Inclusive education in the Republic of Belarus
Today, a model of integrated education has been created in the education system of the republic, which is a significant achievement compared to the previously existing model of separate education, when a child with a disability had no chance to study with his peers in a kindergarten or school. But as integrated classes and groups in preschools developed and expanded, it became clear that it was not enough to simply open the doors of a regular school or kindergarten for a child with special needs and place him in a regular classroom with peers. Inclusive education, being a logical continuation of the system of integrated education, offers new, more advanced and flexible approaches to organizing the educational process and interaction with each child.
The development of an inclusive approach is considered by UNESCO, the OSCE and other international organizations as a priority for the development of national school education systems, since the realization of the right of citizens to receive a quality education and social integration is an important factor in the sustainable development of society. Inclusive or inclusive education is a term used to describe the process of teaching children with special needs (but not only with special needs) in general education (mass) schools.
Inclusive education is based on the ideas of equal treatment of all people, any discrimination against children is excluded, special
conditions for children with special educational needs. Experience shows that some of the children drop out of any rigid educational system because the system is not ready to meet the individual learning needs of such children. Thus, the children who dropped out become isolated and excluded from the general system. It is necessary to understand that it is not children who fail, but we, adults (teachers, officials, parents), create negative conditions for children, unfortunately, often without even thinking about why the child loses interest in learning and communication. Inclusive approaches can support these children to learn and succeed, giving them chances and opportunities for a better life.
Inclusive education is a continuous process of development of education, implying the availability of education (self-improvement, self-development) and recognizing that all children are individuals with different learning needs. Inclusive education seeks to develop an approach to the educational process that is more flexible to meet different learning needs. If learning and upbringing become more effective as a result of the changes that inclusive education introduces, then all children (not just children with special needs) will benefit.
Traditionally, the concept of inclusive education has been limited to definitions relating mainly to the realization of the right to education and social integration of students with special needs. However, the concept has evolved towards the idea that all children, without exception, should have equal rights, conditions and opportunities in the field of education, regardless of their cultural, economic and social status, as well as differences in their abilities and opportunities.
The core values and beliefs inherent in inclusive education are as follows:
Everyone has the right to education.
All children can learn.
Everyone can experience learning difficulties in certain areas or at certain times.
Everyone needs help in the learning process.
The school, the teacher, the family and the community have the primary responsibility for facilitating learning, and not just for children.
Differences are natural, valuable and enrich society.
Discriminatory attitudes and behavior must be criticized.
Teachers should not exist on their own, they need constant support.
Inclusive education is characterized by the following features:
Every child, regardless of their characteristics and abilities, has the opportunity to attend an educational institution at the place of residence, where opportunities are provided for realizing their potential and for interacting with other children;
The physical environment and the entire learning process is adapted to the needs of each child;
All staff are trained and use non-discriminatory and respectful approaches when interacting with children and their parents.
In the Republic of Belarus, all efforts to implement the ideas of inclusive education are supported by a legal framework that establishes the rights and obligations of participants in the educational process. The most important of them are: the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, the Laws of the Republic of Belarus - "On the Rights of the Child"; "On education"; "On the education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development (special education)"; "On general secondary education"; “On Languages in the Republic of Belarus”; Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated November 24, 2006 No. 18 “On additional measures for state protection of children in dysfunctional families”; Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated July 17, 2008 No. 15 "On Certain Issues of General Secondary Education".
However, in Belarus, inclusive educational practice is rather limited, largely experimental and unstable. This is due to the fact that the system of inclusive education is at the stage of formation. More than half of children with developmental disabilities are still studying in special boarding schools. For comparison: in European countries, 3-4% of children are in such schools, most of whom have severe health and developmental disorders. Other categories of disabled children study in regular schools and live in families with their parents.
The integration of children with special educational needs takes place in a long-established system of normative mass education that is difficult to accept innovations, which cannot be painless or indifferent for this system (organizationally, meaningfully, normatively, didactically, economically, psychologically).
The most important barrier to the independent life of disabled people is the unpreparedness of the education system to develop and implement individual educational programs within the framework of an inclusive model.
The education of many disabled people is difficult due to the lack of a “barrier-free environment” specially prepared for them in educational institutions, insufficiently developed infrastructure, and physical inaccessibility of educational institutions. Many educational institutions are still not equipped for the movement and education of the disabled. One of the most acute problems is caused by the difficulty of movement of disabled people from their place of residence to their place of study.
