schooling and from receiving an
appropriate education.
Let me now consider first exclusion of persons with special needs in education before the turn
of this century, before I present arguments for inclusion and its obstacles.
Institutionalization of Persons with Disability

The history of disability in Europe is not a subject for celebration in view of the inherent violation
of human rights, as we know them today. People with disabilities (PWDs) were considered to pose a
social threat, to contaminate an otherwise pure human species. People with disability were killed and
used as objects of entertainment. As such, the society had to be protected from PWDs and the
converse was also true, the latter had to be protected from society. Philanthropists found it imperative
that PWDs should be given custodial care. These attitudes led to PWDs being placed in asylums
where they were fed and clothed. Asylums were not meant to be educational institutions (Pritchard,
1960; Bender, 1970). Some PWDs, mainly those with physical and intellectual impairments as well
as mentally ill persons, were placed in hospitals for custodial care and treatment. This was the period
of institutionalization.
Special schools began to emerge in the 15th Century, starting with those with sensory
impairments. Other disability groups were considered for special schools when public schooling were
expanded. The emphasis in the early special schools was on vocational skills. Their curriculum was
thus different from that in public schools. In addition, these early schools belonged to private
philanthropic organizations. Government involvement came in much later.
It was not until the late 1950s that categorization of people with disabilities into separate groups
and institutionalization began to be questioned. Institutionalization removed PWDs from the cultural
norms of the society to which they rightly belonged. This led to the concept of normalization, first
developed in Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark and Sweden. Wolfensberger (1972: 28)
defined normalization as:
Utilization of means which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to

establish and/or maintain personal behaviors and characteristics
which are as culturally normative as possible.
Institutions were considered to be artificial and counter-productive. Transfer from institutions
to and integration into, normal community settings required considerable adjustment. Despite the
adjustment problem, it was considered necessary to implement normalization or de-
institutionalization. This process is still going on today, with more and more mentally ill persons being
placed in the community, with some support.
In education, normalization means making maximum use of the regular school system with a
minimum resort to separate facilities. It may, therefore, be argued that normalization gave rise to the
concept of integration. However, normalization did not recognize the existence of a wide range of
individual differences in the society and "the diversity of educational, vocational and other opportunities
that are available to people in the adult world" (Jenkinson, 1997: 12). We need also to question who
and what is 'normal' as well as the value of programmes that ensure conformity to some predetermined
norm of behavior. Under normalization, people's individuality seems to be overlooked.
Special Education
Despite the criticisms against normalization, attempts have been made to defend the placement
14 | P a g e
of children and young people with disabilities in special schools and integrated provision, which are the
components of the special education system. It has been argued that regular classroom teachers are
relieved "of the need to devise and implement curricula for students who appeared unable to learn from
normal instruction in the regular class" (Jenkinson, 1997: 13). However, this argument is in itself
excluding in that children with disabilities have to follow a different curriculum from that of the regular
school.
The creation of special education introduced several educational problems. I will list only six
here. These are:
1. Children who qualify for special education have something wrong with them that make it
difficult for them to participate in the regular school curriculum; they thus receive a
curriculum that is different from that of their peers.
2. Children with disabilities and other conditions are labelled and excluded from the
mainstream of society. Assessment procedures tend to categorize students and this has
damaging effects on teacher and parent expectations and on the students' self-concept
(Ainscow, 1991; Jenkinson, 1997).
3. Unfair methods of identification and assessment have led to a disproportionate number of
students from ethnic minority groups. For example, in both Europe and North America
black, Asian and Latino-American students are overrepresented in special schools and
programmes; thus special education is being accused of legalizing racial segregation
(Jenkinson, 1997; Wang et al., 1990).
4. The presence of specialists in special education encourages regular classroom teachers to
pass on to others responsibility for children they regard as special (Ainscow, 1991).
5. Resources that might otherwise be used to provide more flexible and responsive forms of
schooling are channeled into separate provision (Ainscow, 1991).
6. The emphasis on Individualized Educational Plans and task analysis in special education
tends to lower teacher expectations of the students. In addition, task analysis and the
associated behavioral teaching strategies introduce disjointed knowledge and skills thus
making learning less meaningful to students (Sebba, Byers and Rose, 1993).
To respond to these apparent weaknesses, integration was seen as a reasonable arrangement.

