Nature of Special

and Inclusive
Education
Ed106- Foundations of Special and
Inclusive Education
Everyone has a right to education. Having a disability should not be an excuse for being deprived access
to schools; neither should poverty, religion, nor race.

Inclusive education is an inevitable direction to take and must be properly understood, appreciated, and
prepared for within the context of society being accepting of individual differences.

For a nation to be fully inclusive, one must start from a humane perspective of disability and a
transformative mindset on inclusion. Thus, the success of inclusive education starts with an appreciation
and acceptance of diversity, reinforced by a supportive and genuinely inclusive mindset among our
general education teachers.
 Also known as special-needs education,
aided education, exceptional education,
special ed or SPED

Special A wide variety of instructional services

based on a child’s individual needs
Education
Designed to help individuals with special
needs achieve a higher level of self-
sufficiency
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Inclusive Education
An educational practice that
places students with
disabilities in the general
education classroom
Anchored on the philosophy
that every child has an
inherent right to be educated
equally with his peers, no
matter how different he or she
may appear to the society.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
 Models of Disability

Moral/Religious Model

Biomedical/Individual Model

Functional/Rehabilitation Model

Social Model

Rights-Based Model and Twin Track Approach

Moral/Religious Model

Developed during the Medieval age (AD476- early 1800s)

Greatly influenced by the Church; parents who bore children with disabilities are either considered a
blessing or a curse

Such belief can cause not just the PWD’s isolation but also exclusion of the entire family unit from
communal event

Some cultures lean toward a type of mystical narrative wherein disabilities may impair some senses yet
heighten others
Biomedical/Individual
Model
Functional/Rehabilitation Model

A model quite like the biomedical model that sees PWDs as having deficits

Disabilities justify the need to undergo rehabilitative intervention such as therapies,

counseling, and the like in the aim of reintegrating the disabled into society

The difference between functional and biomedical model is the concept of habilitation and
rehabilitation
Habilitation Rehabilitation

Refers to help given to those whose Refers to assistance given by professionals

disabilities are congenital or manifested to those who have an acquired disability in
very early in life in order to maximize the hope of gaining back one’s
function functionality
Social Model
 Rights-Based Model

A framework that bears similarities with the social model

It moves beyond explanation, offering theoretical framework for disability

policy that emphasizes the human dignity of PWDs

It recognizes the PWDs’ vulnerability and tries to address this by upholding

and safeguarding their identities and rights as human beings

This model recognizes that properly formulated prevention policy may be

regarded as an instance of human rights protection for PWDs
 Rights-Based Approach to Education

Ensures all energies Built on principle that

There are four key
are devoted to the education is a basic
actors directly
realization of each human right and
involved in such
learner’s right to therefore all must
model:
education have access to it

parents as duty
teachers as rights-
the government as the child as the rights- bearers and
holders and duty
duty bearers holder representatives of the
bearers
child
 A combination of the social model and the
rights-based model

Twin Track Allows for holistic changes to occur, with the

option of promoting individual needs whenever
Approach necessary

In education, this allows a PWD to join the

mainstream, yet provided with opportunities for
disability-specific programs in case additional
support is needed