Another problem that hinders the introduction of integrated forms of education is related to the problems of staffing. Integrated learning requires the training of relevant specialists. To date, in the regional state institutes for advanced training and retraining of executives and education specialists, retraining of specialists in integrated education has been opened, and a special course "Integrated Education" is taught at the faculties of special education (defectological faculties). However, there are staffing issues. Firstly, educational institutions are not yet quite ready to accept a large number of students in integrated classes and groups, since there is a problem of a shortage of relevant specialists (teachers, assistants). Secondly, the professional training of teachers of general education at the moment is not sufficient to implement an inclusive approach. The situation is complicated by the lack of special educational and methodological materials, manuals, teaching aids and training programs.
The development of inclusive education practices requires systemic institutional changes, but the most difficult of them are changes in the professional thinking of teachers and the minds of parents. The introduction of inclusive education faces not only the difficulties of organizing a "barrier-free environment", but also social obstacles, consisting in widespread attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices, including the willingness or refusal of parents with disabled children and parents of healthy children to accept new principles of education. The effective implementation of the inclusion of a special child in the environment of a general education institution depends on the attitude of parents of both categories to this form of education. According to the studies of Russian scientists (N.N. Malofeeva and A.A. Dmitriev), the main reason for the isolation of disabled children from society is their own parents, who, worrying about the outcome of communication with healthy peers, limit the social contacts of their children. Parents have a feeling of insecurity, and often the impossibility of teaching a disabled child in a regular school. According to Russian researchers, many parents of disabled children prefer their children to be educated in special educational institutions; they often take a medical approach to thinking. At the same time, less than half of the parents of healthy children would like their children to study with disabled children. It is obvious that the right attitude towards joint learning needs to be formed in the parents of both categories of children.
The project is currently under development Concepts for the development of inclusive education (students with special needs of psychophysical development)in the Republic of Belarus. The Concept for the Development of Inclusive Education in the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Concept) is a system of views on the principles, priority areas, goals and objectives, mechanisms for the development of inclusive education in the Republic of Belarus.
The concept is being developed with the aim of realizing the right to receive education for all children, including children with disabilities, in educational institutions closest to their place of residence, to create conditions that take into account the educational needs of each student to the maximum, revealing the potential of each student.
The concept proceeds from the recognition of the exceptional role of education in the formation of the individual, its socialization, the importance of inclusive education for the formation of an inclusive society, in which the characteristics of each of its members are considered not as a problem, but as a potential for development, as a special value that gives diversity to society and contributes to its improvement .
The concept is aimed at creating an integral system of inclusive education, which should be based on a deep knowledge of the main factors that determine the state of education, especially special education, on the formation of readiness to accept any child in the mainstream education system, tolerant relations in the education system.
The Concept defines the main goals, objectives, principles and mechanisms for the development of inclusive education, aimed at the most complete realization of the right to education for all students at all levels of education and lifelong learning.
Inclusive education is a natural stage in the development of education, first of all, students with special needs of psychophysical development, following the stage of their isolation, segregation, institutionalization, then - the stage of integrated education and upbringing of them in institutions of preschool and general secondary education.
Inclusive education - training and education, in the process of which the special educational needs of all students, including persons with special needs of psychophysical development, are met in institutions of basic and additional education when they create appropriate conditions and most fully include all students in the joint educational process.
The modern understanding of inclusive education is that all children should learn together whenever possible, regardless of any difficulties or differences that exist between them. International experience shows that some of the children drop out of any rigid educational system because the system is not ready to meet the individual needs of such children in education. Inclusive consciousness leads to the understanding that it is not the children who fail, but the system that excludes the children.
The development of the Concept is due to the need to improve the work in the field of education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development, expand the right to choose the place and form of education, create conditions that ensure equality of education for all categories of students, the formation of tolerance in the education system and in society as a whole.
The purpose of the Concept is to provide inclusive education for persons with special needs of psychophysical development in the Republic of Belarus.
Terms of the concept implementation
The implementation period of the Concept is 2015-2020.