Integration recognizes the existence of a continuum of services, from the special school, special class
to the regular class with or without support.
Most of the UN declarations have supported special education as a continuum of provision.

Indeed, the UN does not provide leadership in specific fields out of context. Policy proposals reflect
professional thinking, research and practice at the time. For instance, I would like to argue that policy
and legislative developments in the United States and the United Kingdom had the most significant
impact on the activities of the UN and its specialized agencies. The passing of PL42-142, Education for
All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) with its emphasis on the least restrictive environment in 1975 in
the USA and the UK Warnock Report of 1978 and the subsequent 1981 Education Act abolishing
disability categories and introducing the term "special educational needs" set the scene and basis for
international action. One such action was the endorsement of these developments by the political and
professional community in the Sundberg Declaration adopted at the World Conference on Action and
Strategies for Prevention, Education and Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities held at the Spanish
city of Torremolinos in November 1981 (UNESCO, 1981). The emphasis at the Torremolinos Conference
was educational integration, allowing for a continuum from locational, social to functional integration.
Although the terms 'special educational needs' and 'Least Restrictive Environment' call for
abandoning categories of disability and associated labels as well as increased provision in the regular
15 | P a g e
class, there has not been agreement in practice at national and local level. For example, in Africa, the
1980s saw the mushrooming of special classes and units in all areas of disability (e.g. physical, sensory,
intellectual, emotional and learning difficulties) despite the purported abolition of categories (UNESCO,
1985).
Inclusive Schooling
At the same time, in the United States, professional advocacy groups claimed that the legislation
did not go far enough. They, therefore, launched the Regular Education Initiative (REI) movement,
which called for the merging of special and general education into one single system in which all children
attended the regular community school. All special education staff, resources and learners with special
needs, they recommended, should be integrated into the regular school (Skrtic, 1991). Some countries,
such as Australia and New Zealand, left the debate open, but emphasized on parental choice (Jenkinson,
1997). The United Kingdom, while advocating for education in the regular class, has introduced, through
the Code of Practice, assessment procedures, which lead to a child being 'statemented ' by the Local
Education Authority (LEA). The statement ensures that resources are made available to the child. It is
obvious that the concept of increased parental choice and detailed assessment procedures work against
the REI movement. Indeed, the practice of exclusion is being endorsed.
Alongside the Regular Education Initiative (REI) another movement was initiated by advocacy
groups on severe intellectual impairments, such as The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps
(TASH), which promoted the rights and well-being of people with severe intellectual disability
(Jenkinson, 1997). This is the inclusive schooling movement. Like the REI, it proposes the merging of
special and general education, but it goes beyond this. It does not believe in the existence of a
continuum of provision, from special school, special class to regular class. There should be only one
unified education system. The proponents of inclusive schooling call for a restructuring of the school to
accommodate all learners and advocate radical changes to the curriculum, claiming that current curricula
were perpetuating exclusion, dividing those learners who could meet their objectives as they are from
those who could not (Ainscow, 1991, 1994; Jenkinson, 1997).
Research on inclusive schooling has focused on school improvement in terms of whole school
responses as well as teaching strategies that include all learners (Ainscow, 1991, 1994). In the early
1980s UNESCO carried out a survey on teacher education in 14 countries involving all world regions
(UNESCO, 1986). The findings showed that regular classroom teachers were willing to take on the
responsibility for special needs children, but were not confident whether they had the skills to carry out
that task. Most teachers felt they needed training in the special needs field. These findings suggested
the need for in- service training for regular classroom teachers, through teacher trainers. UNESCO,
therefore, set up a project, led by Professor Mel Ainscow, now at the University of Manchester, to
develop materials and teaching strategies that would meet the need of teachers in inclusive schools.
Regional workshops were held for Africa, (Nairobi, Kenya), Asia (Beijing, China), Middle East (Amman,
Jordan), Europe (Romania), Latin America (Chile) and North America (Canada). Resource Teams were
set up for preparing and trialling materials that had to be culturally relevant. Between 1988 and 1993,
the project teams met, trailed the materials and ran workshops. The outcome was the currently widely
distributed materials, including the Special Needs in the Classroom: Teachers Resources Pack (UNESCO,
1993), Special Needs Classroom A Teacher Guide (Ainscow, 1994) and two videos, Inclusive Schools
and Training video. These materials have been highly beneficial in improving school practice, giving
skills and confidence to regular classroom teachers.
The success of these materials and various experiments carried out on inclusive schooling in
different parts of the world led UNESCO to convene, with assistance of the government of Spain, the
1994 World Conference at Salamanca. The delegates deliberated on the elimination of exclusive
16 | P a g e
practices for children and young people with special needs arising from social, economic, psychological
