Comentario final

The First National Seminar on Inclusive Education, organised by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia, was held at Langkawi, Malaysia from June 8 to 10, 1 994. It was attended by two hundred people, including all the state deputy directors of education throughout the country, special education teachers, teachers from the pilot inclusive education schools and representatives from non-governmental organisations. The purpose of the seminar was to update and inform all those people who would be

involved about the Inclusive Education Policy that the Ministry of Education planned to implement for development in this area of education.

During the First National Seminar, representatives from government and non­ governmental organisations were divided into groups to discuss each of the topics presented and to report their deliberations. Subsequently, the Special Education Department compiled the group work and published the deliberations as a source of reference for all the state education departments in Malaysia. The report on the First National Seminar on Inclusive Education was compiled by the Special Education

Department and the report was the outcome of the discussion on each of the topics presented.

Papers presented during the First National Seminar covered a wide area related to children with special needs, which included the following:

.. Inclusive education as an integral part of the education system;

.. _{Special needs and the community;}

.. _{Implementation of inclusive education through the basic teacher training} curriculum in teachers' training colleges;

Examination and evaluation of the education system and national examinations.

.. _{Monitoring and supervision of inclusive education; and}

.. _{School policies on the implementation of inclusive education.}

The Special Education Philosophy, an extension of the National Education Philosophy, extended its provisions to the education of children with special needs in traditional classroom settings. Through this extension, inclusive education was introduced into the education system, incorporating the principles of the educational provisions towards effective schools for all. This development was accepted and implemented in most of the states in Malaysia where children with special needs were now learning with others in traditional classroom settings. This provision emphasises an appropriate education so that children with special needs, to the extent of their capabilities, may experience success and acceptance and develop a sense of worth.

An appropriate education for all children in accordance with the National Ideology emphasises the need to create a united, democratic, just, liberal and progressive society. Additionally, the Special Education Philosophy and the National Education Philosophy serve as guiding principles that can provide greater opportunities for everyone,

especially for those in the lower socioeconomic groups and those from disadvantaged regions.

During the First Seminar on Inclusive Education, various issues related to the

implementation of inclusive education were addressed, which included the following:

• More seminars, conferences and short term courses were needed prior to the

implementation of inclusive education.

• Due to the shortage of trained and experienced teachers, schools that offer inclusive education would have to employ untrained, temporary teachers.

• There was a lack of commitment from parents.

• There was a lack of facilities and space to implement inclusive education. • Children with low functioning skills (cognitive) are difficult to teach as wel l as

having discipline problems.

• Islamic education for Muslim children is not adequately met.

However, recommendations were made for the Ministry of Education to act upon the problems associated with inclusive education. The recommendations included the following:

• Train more teachers;

• Provide on-going short term courses;

• Organize seminars and conferences for administrators, principals and teachers; • Require teachers' colleges to prepare courses on special and inclusive education; • Start a parent-teacher association to encourage parental involvement;

• Give the school principals the power to utilise funds; • Provide attractive learning facilities;

• Provide more extra-curricular activities; for example, field trips;

• Employ more specialists, such as speech therapists and child psychologists;

• Train special education teachers to teach the Islamic religion; • Develop a workable educational assessment program;

• Provide incentive payments for all teachers;

• Provide additional teaching aids such as computers and music instruments;

• Gain community involvement;

• A void labelling of children and schools; and,

• Provide vocational education at the secondary school level.

In terms of the Inclusive Education Policy, representatives at the First Seminar on Inclusive Education suggested that implementation be standardised throughout Malaysia, with the Inclusive Education Policy as a guideline. At the local level, implementation should be based on individual schools and their location.

Also identified, during the First Seminar on Inclusive Education, was the role of teacher training colleges, an important factor for the successful implementation of inclusive education. Three lecturers from teacher training colleges and an officer from the Teacher Education Division were subsequently sent to Flinders University, South Australia, to undergo an intensive short-term training course on inclusive education.

The First National Seminar on Inclusive Education took place at Langkawi Island in Malaysia is summarized in the following table.

Table 4.2

The First National Seminar on Inclusive Education: In Summary

Presentation Comments

• _{Deputy Director of} • _{Inclusive education as} • _{Papers were presented}

Education from all the integral to the Malaysian by selected officers

states of Malaysia. education system. from the Ministry of

Special education teachers • _{Disability and the community. Education Malaysia.}

from special schools and • _{Inclusive education} • _{The writer was one of}

pilot inclusive education curriculum in the Teachers the presenters whose

schools. Training Colleges. paper was on

• _{Non-governmental} • _{Examinations and evaluations monitoring and} organizations. in the national examinations. supervising inclusive

Teachers training colleges. • _{Monito'ring and supervising education.}

• _{Local university inclusive education.}

representatives. • _{Policies on inclusive}

Papers on the topic related to special education and inclusive education were presented by those selected officers from the special education section at the Ministry level. After each presentation, each group was to discuss the issues related to the topic and then the outcome of the discussion was presented to all the groups. Comments and suggestions were noted so as to improve the implementation of inclusive education. The most important issues that needed to be addressed by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia were on the shortage of trained specialist teachers and the insufficient facilities.

One important outcome of this training was the development of a proposal to introduce inclusive education in the basic teacher training curriculum (MacMullin & Vaz, 1 995) . It was recommended that the curriculum include cooperative learning, peer-tutoring and mixed-ability teaching. The representatives also recommended that the duration of teacher training be increased to three years, with the third year as an attachment programme in an inclusive education class. Normally, teacher training in Malaysia takes two years.

Due to age and ability differences within classes, it is difficult to provide the most appropriate instruction in Malaysian schools. In Malaysia, placement is not based on age appropriateness. For example, children with special needs who are eight years old are usually placed in the Primary One class with children aged six (Ministry of

Education, Malaysia, 1994) . Further, placement of children with special needs differs from country to country. In Western countries such as the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, age-appropriateness is used as a criterion for placement of children with special needs (Foreman, 1 996). This principle implies the need for teaching and personal interactions that reflect the chronological age of the students.

Overall attitudes of those who participated in the First Seminar on Inclusive Education were very encouraging as their positive recommendations would be implemented soon by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. It was evident that the participants were deeply concerned and, if their concerns were addressed accordingly, acceptance of inclusive education would be increased. Therefore, the Ministry of Education began to seriously

look at the recommendations for inclusive education in order to determine its effectiveness and to ensure successful implementation.