2015-2017 - implementation of scientific research, experimental activities; individual educational institutions carry out inclusive education;
2018-2020 - increase in the number of educational institutions providing inclusive education, up to 20 percent; educational institutions with a barrier-free environment up to 10 percent;
2020 and subsequent years - any (each) educational institution provides inclusive education.
Expected results of the implementation of the concept
The implementation of the Concept will contribute to the improvement of regulatory legal documents, the introduction of innovative technologies, modern approaches to the organization of the joint educational process of ordinary children and children with special needs, ensuring the architectural accessibility of educational institutions.
The implementation of the Concept will improve the quality of education and the quality of life of all students, contributing to their socialization, knowledge of life in all its diversity.
The draft Concept for the development of inclusive education (students with special needs) in the Republic of Belarus can be found on the website of the institution in the Special Education section.
Education, development and
personality socialization
A. M. Zmushko
(Minsk, Belarus)
Educational policy of the Republic of Belarus
in the field of inclusive education
The article describes the state of affairs in the field of special education in the Republic of Belarus, the measures taken to develop inclusive education for persons with special needs of psychophysical development, the prerequisites for the development of inclusive education and the expected results of its implementation.
One of the trends in the education of the Republic of Belarus in recent years is the spread of inclusive processes in the field of education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development.
In the Republic of Belarus, a lot of attention is paid to the education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development. Almost one hundred percent coverage of special education and correctional and pedagogical assistance for children with special needs of psychophysical development, registered in the database of children with special needs of psychophysical development, which has been maintained in our country since 1999 and is updated annually, has been ensured. In recent years, we have noted both an increase in the overall number of children with special needs registered in the data bank, and an increase in the number of children of certain categories that were not previously in the spotlight (for example, children with autism]. New categories of children with special needs are emerging, for example, children with cochlear implants The increase in the number of children with special needs and the increased diversity of these special needs alone require a variety of conditions and options for their education.
In recent decades, in the Republic of Belarus, the education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development is characterized by the following features. A system of cor-
rection and pedagogical assistance to children with mild developmental disabilities. All children, without any exceptions and restrictions, have been recognized the right to education and given the opportunity to learn. An education system has been created for children with severe and (or] multiple physical and (or) mental disorders (scientific and educational and methodological support, a network of educational institutions]. A system of early comprehensive care has been formed for children with developmental problems under the age of three. An opportunity has been provided to receive special education not only in the conditions of a special education institution, but also in the conditions of a general education institution - integrated training and education has been developed.
The system of special education has come out of the shadows, it is considered as an equal and equal part of the education system. According to the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Education, special education is one of the types of education along with basic and additional education. Students with special needs are regarded as equal participants in the educational process, a tolerant attitude towards persons with special needs is formed both in the education system and in the wider society.
All these characteristics of the system are
education in our country and today have not lost their relevance and are progressive and modern. Inclusive education brings a significant novelty to education, it presupposes a formed positive attitude towards all participants in the educational process, readiness (organizational, psychological, methodical) of both the educational institution and each teacher to accept any student; possession of methods of working with students with different educational needs more complete inclusion of children with special needs in the general educational process, etc.
In the Republic of Belarus, the Concept for the Development of Inclusive Education for Persons with Disabilities in Psychophysical Development has been developed and approved. The adoption of this Concept means an important step bringing us closer to world standards in the field of special education. The Concept declares a broad understanding of inclusive education, its dissemination in relation to all students with special educational needs. At the same time, it is stated that the education system of the Republic of Belarus provides for purposeful work with various groups of students with special educational needs within a single educational space.
The most relevant in our country inclusive education is for people with special needs of psychophysical development, which is due to the following factors:
The diversity and variability of the educational needs of persons with special needs of psychophysical development;
Long-term practice of teaching and educating them in institutions of special education, which can be regarded as segregation, institutionalization;
An acute need to create an adaptive educational environment for them in educational institutions;
Teaching a significant part of persons with special needs of psychophysical development according to educational programs not of basic, but of special education.
Inclusive education is not considered as a special type or level of education, it is a new organization of the educational process. Inclusive education
It occurs at all levels of basic and additional education. It is important that special conditions are created for each student and all students study together. The Concept notes that inclusive education is not the only possible organization of education for students with special needs of psychophysical development. In essence, this is an increase in the number of opportunities for education, an expansion of the right to choose. Today it exists and develops in parallel with the functioning of special education institutions, integrated training and education.