and physical conditions. At the end of the conference, the Salamanca Statement and Framework for
Action was unanimously adopted by acclamation (UNESCO, 1994).
The implications for inclusive schooling are wide. Different countries, regional, local communities
and professionals are at different levels of conceptualization. While some are at the inclusive, School
for All, stage, others are at the special school stage, and still others somewhere in-between.
Inclusive Education
So far, I have presented educational development in relation to persons with special needs in
terms of schooling. Indeed, education, in the eyes of economists and educational planners, has been
presented in literature as if it existed mainly within the context of schooling. Informal and non-formal
education are often not their concern. Yet those who are excluded from schooling benefit from these
forms of education in order to become usefully contributing members of their communities. For many
individuals with special needs in many countries, these are the only forms of education.
Ociiti (1994:19) has described informal education as the "spontaneous learning by individuals as
they interact with their social and physical environment in their process of day-to-day living... purely on
their own initiatives or through the processes of stimulated learning and directed practice". Non-formal
education, on the other hand, is said to cover all forms of learning, including functional literacy classes,
outside the formal, school system. Coombs has described these non-school forms of learning as the
"shadow systems of education" (Cannen, 1996:61). Economists have traditionally not recognized the
significant role of informal and non-formal learning, and the development of the informal sector, in
developing inquiry, reflection, creativity and locally relevant and appropriate technology and in
producing affordable consumer goods, branding it as traditional and inferior. The economists' position
has influenced some educationalists to consider informal and non-formal learning as an insignificant
part of an education system. It is rarely included in the description and discussion of national education
systems in major textbooks and journals. This omission was obviously the case at the Jomtien
Conference (Fordham, 1991: 173). Fordham argues that the goal of Education for All (EFA) may not be
met if education development relies entirely on existing schools, especially for "out-of-school children
and under-educated and/or underemployed youth and adults" (p. 174) and, I would quickly add,
children and adults with special learning needs. In fact, some people in the latter group could benefit
more from ecologically and culturally relevant non-formal learning. Indeed, this educational
arrangement would augur well with the spirit of the inclusive education movement which calls for radical
changes in the curriculum to include functional skills (Jenkinson, 1997).
On a broader scale, it is now being accepted that the contribution of informal and nonformal
learning and production (learning by doing) in both urban and rural areas, though unrecorded, is what
sustains the life of nations (Bray, Clarke and Stephens, 1986). The ongoing criticism of the dual
economy, as a false classification of the economy into pre-existing and modern under foreign influence,
has led to a movement towards acceptance of the informal sector as an integral part of a nation's
economy. What was needed was a rediversification of indigenous economy with a view to modernizing
it, rather than replacing it. Indeed, the literacy campaigns of the 1960s and early 1970s with dramatic
reductions in illiteracy in some countries have resulted in the legitimization of informal or non-formal
education. This integrative economic view, and indeed educational involving informal, formal and non-
formal creation and transformation of knowledge (Cannen, 1996) -allows individuals and communities
to contribute and benefit from an expanded range of possibilities or choices in the content to be learned
and goods to be produced (Marglin, 1990). In addition, whilst the formal or modem sector has failed to
create jobs, the informal or "traditional" sector holds greater promise in increasing employment
opportunities. For some young people with profound and/or multiple learning needs, informal and non-
17 | P a g e
formal learning could be an important complementary option.
But informal and non-formal forms of learning are not new. These are mainly indigenous forms
of education, principles of which could be even used to advantage in the formal settings of the school
(Dovey, 1994). As I have argued elsewhere, indigenous education in Africa was, and is, inclusive. We
need only to consider the principles, which guided indigenous forms of education. These include (Kisanji,
1998: 58-60):
1. Absence or limited differentiation in space, time and status: indigenous customary
education was available and accessible to all community members, wherever they were,
during waking hours
2. Relevance of content and methods: the content of education was drawn from the
physical or natural and social environments, both of which were intricately tied to the
religious/'spiritual life of the people
3. Functionality of knowledge and skills: all the knowledge, attitudes and skills embodied
in the curriculum were based on cultural transmission, knowledge creation and
transformation
4. Community orientation: all educational content and practice was based on and within the
community.
I would like to argue that these principles of universality, relevance, functionality and community
localization are essential for a successful inclusive education system. Some of the teaching approaches
and methods considered to facilitate effective learning in schools today are the natural part of African
indigenous education. Here I have in mind co-operative and collaborative learning and child-to-child
learning opportunities. However, due to our veneration of ideas and systems from outside, perhaps
because of our history, we have all along ignored these practices in our communities, only for research
elsewhere to establish their effectiveness (Hawes, 1988; UNESCO, 1993).
Summary and Conclusion

