Flexible Sí puede exceder tiempo Máximo de espera

Schools and school support centres should play an active role in promoting awareness at the community level of the right to education of children with disabilities They should also mobilize the community to find out-of-school children with disabilities and to encourage their families to send them to school They should also encourage communities to accept them fully and ensure that they are able to participate in all community activities

Head teachers or principals should receive awareness training to develop expertise to transform their schools into inclusive schools and should be required to conduct training within the school to prepare teachers and students for the changes that may be necessary when children with disabilities are attending schools for the first time

Support services should be family-centred, child-centred and holistic All support centres should provide, or have access to all necessary forms of expertise and resources and coordinate support services from all relevant ministries and service providers This is particularly relevant in providing early

intervention services which may involve ministries of Health, NGOs, Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR) programmes and others

Information systems should be maintained at support centres and at schools, regularly updated and shared appropriately, particularly during transition of the child from one setting, class or school to the next

In-service training should be held on a regular basis, both in schools and in support centres, for regular school teachers to increase their expertise in teaching children with disabilities in their classes and to trouble-shoot problem areas and to develop and share problem solving strategies

Schools should offer an appropriate orientation process for children with disabilities and their families, with opportunities for school and teacher meetings, to familiarize students with the school This should be part of a planned transition process and could be facilitated by support centre personnel

Clear guidelines should be provided for each period of transition from pre-school to primary school, primary to secondary and beyond

Individualised education programmes should be developed with the participation of family members, classroom teachers and support centre personnel where appropriate

Schools and authorities should encourage persons with disabilities to play an active role in the provision of education, as supporters, assistants, interpreters, as well as in awareness building activities and advocacy

Community

Community networks should be effectively used to identify out-of-school children Strategies should be developed to mobilize this group of children into the education system and their attendance should be monitored regularly This work should take place in partnership with special education centres, CBR programmes, ministries of health and others charged with this task

Local authorities should ensure that community networks are effectively involved in the identification of children with disabilities, raise awareness of their right to education and support their access to education in the local community

Organizations of people with disabilities and parent groups should offer to educate ministries about their experiences, conduct awareness training for administrators and act in an advisory capacity to the Ministry of Education on a regular and on-going basis

Development of CBR programmes is one of the most effective strategies for supporting and empowering persons with disabilities in their communities and encouraging their full inclusion in all aspects of community life, including education This strategy will result in increased willingness of the community to accept children with disabilities on the same basis as other children are accepted and will lead to increased willingness of parents to enrol their children in local community schools

Parents and families must be involved in the development and monitoring of the individualised education plan for their child, both at support centres and at regular school

Organizations of people with disabilities, including national associations for the blind and deaf, can assist community schools in teaching such specific skills as sign language and Braille, but these skills should also be included in teacher training courses at pre-and in-service level

Recommendations from BM, Priority Are 3, early detection, early intervention and Education Governments, including ministries of education, need to work in partnership with NGOs at the national and local level to conduct public awareness campaigns to inform families of children with disabilities, schools and local communities, of the right of children and youth with disabilities to participate in education at all levels, in urban and rural areas, and with particular emphasis on the inclusion of girls with disabilities where there is a gender imbalance in school attendance

Lessons learned: Moving forward towards inclusive education

for children with disabilities

The first step in administration and implementation of policy to include children with disabilities is awareness training of administrators Administrators must be positively committed to the changes necessary in the school system and determined to see them achieved The most effective training and awareness raising may be provided by involving prominent disability advocates and organizations of persons with disabilities Experiential training which includes simulation exercises may result in greater understanding and more sensitivity than lecturing and factual information alone The key outcome must include the development of positive attitudes, enthusiasm and commitment

Preparation at all levels of the system is essential when significant changes are being introduced A large-scale programme of in-service training is desirable in situations where changes are introduced to the whole system, as was the case in Thailand after the Education Act of 1999 was passed, mandating that all regular schools must accept children with disabilities In situations where the introduction is more gradual training can be focused on the initial schools, and gradually expanded

One of the most important keys to successful inclusion has been preparation of school principals Whole school support is difficult to achieve unless it is fostered from the top Effective preparation at the school level requires a participatory approach engaging all teachers and other staff This avoids the common problem that arises when it is assumed that the issue of including children with disabilities is only the concern of those teachers who may have such children in their classes An inclusive school needs a dynamic on-going programme of professional development and support, which allows both problems and solutions to be seen as the responsibility of the whole staff

Another important task in administration is making sure that the roles and responsibilities at each level of the system are clearly spelled out, widely understood and effectively implemented This is particularly important in terms of the relationship between regular schools and the mechanisms established to provide them with support, such as special education centres in Thailand and the Special Education Unit in Brunei Close monitoring of the functioning of the support centres, and of the schools, is critical in the early stages of the implementation of new policy Failure to receive the level of support expected may result in the unwillingness of schools to enrol children with disabilities The level and nature of support systems will vary across contexts, and in some cases support will be provided from within the school and without individualized assessment or programming This was the model adopted by Lao PDR The responsibilities of the Special Education Centres in Thailand are more extensive

Tawathburi Special Education Centre, Thailand.