The Concept defines a number of terms that are important for the development of inclusive education: adaptive educational environment, special conditions, class of inclusive education, group of inclusive education, special educational needs, psychological and pedagogical support of the class of inclusive education (groups of inclusive education], etc. The Concept inclusive education is defined as training and education, which ensures the most complete inclusion in the joint educational process of students with different educational needs, including persons with special needs of psychophysical development, by creating conditions that take into account the individual needs, abilities, cognitive capabilities of students.
The concept defines the goals, objectives, principles for the development of inclusive education for people with special needs of psychophysical development. The following are defined as the main principles on which inclusive education is based: consistency, complexity, accessibility, variability and consideration of special educational needs, tolerance. The Concept lists the priority areas in which transformations are needed, as well as mechanisms for the implementation of inclusive education for each of them. Thus, according to the Concept, changes in the regulatory legal framework, scientific and methodological support of education are necessary. There is a specificity in the implementation of educational programs of basic and additional education. New functions are emerging for special education institutions, and so on.
Implementation of the Concept is planned for 2015-2020. It is assumed that equal rights in education and access to education will be provided for all students; the quality of education and the quality of life of all students will improve through the disclosure and development of their spiritual and moral potential, the expansion of opportunities for socialization; as far as possible, students with special needs of psychophysical development will be included in the educational process of basic and additional education; tolerance will be formed in the educational environment and society, and through this there will be a strengthening of social relations based on partnership, respect, acceptance of differences. There will be a number of other transformations, which are announced in the Concept.
Despite the fact that the Concept is focused on the development of inclusive education for one, albeit numerous, category of students - persons with special needs, it is essential for the education system as a whole. Firstly, it brings the education of our country in line with world trends and transformations in educational systems, and secondly, using the example of the most vulnerable category of students, it shows the possibilities of achieving the humanistic goals of education, considers persons with special needs of psychophysical development as full-fledged participants in the educational process who have no only equal rights with all to receive education, but also a number of advantages.
In the Republic of Belarus, many steps are being taken to develop inclusive education; a number of prerequisites have been formed in the education system of our country that make it possible to predict the success of this process.
The first of these prerequisites can be considered the fact that a child with special needs of psychophysical development is not an unusual phenomenon, an unwanted guest in an ordinary school, an ordinary preschool institution. The majority of children with special needs of psychophysical development are still studying in educational institutions at their place of residence. This refers to children with special needs of psychophysical development who study according to educational programs
basic education and receive correctional and pedagogical assistance at points of correctional and pedagogical assistance. Of the total number of children with special needs of psychophysical development, registered in the database, more than 60 percent of such children.
In points of correctional and pedagogical assistance, correctional (mainly speech therapy) work is carried out with children with mild disabilities. That is, these children, who are temporarily included in the database of children with special needs, study in a regular institution according to basic educational programs. Thus, we can say that they are already in inclusive education.The number of points from year to year increases.Currently, in almost every second kindergarten, school, points of correctional and pedagogical assistance are open.
Over the past two decades, the most important direction of state policy in the field of special education of the Republic of Belarus has been the development of integrated education and upbringing. Integrated education and upbringing is regarded as a significant stage in the development of education in our country. This stage is characterized by the following main features:
Teaching children with severe disabilities in regular schools;
The emergence of new educational institutions (the center for correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation), structural subdivisions (the point for correctional and pedagogical assistance];
Creation of a system for identifying and accounting for children with special needs of psychophysical development. Since 1999, a data bank on children with special needs has been functioning and annually updated, which makes it possible to track the quantitative and qualitative composition of children with special needs, to predict and plan measures to develop the education system, optimize special education institutions;
Large coverage of special education and correctional and pedagogical assistance. In our country, 99.5% of children with special needs of psychophysical development, who are registered in the database of children with special needs of psychophysical development, receive special education or
rection-pedagogical assistance depending on their needs;
Departure from the full state provision of children with special needs of psychophysical development in boarding schools, which was one of the reasons for the reduction in their number;
Increasing the role and responsibility of parents in education: it is the parents who choose the form of education for their children;
Changes in terminology. So, instead of abnormal children, we use the term children with special needs of psychophysical development, instead of mental retardation - intellectual insufficiency, mental retardation - mental developmental disorders (learning difficulties). Although this seems insignificant, unimportant, it actually reflects changes in philosophy worldview Work in this direction will continue further.