In this presentation so far, I have attempted to chart the development of social and educational
practice in relation to persons with special needs due to disabilities and other backgrounds such as
social, linguistic and economic experiences. The normalization movement, which began in Scandinavian
countries in the late 1950s, spawned many research activities since the 1960s in Europe and North
America. The concept of normalization was not relevant to Africa; we did not have institutions. However,
it influenced the move towards integration, which was adopted in all regions of the world. I would like
to argue that integration is also alien to Africa because it does not recognize diversity of human beings.
It merely seeks to assimilate those who are different to learn and behave like everyone else. It also
supports the continued existence of special education as a separate system.
Inclusive schooling, on the other hand, is opposed to the concept and practice of special
education. It demands that schools should change in order to be able to meet the learning needs of all
children in a given community. It seeks to improve the learning outcomes of students in academic
achievements, social skills and personal development. Clearly this is the purpose of the school
improvement movement, which aims to develop schools that are effective for all. Effective schools see
pupils experiencing difficulty in learning ''as indicators of the need for reform" (Ainscow, 1991: 3). These
schools are characterized by (Ainscow, 1991; Hopkins, Ainscow and West, 1994):
1. Strong administrative leadership and attention to quality of instruction
2. Emphasis on student acquisition of basic skills
3. High expectations for students and confidence among teachers that they can deal with
children's individual needs
4. Commitment to provide a broad and balanced range of curriculum experiences for all children
18 | P a g e
5. Orderly, safe climate conducive to teaching and learning
6. Arrangements for supporting individual members of staff through staff development, using
both the workshop and the workplace.
7. Frequent monitoring of student progress
Effective schools are thus closely tied with effective teaching.
School improvement and effective research, which is at the heart of inclusive education, points
to three important needs. First there is the need for quality teacher education involving pre-service
training for all teachers and staff development in the form of advanced studies, the workshop and the
workplace. School heads require additional training in order to play an effective leadership role. Second,
there is the need for further research, especially school-based inquiry in order to improve practice.
Lastly, there is also the need to make formal education relevant in content and process to the social
and cultural environment of learners.
While we are engaged with school improvement and management of change, I would like to
end this presentation with a tacit reminder of the stark reality of life: change is sometimes painful. When
we become used to certain ways of doing things, we tend to resist change. Change will be more painful
to those of us who have made a living out of, and wield some power in, special education. However, if
we believe in Education for All, we need to surrender the power we hold and work collaboratively to
create effective schools and inclusive education.

