Inclusive Education

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation – UNESCO – defines inclusive education as “the process of identifying and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion in education”.

It is based on the principle that each child has different characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs and that it is the education systems and the educational programmes that are designed to meet these different needs.

Inclusive education is a model of education that aims to meet the needs of all children, young people and adults, especially in cases where there may be a risk of social exclusion, as well as to ensure access to quality education with equal opportunities, fair and equitable for all. It is about building a context, adapting it to people, in which differences are catered for and in which the specific support and help required by the most vulnerable groups or individuals is guaranteed. Inclusive education is also designed to facilitate correct learning for all students, with common goals to reduce as much as possible any possible rate of social exclusion.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the advantages and disadvantages of approaches such as inclusion, integration and mainstreaming in order to enhance good quality of education and training for all learners;
• Develop students learning autonomy by self-directed hands-on learning approach, elaborate on student’s prior knowledge, trigger an effective use of arguments and evidence, use questioning as a tool of learning;
• Implement and evaluate appropriate action strategies according to student needs in order to prevent bias, school dropouts and anti-social behaviour of learners;
• To encourage exploring the obstacles and limits that handicapped students faces within the education system;
• Apply art and creativity to work with people with physical (dis)abilities.