A significant achievement of integration is the departure from the unipolar consideration of the possibility of education for children with special needs, the awareness of the need for a choice in the child and his family. In this case, it is an institution of special education or integrated education and upbringing.
Today, the republic has created the necessary regulatory legal framework that regulates the activities of educational institutions that carry out educational integration. Integrated training and education, training in a special school are normatively fixed as forms of the modern system of special education. The child learns where the best conditions for his development are created. The existence of various forms of special education makes it possible to better meet the diverse and specific interests of children and parents. About 70 percent of children with special needs who need special education studied in an integrated environment in the 2014/2015 academic year, and, for example, in 2007 - 56 percent. There are about 5,500 classes of integrated education and upbringing in the country.
We consider integrated education and upbringing as a necessary prerequisite for the development of inclusive education, and inclusive education as the following
the next step in the development of the system of education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development in our country.
Inclusive education is not identical to integrated education and upbringing. Integrated education and upbringing, firstly, according to the Code, is an organization of special education, secondly, it is limited only to children with special needs, thirdly, it is implemented only at two levels of education - preschool and general secondary. Students are and study in parallel, side by side, but not together: they study according to separate curricula, curricula, in separate rooms.
As a prerequisite for the development of inclusive education, one can regard the barrier-free environment created in recent years in educational institutions. Schools, pre-school institutions, built in the last decade, fully comply with the requirements of a barrier-free environment. Unfortunately, only about one and a half percent of institutions of preschool and general secondary education in our republic have a complete barrier-free environment. In other cases, an adaptive educational environment is being created; we have about 20 percent of such institutions of preschool and general secondary education.
In 2012, for the first time, the State Program for the Development of Special Education in the Republic of Belarus for 2012-2016 was adopted. Its goal was to improve the system of special education, improve the quality and accessibility of education for people with special needs of psychophysical development. To achieve this goal, a number of tasks are being carried out, the common thing for them is the movement towards inclusive education. The state program has become the first document of such a high level, which states the need to develop inclusive processes in education.
In order to develop inclusive education, research is being carried out, for example, the content of special education is being developed taking into account inclusive approaches.
Experimental work is underway. Since the 2014/2015 academic year, a republican pilot project has been implemented to test the model of inclusive education.
education in an educational institution, in which eight secondary schools from all over the republic take part. In the 2015/2016 academic year, there are 14 experimental inclusive classes. The republican pilot project "Approbation of the model of the resource center in institutions of special education" was successfully implemented. The main task of the centers is to provide assistance to teachers, parents, children working and studying in integrated conditions, and soon - in conditions of inclusive education.
Particular attention is paid to the training of teaching staff. Problems related to the shortage of personnel for the system of special education, the unwillingness of teachers to work in integrated classes, were repeatedly raised at meetings and collegiums of the Ministry of Education. The standards for obtaining higher pedagogical education in all specialties include training courses in remedial pedagogy, integrated education and upbringing, theory and practice of special education, which will be in demand when training personnel to work in an inclusive education environment. The TEMPUS INOVEST project “Eastern Partnership for Pedagogical Innovations in Inclusive Education”, which was implemented in 2013-2015, also contributed to the formation of the personnel training system.
One of the conditions for the successful development of inclusive education for persons with special needs is the formation of a tolerant attitude in society towards these persons. In 2011-2012, a joint project of the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF] "Everyone has the right to be different" was implemented. Within the framework of the project, 21 documentaries were created about children with developmental disabilities who have achieved certain success in creativity, sports, education and other areas The films were shown twice on state TV channels.
Participation in socio-cultural, sports events contributes to a positive
wear to persons with special needs of psychophysical development. Children with special needs take part in competitions, festivals, competitions held both by the Ministry of Education and a number of non-governmental and international organizations and associations. The traditional events held by the Ministry of Education are the republican sports day for children with special needs of psychophysical development, the republican competition "Use Razam" for the development of motor activity of children with severe multiple disabilities, the republican festival of artistic creativity "Vyaselkavy Karagod".