D. Legal Bases
Inclusive Education: The Philippine Perspective

(Source: http://iamyouinclusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/DepEd-Inclusive-Education-Policy-Framework-Dr-Lorna-Dino.pdf)
General Information On Inclusive Education

◼ FACTS and FIGURES
Children with disabilities who are in school are about 101, 762 (2011-2011).
- Children with disabilities are still combating educational exclusion
- 97.3 % of them are still unreached.
- About 5,916 are mainstreamed in regular classes
- Children of Indigenous peoples number about 12-15 million across the country. These are spread
in seven ethnographic areas with 117 ethno-linguistic groups. Those in the elementary schools total
639, 483 while 158, 550 are in the secondary schools (2010-2011).
- 140,570 Muslim elementary and secondary pupils are attending ALIVE (Arabic Language and
Islamic Values Education) in public schools
- Street children are about 246, 000 thousand-
75% are children on the streets;
25% are children of the streets;
70 are boys
- Working children are growing in number
- Number of abused children is being tracked down
EDUCATION POLICIES
◼ The right to education is a basic human right.
◼ All children and youth shall have access to quality education.
19 | P a g e
◼ Inclusive education shall be concerned with all learners, with focus on those who have
traditionally been excluded from educational opportunities.
◼ Support system shall be organized and delivered holistically.
PUBLIC POLICY SUPPORT on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

◼ The 1987 Philippine Constitution
◼ P.D. 603 - The Child and Youth Welfare Code
◼ RA. 7610 – Special Protection of Children against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination
Act
◼ R.A. 7277- The Magna Carta for Disabled Persons amended by R.A 9442
◼ Policies and Guidelines in Special Education
PHILIPPINES ADOPTS INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

▪ UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (1989)
▪ World Declaration on Education for All (1990)
▪ UNESCO Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994)
INCLUSION DEFINED
◼ Reaching out to all learners
◼ Addressing and responding to diversity of needs of all children, youth and adults
◼ Involves changes and modification in content, approaches, structures and strategies
STRATEGIES in INCLUSIVE EDUCATION for DISADVANTAGED LEARNERS

◼ CHILDREN WITH DISABILITES
1. Partial mainstreaming towards inclusion
- students are educated in regular classes at least half the day
- receive additional help or specialized services
- pull-out
2. Full mainstreaming or inclusion
- complete regular instruction
- receive all special services in general classroom
SUSTAINING PROGRAMS for CHILDREN with DISABILITIES

◼ Establishment of 276 Special Education Centers nationwide
◼ Provision of SPED items
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◼ Downloading of funds
◼ Sustaining Programs for Children with Disabilities
◼ Conduct of training programs for teachers handling children with various disabilities
◼ Conduct of training for school heads and supervisors
◼ Development of instructional materials for children with disabilities
◼ Conduct of advocacy strategies like the SPED caravan in regions and divisions without SPED
centers or without SPED programs
◼ Implementation of various intervention programs, like:
Early Intervention
Transition program
Head start program
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES EDUCATION

