4. Segregation, Integration or
Inclusion?
There are three approaches for educating children with
disabilities:
“
Segregation
children with disabilities are educated at special schools or
at home
Inclusive education
schools where the whole system has been changed to
meet all children’s needs
Integrated education
children with disabilities attend special classes or units in
mainstream schools
Inclusive education is primarily about
restructuring school cultures, policies
and practices so that they respond to
the diversity of students in their locality.
It sees individual differences not as
problems to be fixed, but as
opportunities for enriching learning and
for education systems to embrace
change. It is a dynamic, continuing
process of facilitating the participation
of all students, including those with
disabilities.
Leonard Cheshire Disability
between integrated and inclusive
The
education relates to access and quality. Save the Children
notes that integrated education tends to focus more
on children with disabilities attending school wheras inclusive
education focuses more on ensuring children with disabilities
are learning. Save the Children argues that inclusive education
is about restructuring the cultures, policies and practices
in schools so that they respond to the diversity of students
in their locality. This means that all children, including
children with disabilities, not only have access to schooling
within their own community, but that they are provided
with appropriate learning opportunities to achieve their full
potential. However, it is also essential that parents, children
and communities are supported to change their attitudes
and understanding of why inclusion matters, as this is what
will sustain change.
4
”
UNESCO’s policy guidelines for inclusion state that in order
to move systems towards greater inclusion, there needs to
be:
• a recognition of the right of children with disabilities to
education and its provision in non-discriminatory ways
• a common vision of education which covers all children
of the appropriate age range
• a conviction that schools have a responsibility to meet
the diversity of needs of all learners, recognising that all
children can learn.
segregation, integration and inclusion.