Changes attitudes towards children with special needs and their willingness and ability to compete with ordinary students. Thus, children with special needs are ready for successful participation in subject Olympiads, research competitions and are able to win them.
The idea of developing inclusive education prevails in our relations with non-governmental organizations and public associations. The UNDP has developed the Framework Program for Assistance to Belarus for 2016-2020, where one of the achievable results is inclusive education.
A powerful incentive for the development of inclusive education in our country will be the signing by the Republic of Belarus of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the forthcoming ratification of this Convention. With the signing of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the most important priority arises in the education system - the development of inclusive education.
Successful implementation of the Concept for the Development of Inclusive Education for Persons with Disabilities in the Republic of Belarus, the Action Plan, the new edition of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Education (in terms of the development of inclusive education) will require efforts from all participants in the educational process at different levels of education.
Literature
1. Code of the Republic of Belarus on Education. - Minsk: Nat. center of legal information. Rep. Belarus, 2011. - 400 p.
2. The concept of development of inclusive education of persons with special needs of psychophysical development in the Republic of Belarus // Special education. - 2015. - No. 5. - S. 3-10.
3. Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated March 7, 2012 No. 210 “On Approval of the State Program for the Development of Special Education in the Republic of Belarus for 2012-2016,” Nat. register of legal acts Rep. Belarus. - 2012. - March 13. - No. 5/35382.
4. Plan of measures for the implementation in 2016-2020 of the Concept for the development of inclusive education for persons with special needs of psychophysical development in the Republic of Belarus // Special education. - 2016. - No. 2. - S. 3-10.
5. Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated September 24, 2015 No. 401 “On the signing by the Republic of Belarus of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” // Nat. register of legal acts Rep. Belarus. -2015. - 25 September. - No. 1/16030.
They say the longest distance on Earth is 30 centimeters between the head and the heart. It is this path that many parents have to overcome, mired in prejudices and fears, as if kids with special needs have no place in the usual class. After the long-awaited signing by Belarus of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in September, our education will have to move to a new stage - to develop inclusive education. Simply put, children with special needs should step by step join the educational process of regular kindergartens and schools. By the way, the country made the first turn in this direction a little earlier: back in July, the Minister of Education approved the concept of developing inclusive education.
In fact, it cannot be said that the education of children with special needs has been relegated to the backyard somewhere. True, we are talking mainly about the so-called special education, which today covers more than 99% of those in need. And in 2012, for the first time in the history of Belarus, the State Program for the Development of Special Education appeared, intensifying work at two levels - preschool and school, which concerns about 8% of children from the total number of children in the country. The figure, according to experts, is not critical, because more than 60% of these kids are limited to special education only at the kindergarten stage, having mild speech or other unexpressed violations in the medical card. And then they go to a regular school class. What do we end up with? 240 special education institutions, including 46 kindergartens, 25 special boarding schools, 28 auxiliary schools and 141 correctional and developmental centers. Each year, more than 3,000 children with severe or multiple disabilities are educated there, and over 4,000 more receive correctional assistance. It is important, emphasizes Antonina Zmushko, head of the special education department of the Ministry of Education, that since 2000 the number of special boarding schools has decreased by 40%, while the number of correctional centers has doubled and today every second school has points of correctional and pedagogical assistance.
But perhaps one of the most important achievements is that there are 5,318 integrated classes in the country. This approach for our education system, one might say, is a novelty. It appeared for the first time in the mid-1990s, when less than 1% of those in need received special education based on regular schools. Today - almost 70%! But it is not worth putting an equal sign between integrated education and inclusive education: there are many differences in approaches and requirements. For example, in integrated classes, each of the special students, depending on the violations, studies according to his own program (someone is exempted from the exact sciences, someone from English), and an obligatory element of the educational process is classes with a defectologist. In a word, parents sigh, the baby often does not completely become part of the children's team. With an inclusive approach, there is a closer involvement in the process, the teacher has specially trained assistants, and each special child finds a full-fledged place in a group or class. Simply put, if in the first case you have to adapt to the school, then in the second case, the school itself must show flexibility. It is this science that our specialists will have to master in stages, relying, among other things, on the experience of foreign colleagues. For example, in Moldova, they have been working on the system of inclusive education for about 10 years. An expert in this field, Angela Kara, lists 6 mandatory starting conditions:
First, the political will of the state is needed. Secondly, the legal framework. The third important factor is cooperation between different sectors of social life so that good ideas do not remain only on paper. In addition, we cannot do without a well-functioning system of training and retraining of personnel, competent funding and the creation of an appropriate educational environment.