◼ Policy actions
To provide access to quality basic education
To ensure the preservation, recognition, promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples
to ancestral domain, cultural identity and heritage
◼ Objective:
The National IP Education Policy Framework operationalized in all schools
Indigenous Peoples Education Activities
◼ Launching of the Philippine’s Response to Indigenous Peoples and Muslim Education (PRIME)- a
facility for IP and ME
◼ Conduct of implementation planning activities for the national, & regional clusters
◼ Celebrating IP month in October
◼ MADRASAH EDUCATION for Muslim Children
◼ Policy action:
To provide acess to quality education
To ensure the preservation, recognition, promotion, and protection of the rights of Muslim learners
to religious identity and heritage
◼ Objective:
Institutionalization of the Madrasah Education Program at all levels in basic education
◼ Madrasah Education for Muslim Children
◼ Development of Madrasah Currriculum for Kindergarten (Tahderiyyah)
◼ Implementation of the Madrasah Curriculum in the elementary level
◼ Development of the Curriculum in the secondary level
◼ Professionalizing the Asatidz through the Accelerated Teacher Education Program now on its
fourth cycle
STREET CHILDREN EDUCATION

◼ Enhancing the implementation of the “Kariton Klasrum” project in partnership with the Dynamic
Teen Company
◼ Street educator, Efren Penaflorida awarded by CNN as Hero of the Year
◼ Conducting stock-taking activities in selected sites that will implement the program
EDUCATION for CHILDREN SEXUALLY ABUSED

◼ Institutionalization of Personal Safety Lessons in both elementary and secondary schools
nationwide
◼ On-going training of trainers for the basic education levels
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◼ Coordination with the agencies to ensure the welfare of the sector
ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY MODES for DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

◼ MISOSA- (Modified In-School and Off-School Approach for elementary)
◼ Open High School Program for secondary
◼ Distance Learning
◼ Modular learning
◼ On-line learning
◼ Home-based learning
◼ Alternative Delivery Modes
CURRENT ISSUES and CHALLENGES

◼ Increasing the holding power of schools over these children
◼ Making existing resources and other support systems adaptable and suitable to the needs of
inclusive education
◼ Mobilizing parents and other duty bearers in supporting inclusive education
◼ Providing post-school support to fully integrate and enable disadvantaged children to participate
in gainful employment or productive work.
SOCIAL BENEFITS
◼ Creates positive social and attitudinal changes in both regular and disadvantaged chidren such
as:
a. Reducing and eliminating prejudices against disabled children
b. Improving self-concept or self-esteem
c. Growth in social cognition
d. Encouraging greater participation in social progress
Challenge
◼ Inclusion may result in overcrowding and lowering of quality of education
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
◼ Leads to higher participation rate, cohort-survival or completion rate
◼ There is higher simple and functional literacy rates.
◼ There is higher employment participation rate.
◼ Enable children to become independent and productive in later years
CHALLENGES
◼ Inclusion education entails additional resources over and above those provided to regular
schools.
◼ Per pupil cost is relatively higher than the regular pupil.
PROPOSED INITIATIVES/RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Ensuring education through early learning intervention
2. Rationalizing the establishment of more centers: special education centers, community centers,
drop-in centers
3. Capability building for teachers of diverse learners at pre service levels
4. Adopting equivalency, testing and acceleration programs to diverse learners
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Guiding Principles Policies and Legal Basis of Special Education
(Source: https://www.slideshare.net/hangwanitiassale/guiding-principles-policies-and-legal-bases-of-special-education)
By: Larry B. Saliga T-I Malabog District USEP-Graduate Studies MED-SPED Exceptional Student
General Principles in Special Education

✓ Each child has a Right to Education.
✓ Equal opportunity assurance of quality education to all regardless of their assessed needs will
be fully met. Placing a handicapped student in a normal setting is only the first step to integration
✓ Educational resources for handicapped students should be comparable to those available for
non-handicapped students and appropriate to meet the special needs of those children, since
these needs have often been long neglected or received unduly low priority.
Special Education services should be:

