TOWhen talking about inclusive education we must take into account as a basis that education is a right for every child, which should not be violated under any circumstances. For rights to be fulfilled, responsibilities and commitments must be assumed by the educational community, the family and society. The inclusion process makes sense as it encompasses the needs of each child, going hand in hand with equity; that is, providing support to each individual who requests it. Surely it is a long way to go, concepts to incorporate within the school where not only the pedagogical area will matter, but also behavior and social interaction.
A school that fully complies with the right to education should:
- Provide the possibility for all children to learn, despite their different characteristics
- Have flexible content adaptable to different needs
- Ensure the necessary support for each student
- Have teachers with constant training and updated
- Understand teaching as a constructive process specific to each student, enriched by the connection with others
- Do not have bureaucratic administrative obstacles that delay access to education.
What do we call school inclusion?
This concept implies a quality educational process for each child that respects individual needs and conditions, such as ethnicity, language, customs, disability or age, without compromising socialization and the acquisition of behaviors expected for the age.
It is not about giving a different opportunity to someone with a disability diagnosis, but about providing opportunities to adapt education to all children; that everyone has the opportunity to belong to a comprehensive educational environment adapted to diversity. Special educational needs imply not being pejorative, but normalizing; access to all students and can be for a specific period of time, or permanent. They depend on the level of competence in the classmates’ curricula and the resources the school has. These needs are interactive in nature between the child and his or her context.
At this point it is necessary to highlight the difficulties of school inclusion in its entirety marked by the differences that exist today between public and private education and accessibility mainly in rural areas. Although there are intervention teams and professionals trained in the subject; It is not yet a benefit that everyone can access and it is necessary to continue pushing so that more and more children have access to being recognized as equals.
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The response today to the need in school
In many countries, in response to this need to guarantee a right to children and adolescents, the modality of school integration for those who have a disability or special educational need. Integration, for its part, consists of giving these kids the opportunity to go through the same experiences as their peers; eliminating discrimination and segregation. Therefore, based on these interventions, we seek to give students tools that make it easier to achieve the regular curriculum, with the adaptations needed according to the evaluations carried out.
Special educational needs imply not being pejorative, but normalizing; access to all students and can be for a specific period of time, or permanent
Although Integration and inclusion are sometimes used synonymously; they are not. Being an inclusive school implies much more than having integrated students, as described in the first paragraph of this article it means guaranteeing the right to education in its entirety.
When a child is integrated, he or she shares the activities, place and time of learning with his or her peers; It is important to understand that it is not the child who must adapt to school and its modality; but the school adapts to the individual and specific needs of each student. At this point it is interesting to think about creating increasingly better schools, to guarantee education for all.
The role of the teacher in the inclusive school
To achieve an inclusive school, it is necessary for teachers to understand that integrated children have a place in school due to their own right to equality; that working for inclusion does not mean working more, but working differently; that including a child in need of pedagogical support does not harm the other children; and that with these practices what is generated is to build a culture of respect, tolerance and understanding among all the agents involved.
At this point it is necessary to highlight that an inclusive teacher working in isolation in a school cannot provide an effective response to the demands that are currently presented. For an inclusive school to exist, it is necessary to have a philosophy of equality from managers to co-workers. The teacher must feel supported, accompanied and contained by the institution where he works.
How to detect that a child has special educational needs?
Detecting children’s needs should not fall solely in the hands of grade teachers; it is necessary to have direct communication with families and have specialized offices in schools that help with this work. We must understand that it is not about diagnosing from school, about putting a label on children; but rather to warn about certain patterns of behavior that may indicate the need for a consultation with a professional. Having a diagnosis should help us know how much we can demand from school, and what the child’s intrinsic limitations are; not to discuss treatments and etiologies; At school the child is a student and not a patient.
Integration and inclusion are sometimes used synonymously; they are not
When the school year begins, teachers carry out a pedagogical and social diagnosis of the group where they evaluate the class’s learning pace, social interactions, interests and preferences. It is at this moment that they detect some children with a slower pace and modify some guidelines in the class methodology to involve them all equally. From these interventions, teachers can reveal that there are children who continue below the level of learning expected for their age and then turn to the school’s pedagogical team to carry out a comprehensive evaluation.
Curricular adaptations
Curricular adaptations are necessary and are a fundamental condition of the inclusive school; It is the main tool for the school integration of children with disabilities or special educational needs. In this section we will try to provide an approach to the concept by proposing some strategies; but it is necessary that those who are going to make the adjustments are trained and updated to carry them out.
For the adaptations to be effective, they must take into account the teacher’s planning, the evaluation of children in need of adaptations, the heterogeneity of the school group and the social conditions of all the children. Furthermore, once we have detected which children need them, it is important to know what their interests, skills and specific needs are. Adjustments can be made by adapting the teaching methodologies, changing the specific activities, organizing the space, modifying the teaching material and looking for different ways of evaluation that do not have to be the same for all children. Curricular adaptations must be individual, and must guarantee to respond to the specific needs that arise.
To establish priorities in adaptations, we must begin by compensating as much as possible for what the disability itself implies, for example wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc.; then focus on providing learning that leads to greater autonomy and functionality; to then decide which intellectual learning the child is capable of learning and which are not within the possibilities. This point is important so as not to frustrate the student and not set the bar too high if we are not sure that the child can reach it.
It is necessary to learn from diversity, include families and society and seek the complicity of the actors in forming an inclusive positive circle.
It is also necessary at school to think about what social skills can be taught and pay attention not only to pedagogical learning, but also to interactions with others, giving the possibility of generalizing what has been learned.
To take into account curricular adjustments, it is necessary to think about learning that is useful for the student and viable to serve them in their daily lives. In addition, the student must be given the opportunity to carry out educational processes in more than one area, so that they can adapt it to their real life.
Adaptations can be made to the curriculum specifically (modification in content, criteria or process) or to access to the curriculum (in school facilities, in the classroom, visual or auditory supports, modification of contexts).
Regarding evaluations, teachers must carry out exhaustive monitoring of the child with special educational needs; it is not enough to simply carry out a formal evaluation. Their criteria and strategies must be differentiated and the moment chosen to carry out the evaluations is very important, depending on the particular characteristics of the child.
From the interactions between teachers within inclusive schools, the reflections and advances that can be obtained are interesting; That is why it is highly recommended to give rise to teacher reflection within schools, on the experiences, strategies and adjustments they make in daily practice; in order to inspire more changes and provide possibilities for all children.
Conclusion
To conclude, what we are trying to communicate in this article is that inclusive education is possible, and it is the responsibility of everyone involved to ensure that it is carried out. Every child has the right to be enrolled in a regular school, but if we are not going to provide them with opportunities and their schooling is going to be an unpleasant experience with constant frustrations and obstacles, there is no point. Schools must adapt to social needs, they must raise awareness about the benefits of forming an inclusive society. It is necessary to learn from diversity, include families and society and seek the complicity of the actors in forming an inclusive positive circle.
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