So there is work to be done here. How did Moldova act in its time? For example, in the Education Code, it was written in black and white that children with special needs can attend ordinary kindergartens (the concept of “inclusive education”, by the way, will also appear in our updated code). The next step is to organize the help of specialists in each district, so that such a child can more easily join the educational process. We also resolved the issue of funding by reducing boarding schools and developing social services instead. As for qualified employees, the module “Inclusive Education” has appeared in all pedagogical universities. Of course, it was not possible to completely get rid of prejudices and stereotypes, but today 40% of Moldovan children with special needs attend ordinary kindergartens, and this percentage is gradually growing...
The development of inclusive education in our country is still marked with strokes. For example, let's take the integrated groups in kindergartens, which are almost half the size of the usual ones. There is a clear limit here: out of 12 kids, no more than six can have slight violations (and more serious - even less), but if they still get half, then most likely they will go the other way - they will open a special group. But in addition, not everywhere there are enough teachers-defectologists, not every school is able to create the necessary conditions ... But the most difficult problem is, it seems, the parents of ordinary children. More than 60% of such mothers and fathers, according to a UNICEF survey, are not enthusiastic about the idea that a baby with special needs will be at the same desk with their child. Arguments? Most often purely emotional. Nevertheless, according to the concept of the development of inclusive education, this system will have to go through three stages. First, until 2017, they will develop documentation, conduct a series of studies and experiments, as well as train personnel and special conditions in schools. Then, until 2020, individual educational institutions will move from words to deeds and come to grips with innovation, expanding work with personnel and methodological literature. In the third stage, which starts in 2020, the network of schools and kindergartens included in inclusive education will expand more and more.
Will it work in practice? Experts are optimistic. Olga Klezovich, Dean of the Faculty of Advanced Training of Education Specialists, Institute for Advanced Studies and Retraining, Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after A.I. M. Tanka, I am sure that the teacher for whom this is not just a job, but a service to children will be able to work in an inclusive class:
Inclusion is an ideal option where there is a place for every child. Now we have a certain minimum of hours for retraining personnel. The next step is to develop a professional standard specifically for the teacher of inclusive education.
[email protected] website
On February 1, 2017, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus submitted for public discussion a new version of the Education Code, which you can read:
1. One of the most important innovations in this document was the consolidation of the concept "inclusive education" how training and education, which ensures the most complete inclusion in the joint educational process with other students of students from among persons with special needs by creating conditions for education, taking into account the characteristics of their psychophysical development, health status and cognitive capabilities.
The importance of inclusive education has been repeatedly drawn to the attention of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, noting that children with disabilities should not be excluded from the mainstream education system on the basis of their disability, but, on the contrary, should receive the necessary support within the mainstream education system to facilitate their effective learning (para. 66 -67 General Comment No. 9 of 2006 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child).
Thus, inclusive education should enable all students, regardless of their characteristics, to fully participate in the life of the team of an ordinary kindergarten, school, institute, in preschool and school life and communicate freely with peers, and not be isolated within specialized institutions.
In Belarus, with the adoption of the new Education Code, inclusiveness will be implemented as follows:
A person with special needs of psychophysical development will be able to exercise his right to create special conditions for education, receive correctional and pedagogical assistance in conditions of inclusive education if there is a conclusion of the state center for correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation or certificate of mastering the content of the educational program of special education at the level of general secondary education.
The conclusion contains recommendations on the education and upbringing of persons with special needs according to the appropriate educational program, the creation of special conditions for obtaining education, and the provision of correctional and pedagogical assistance to them.
However, if previously such correctional and pedagogical assistance could be provided only at points of correctional and pedagogical assistance or in centers for correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation, now, depending on the severity of physical and (or) mental disorders of students, correctional and pedagogical assistance can be provided when they master the content of educational programs of basic or additional education within the framework of the relevant educational program and (or) separately at the points of correctional and pedagogical assistance.
Thus, these minor changes indicate a gradual transition to the principles of inclusive education and international standards. At the same time, it follows from the new version of the Code that the education of children with disabilities and special needs is still associated with issues of medical expertise and depends on the nature of the indications for education.