✓ Individualized, that is based on the assessed and agreed needs of the child.
✓ Locally accessible, that is within reasonable traveling distance of the pupil’s house or
residence.
✓ Comprehensive, that is serving all persons with special needs irrespective of degree of
handicap, such that no child of school age is excluded from educational provision on the grounds
of severity or handicap or receive educational services significantly inferior to those enjoyed by
other students.
Educational services should be made available to children below school age and be educationally and
developmentally oriented. home visiting services should be available starting from the first weeks of
life.
Educational opportunities should also be provided to adolescents and adults, at least on the same
scale as to all others in the community. Abigail had little formal schooling but a quick wit and was a
colorful writer.
Comprehensive programming for disabled persons will require a full range of services: health, social
welfare, rehabilitation, employment and placement.
Failure to educate and train handicapped persons in proportion equal to the provision of services for
the non-handicapped, because of the problem being perceived as a lower priority, results in later
expensive programs to care for the untreated disabled. Further handicapping conditions results because
of the under-development and dependency.
LEGAL BASES FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES
Commonwealth Act No. 3203-

In 1935, A provision in this Act for the care and protection of disabled children. Articles 356 and
259 of the Civil Code of the Philippines mention “the right of every child to live in an atmosphere
conclusive to his physical, moral and intellectual development”, and the concomitant duty of the
government to “promote the full growth of the faculties of every child”.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child

This declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1959, affirmed that mankind
owes to the child the best it has to give. One of the principles concerned with the education of children
with special needs runs: “The child who is physically, mentally or visually handicapped shall be given
the special treatment, education that are required of his particular condition.”
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Republic Act Nos. 3562 and 5250
Approved on June 13, 1968 respectively, these Acts provided that teachers, administrators, and
supervisors of special education should be trained by the Department of Education and impoverished.
Presidential Decree No. 603 (PD 603)

The Child and Youth Welfare Code, Article 3, Rights of the Child. Equally important is Article 74
which provides for the creation of special classes. The Article reads: “Where needs warrant, there shall
be at least one special class in every province, and if possible, special schools for the physically
handicapped, the mentally retarded, the emotionally-disturbed and the specially gifted.”
Republic Act 7277

Approved on January 22, 1992, Republic Act 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for
Disabled Persons affirms the full participation and total integration of persons with disabilities into the
mainstream of our society.
Goals of Special Education

✓ The ultimate goal of special education shall be the integration or mainstreaming of learners with
special needs into the regular school system and eventually in the community.
✓ Special Education shall aim to develop the maximum potential of the child with special needs to
enable him to become self-reliant and shall be geared towards providing him with the
opportunities for a full and happy life.
Objectives of Special Education

✓ The specific objectives of special education shall be the development and maximization of
learning competencies, as well as the inculcation of values to make the learners with special
needs a useful and effective member of society
5 Important Special Education Laws
(Source: https://www.masters-in-special-education.com/lists/5-important-special-education-laws/)
Students with disabilities and special needs may need individually planned and systematically delivered
teaching techniques.
Special education programs work to help individuals develop not only their academic skills, but also the
personal skills that help them become self-sufficient members of the community.
Special education programs became obligatory in 1975 to prevent discrimination by public educational
institutions against individuals with disabilities. The National Center for Education Statistics reported
that, as of 2013, approximately 13 percent of all students in public schools were receiving special
education services.
1. Education for All Handicapped Children Act

Passed by Congress in 1975, this was the first special education law directed at students with
physical and mental disabilities. The law stated that public schools must provide children with special
needs with the same opportunities for education as other children. It also required any public school
that received federal funds to provide one free meal a day for these children.
The mission of this act was to:

✓ make special education services accessible to children who require them;
✓ maintain fair and appropriate services for disabled students;
24 | P a g e
✓ institute systematic evaluation requirements for special education; and
✓ endow federal resources to public schools for the education of disabled students.
2. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, was created in 1990 and is a modification of
the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This law ensures that special needs students receive
appropriate free public education in the least restrictive environment necessary to meet those students’
needs. It helps students receive the extra assistance they need but allows them to participate in the
same activities as children without special needs whenever possible.
3. No Child Left Behind

In 2001, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as the No Child Left
Behind Act, called for schools to be accountable for academic performance of all students, whether or
not they had disabilities. The act requires schools in every state to develop routine assessments of
students’ academic skills. While it does not stipulate that these assessments meet a national standard,
the law does oblige each state to come up with its own criteria for evaluation. No Child Left Behind
provides incentives for schools to demonstrate progress in students with special needs. It also allows
for students to seek alternative options if schools are not meeting their academic, social or emotional
needs.
4. Individualized Education Programs

