What is inclusive education?

Inclusive education is concerned with the education and accommodation of ALL children in society, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, or linguistic deficits. Inclusion should also include children from disadvantaged groups, of all races and cultures as well as the gifted and the disabled (UNESCO, 2003). Inclusion tries to reduce exclusion within the education system by tackling, responding to and meeting the different needs of all learners (Booth, 1996). It involves changing the education system so that it can accommodate the unique styles and way of learning of each learner and ensure that there is quality education for all through the use of proper resources, suitable curricula, appropriate teaching strategies and partnerships within the community (UNESCO, 1994). Inclusion will not happen instantaneously but requires careful planning and thinking, positive attitudes and behaviour and utilising the necessary specialised support, accommodations and adaptations to ensure all children become part of the school (Burstein, Sears, Wilcoxen, Cabello & Spagna, 2004), actively participate in the education system and later become fully contributing members of society (Department of Education, 2001).

Inclusive education is about ensuring that schools can meet the needs of all learners. It is thus the responsibility of an inclusive school to embrace the diversity and special needs of all its learners, (Flem, Moen & Gudmundsdottir, 2004) identify and minimise the barriers to learning (Department of Education, 2001) and create a tolerant and respectful atmosphere in which people are valued and stigmatisation is minimised (Carrington & Robinson, 2004). All children thus need to be given the support they need so they can achieve success, feel a sense of security and belong to a community (Iarskaia-Smirnova, & Loshakova, 2004; Burke & Sutherland, 2004). Inclusive education also recognises that learning occurs both at home and in the community and therefore the support of parents, family and the community is vital (Department of Education, 2001). Truly inclusive schools understand the uniqueness of every child, that all children can learn and that all children have different gifts, strengths learning styles and needs. These schools then provide the appropriate means and support through which these needs can be met (UNESO, 2003)

The necessity for making schools and classrooms inclusive in South Africa

Inclusion has become a necessity in South Africa as South Africa has a history of violence and the education system has always been politicised and used by the ruling class as a way of marginalising and stigmatising various groups in society (De Lange, 1989). Inequalities in our society, lack of access to basic services and poverty are prevailing historical factors that place our children at risk and still lead to severe exclusion of children with barriers to learning (whether it be economic, social, intellectual, language, socio-economic or physical barriers) (UNESCO, 2005). Today there are still about two hundred and eighty thousand learners with disabilities or impairments that are not in any form of education (Department of Education, 2001). Inclusion is therefore necessary because all learners have a right to an education, to be accepted and given the best opportunities available to them (UNESCO, 2003). This is currently not happening in South Africa.

Inclusion is thus a good way of trying to remedy our past mistakes and is in line with the principles of democracy. Furthermore, in many countries, inclusion has been very beneficial to both learners with and without barriers to learning: Inclusion benefits children without barriers to learning in that it leads to an increased respect, understanding, compassion, tolerance and acceptance of differences, an improved self esteem as children are able to offer assistance and mentoring to others, an enhanced emotional and social growth and an improved emotional climate in the classroom (Peck, Staub, Gallucci, & Schwartz, 2004). Furthermore, many sources and studies have found that the academic progress of non disabled children is generally not negatively affected by inclusion (Sharpe & York, 1994; Hunt, Staub, Alwell & Goetz, 1994). One study even found that the academic performance in Mathematics and reading of non disabled learners who were educated in inclusive settings improved. Therefore although there is a perception that non disabled learners will be negatively affected by the process of inclusion as they will get less time with the teacher and their needs will become secondary, many studies reveal that this is in fact not the case (Sharpe et al, 1994). Rather, inclusion has been found to be beneficial to non disabled learners in a number of settings because under inclusion, teachers have to become more flexible and utilise a variety of teaching methods and additional supports which will benefit all learners and not only those with special needs (Burstein et al., 2004; Peck et al., 2004).

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Inclusion has also been found to be very beneficial to learners with special needs in that their self esteem improves, they have greater goals and expectations, improved social skills, and they become better prepared for life after school and their role in the broader community (Stroeve, 1998; Burstein et al., 2004). It also helps learners with special needs feel they belong, enhances their self respect and provides them the opportunity to develop greater friendships and have peer models who they look up to (Raschke & Bronson, 1999). In conclusion, educational inclusion has been found to lead to improved psychological, social ...

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