Thus, the Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus of December 22, 2011 N 128 “On the definition of medical indications and contraindications for education”, which automatically sends children to special schools based on a diagnosis and / or medical opinion, without taking into account the fact that many children with these disabilities can successfully study in mainstream schools through an individual educational program.
How the principles of inclusive education can be implemented in the context of the continued existence of this document is still unclear.
2. Changes have affected the system of institutions of special education. According to the new version of the Code, special education institutions can be of the following types:
2.1. special preschool institution;
2.2. special school, special boarding school;
2.3. center for correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation;
2.4. other institution of special education
Accordingly, such types of special education institutions as an auxiliary school (auxiliary boarding school), as well as a special nursery-kindergarten as a type of special preschool institution, were abolished.
It should be noted that the new version of the Code pays considerable attention to persons with autistic disorders. The new Education Code defines such disorders as behavioral, communication and social interaction disorders of varying severity. It also indicates that in the center of correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation, correctional and pedagogical assistance, early comprehensive assistance can be provided to persons whose behavioral, communication and social interaction disorders are expressed to such an extent that they require constant adult support and the creation of a special environment adapted to their abilities and needs.
3. Extremely important is the following change:
Article 259 of the current Education Code establishes the term for obtaining education by a person with intellectual disability in the second department of the auxiliary school (auxiliary boarding school) or in the center of correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation in nine years.
In practice, this rule leads to a number of difficulties and infringements on the rights of children and parents, in particular:
- persons with intellectual disabilities are discriminated against in relation to the right to education, because the period of their education at the level of general secondary education is reduced by one year in comparison with persons without psychophysical features;
- in the period after completion of education in the second department of an auxiliary school (auxiliary boarding school) or in the center of correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation before the age of 18 and the possibility of visiting the departments of day care for disabled people at the TCSON disabled children are deprived of full psychological and pedagogical assistance and communication with peers, which is contrary to the principle of social integration and rehabilitation;
- in the period after completion of education in the second department of an auxiliary school (auxiliary boarding school) and in the center of correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation and before the age of 18 for children with disabilities due to the lack of alternative employment for the child parents are forced to quit their jobs in order to provide constant care for him. In conditions of not providing them with a social respite, this often leads to emotional breakdowns, depression, and poor health.
In the light of the above, a very positive change is in the new edition of the Code period of study in the second department of a special school, a special boarding school for students with intellectual disabilities, in the center of correctional and developmental education and rehabilitation from nine to ten years.
4. A particularly positive change seems to be the consolidation of the possibility of obtaining education in a distance form.
The distance form of education is training and education, which provides for predominantly independent mastering of the content of the educational program by students based on the use of distance learning technologies that provide training sessions (classes), consulting and control activities, current and intermediate certification, with remote interaction between the student and the teacher.
Fixing this form of education in the Code of Education is of particular relevance, since even with significant efforts of the education system to ensure the accessibility of education, in a number of cases, distance education remains the most acceptable form of obtaining a specialty for people with disabilities.
5. It is important that the new version of the Code also retained the following benefits and preferences for children with special needs of psychophysical development, disabled children under 18 years of age, disabled since childhood, disabled except for persons whose disability has occurred as a result of illegal actions, due to alcohol, narcotic, toxic intoxication, self-mutilation:
- free use of textbooks and teaching aids;
- the possibility of obtaining a social scholarship;
- the possibility of free accommodation in a hostel;
- providing a place of work for distribution, taking into account the state of health at the place of residence of parents, husband (wife);
- exemption from reimbursement to the republican and (or) local budgets of funds spent by the state on their preparation if it is impossible to provide by redistribution, redirection to work a new place of work, taking into account their state of health at the place of residence of their parents, husband (wife) or with their consent otherwise places of work;
- admission out of competition for obtaining vocational education in specific specialties, except for specialties for which the competition in the year preceding the year of admission was five or more people per place, if there are not less than 4 (four) points in the document on education;
- the preferential right to enroll, with an equal number of points scored in the entrance examinations, to enroll in educational institutions to receive vocational education (disabled group III);
Prepared by Anastasia Konovalova,
legal adviser of NGO "BelAPDIiMI"
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