The head teacher is qualified with a degree in special education and a master’s degree in psychology The centre has nine staff Eighty four per cent of children seen at the centre are placed in regular schools The remaining 16 per cent are receiving early intervention or specialized programmes, designed to prepare them for entry into regular schools The special education centre is responsible for finding out-of-school children with disabilities and working with CBR programmes, health workers and village community officials to educate families about their obligation to send their children to school Early intervention programmes are one of the major activities of the centre and these are carried out in the home and at the Centre The special education centre is responsible for assessment and placement decisions Children may be placed at the centre, in a special school or in a regular integrated school Major activities include arranging placements for children in local regular schools and providing on-going support to the child and family and to the school and classroom teacher Individualized education plans may be developed at the centre or in the school, but always with a team of people which includes the family A second major focus is on training activities for several target groups Awareness training is given to all schools in the area, with the purpose of encouraging schools to accept children with disabilities Attitudes are still negative in many schools and it will take time to break down these barriers Regular on-going support is provided to teachers who are teaching children with disabilities in their classrooms, but broader training for all teachers in a school is carried out Training is also provided for parents and families and for community workers and volunteers Training teachers to make their own teaching devices and aids from local materials is also conducted The special education centre is responsible for the budget which allocates resources to schools on a per child basis Centre staff saw increasing numbers of children coming forward for an education The staff would like to see full enforcement of the 1999 Education Act which made education compulsory and requires parents to send their children to school They would also like to see compliance from more schools on their legal obligation to provide education to children with disabilities The progress is encouraging

Identification of out-of-school children and gaining the support of local communities for including children with disabilities in school requires close partnerships to be formed with all stakeholders Coordination of effort needs to be part of administrative procedures at all levels Consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities should result in advice on administrative strategies related to persuading families to send their children to school, helping to develop positive attitudes in the community as well as providing support and in some cases much needed expertise to local schools Close collaboration with other ministries, but particularly ministries of health, is essential for the early detection and registration of infants and young children with disabilities, and making sure that the families receive the advice they need and access to early intervention programmes

Checklist

1 What is the process by which policy and legislation on inclusive education is implemented at the school level?

2 Is there a focal point within the ministry that is responsible for the education of children with disabilities, in special education and/or regular schools?

3 What administrative structures will be the most effective for implementing policy which mandates the right to education for children with disabilities? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a separate section charged with this responsibility within the ministry of education? 4 What are some effective steps that can be taken to ensure that schools comply with policy and

legislation requiring them to accept children with disabilities?

5 Is there a policy or are there guidelines which determine which children with disabilities will be accepted into regular schools, or are all children with disabilities accepted?

6 What are the guidelines for acceptance of children with disabilities? At what level is the decision made – departmental or school level?

7 Who is responsible for finding out-of-school children with disabilities? What specific steps are taken to achieve their enrolment?

8 What specific policy directives are given to school management to implement inclusive education?

9 How are these directives implemented?

10 Is there a directive to take action at the community level to find children with disabilities who are not enrolled in school?

11 Is awareness training of educational administrators conducted on the issue of including children with disabilities in the school system?

12 Awareness raising about disability issues and the fact that children with disabilities have been largely denied their rights to education and excluded from school is important in order to change negative attitudes and create a positive climate for change How should this awareness training be carried out at the different levels of the education system? Who should be involved?

13 How can parents and families of children with disabilities be helped to understand that their children have the right to go to school and that they are required by law to send them to school? What are some of the problems faced in remote, isolated and poor communities, and how can they be overcome?

Chapter 4

Structuring and re-structuring

the school system: from pre-school

to university

The challenge

If children with disabilities are to be fully included in the education system then their needs must be considered at every level of the system Many of the changes necessary to include children with disabilities will be part of the change process which is undertaken when schools move towards being more inclusive These changes will include the commitment of schools to accept and welcome every child and a willingness to make school procedures, the curriculum, teaching and learning more child- centred and flexible

All of these measures will contribute to the quality of education but on their own may not be sufficient to ensure good learning outcomes for children with disabilities The challenge is to develop policy and then implementation measures which will promote the changes necessary to achieve an inclusive outcome