The IDEA maintains that parents and teachers of children who qualify for special education must
develop an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, that helps establish specific education for a child’s
explicit needs. This requires caregivers to meet initially to determine a child’s eligibility for an IEP and
to come together annually to develop and assess the educational plan.
The student’s educational strategy must be designated in writing and should include an
evaluation and description of the current academic status, measurable goals and objectives, designation
of an instructional setting and placement within that setting and transition services for children aged 16
or older. An IEP gives parents the right to dispute any issues with the school district through a neutral
third party.
5. Students with Disabilities and Postsecondary School

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 forbid
discrimination in schools based on disability. This applies to colleges and universities as well as
elementary, middle and high schools. Many students with special needs go on to study at the
postsecondary level, but the laws are slightly different for postsecondary schools. The law does not
require postsecondary schools to provide a free appropriate public education to students, but it does
oblige schools to offer suitable academic adjustments and accessible housing to students with
disabilities.
Whether you’re a student with disabilities or you’re looking to teach children with disabilities, it’s
important to know special education laws. These laws preserve the rights of students and their families
and help integrate students with special needs into society without segregating them. Although the laws
differ slightly from state to state, the acts passed by Congress help to standardize the treatment of
students with special needs across the country.
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Ed 124 Unit 2

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Unit 2

BASES AND POLICIES OF SPECIAL AND

Connect To Understand Part 1

2) Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:

It operates on the following principles:

The necessary conditions required for effective social/observational learning include:

3) Lev Vygotsky’s Scaffolding

What Is Instructional Scaffolding?

What's the History Behind Vygotsky Scaffolding?

4) Jean Lave’s Situated Learning

Explainer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uffo_1yUAkE

Situated learning is related to Vygotsky’s notion of learning through social development.

Connect To Understand Part 2

What is inclusive education?

Benefits of Inclusive Education

Why is inclusive education important?

Isn’t it better to separate children who need specialized attention?

What are the basic elements of inclusive education?

Is inclusive education expensive?

How do Open Society Foundations support inclusive education?

Developing an Inclusive Education System

Language and communication

These are the principles that guide quality inclusive education:

Common Misconceptions About Inclusive Education

Myth 1: Separate is better.

Myth 2: Children must be “ready” to be included.

Making Inclusion a Reality

What schools can do to promote successful inclusive education:

✓ Consider inclusive education first.

✓ Get and share information.

BASES AND POLICIES OF SPECIAL AND

Connect To Understand Part 3

Institutionalization of Persons with Disability

Utilization of means which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to

To respond to these apparent weaknesses, integration was seen as a reasonable arrangement.

Most of the UN declarations have supported special education as a continuum of provision.

Summary and Conclusion

Effective schools are thus closely tied with effective teaching.

Connect To Understand Part 4

Inclusive Education: The Philippine Perspective

General Information On Inclusive Education

PUBLIC POLICY SUPPORT on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

PHILIPPINES ADOPTS INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS on INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

STRATEGIES in INCLUSIVE EDUCATION for DISADVANTAGED LEARNERS

SUSTAINING PROGRAMS for CHILDREN with DISABILITIES

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES EDUCATION

STREET CHILDREN EDUCATION

EDUCATION for CHILDREN SEXUALLY ABUSED

ALTERNATIVE DELIVERY MODES for DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

CURRENT ISSUES and CHALLENGES

General Principles in Special Education

Special Education services should be:

LEGAL BASES FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

Commonwealth Act No. 3203-

The Declaration of the Rights of the Child

Presidential Decree No. 603 (PD 603)

Republic Act 7277

Goals of Special Education

Objectives of Special Education

1. Education for All Handicapped Children Act

The mission of this act was to:

2. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act