Penny Price UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand, 6-10 June, 2005 Writers Workshop for the Development of Guidelines for Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in School Systems and in EFA Monitoring OVERVIEW Penny Price UNESCO Bangkok, Thailand, 6-10 June, 2005

OBJECTIVES Share common understandings of Inclusive Education Explain UNESCO Project and processes Identify challenges in implementation Find creative solutions and frame them as ‘RECOMMENDATIONS’ Understand the purpose and function of ‘REGIONAL GUIDELINES’

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION Upholds the right of every child to education Accepts that it is the responsibility of the national education system to provide quality education to all children Works to meet the diverse needs of every child Welcomes diversity in the school and the classroom Proactively seeks out-of-school children Willingly accepts them There is no one widely accepted definition of Inclusive Education Commonly agreed concepts or qualities include:

OFFERS THE MEANS BY WHICH INCLUSIVE EDUCATION OFFERS THE MEANS BY WHICH EDUCATION FOR ALL CAN BE ACHIEVED As Professor Ainscow said on Day 1 – I am not pretending to be neutral on this issue

UNESCO PROJECT AND PROCESSES Identify 5 countries where CHANGE is being made towards inclusive education with focus on including children with disabilities in the regular school system Conduct detailed CASE STUDIES on all aspects of the education system to find out : a) good and effective practices b) challenges and obstacles c) creative local solutions d) continuing unsolved issues Mr Shaeffer addressed this issue with the EFA coordinators yesterday There are many more mandates on the right to education, as you will see in the manual on Rights-based Education. CRC has been ratified by all countries in the Asian and Pacific region BMF has been adopted by all Governments in the region. It is the blueprint for policy development by Governments in the region for the achievement of the goals and targets of the second Asian And Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, 2003-2012. It has 7 priority areas

PROJECT PROCESSES – ASPECTS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM INVESTIGATED Catalyst for change to include CWD National policy on education, including CWD Legislation – mandating education for CWD Budgetary measures and financing education for CWD (For discussion in Group session 1) Administrative procedures to enact policy and legislation Implementation strategies at school level Providers of education to CWD (For discussion in Group session 2)

ASPECTS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM continued Structures of the education system Early intervention Pre-school Regular primary school Special schools Special Education Centres Secondary school Tertiary education - vocational training - university level How do children with disabilities fit into the education system and structures? (For discussion in Group Session 3)

ASPECTS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM continued Teacher education, training and professional development (For discussion in Group session 4) Monitoring and evaluation, including definitions of children with disabilities (For discussion in Group session 5) The role of organizations of persons with disabilities (DPO), families and community in educational provisions for CWD (For discussion in Group session 6)

IDENTIFY CHALLENGES TO ACHIEVING CHANGE IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

CHALLENGES --- CWD not included in national education policy and EFA plans Legislation mandating education for all children, including CWD, not enforced CWD only allowed access to non-formal education No budget for necessary support systems for CWD in regular school eg support teachers, special teaching devices Regular class teachers do not have the training and skills needed to teach children with diverse abilities

MORE CHALLENGES --- No separate data collected on CWD Parents of CWD reluctant to send them to regular school because they fear they will be rejected and bullied Parents of CWD may not send their CWD to school because they don’t know that their children have a RIGHT to education – and can learn Parents of non-disabled children may not want CWD in school because they think it will affect the attention their children get from the teacher

FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE CHALLENGES – AND FRAME THEM AS ‘RECOMMENDATIONS’ FOR THE REGIONAL ‘GUIDELINES’

PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF REGIONAL ‘GUIDELINES’ They can help improve our own national policy and programmes as we work to include children with disabilities in our national education systems Disseminate to other countries in the region to guide their progress towards developing more inclusive education systems

“There is no country in the world that has put in place enforcable guarantees for ALL components of rights-based education for ALL diverse categories into which we have split the human race” (Tomasevski, Education Denied. 2003) All our countries in the Asian and Pacific region are at different stages of development of their education systems as they strive to include those groups of children who have traditionally been excluded. These groups include children and youth with disabilities.

“TOWARDS INCLUSION” THE FLAGSHIP ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: TOWARDS INCLUSION The title of the Flagship expresses our current situation – and our GOAL

Look at our own national education systems (Country Groups) OUR TASK Look at our own national education systems (Country Groups) Look at different aspects of our education systems (Peer groups) IDENTIFY Aspects we would recommend to others Aspects we would like to CHANGE HOW should it be changed? RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GUIDELINES All children have rights to education – but are some children’s rights higher priority than others?