This is the decade of change. The Covid-19 pandemic, recent geopolitical conflicts and climate change have pushed us to think about the greatest challenges of our time and reassess the ways we do things. The education system needs a hard look, too.
While the term "inclusion" has surfaced as a megatrend across public and private sectors in the last couple of years, it is no stranger to the world of education. What is new, however, is the realisation by governments and civil society that inclusive education involves more than simply placing a student with a disability in the classroom. Many education systems claim to be inclusive but are instead following either segregated or integrated models, missing the mark on meaningful inclusion.
Inclusive education requires systematic change, one that stems from a change in mindsets and skillsets to foster a sense of belonging for all students in the classroom. Systematic change requires principles of inclusion such as whole-system inclusion, the role of learning-friendly environments, how to adapt a curriculum to student needs, differential learning as well as universal design for learning, among others. The Unicef report Education for Every Ability (2020) offers entry points for practical improvements in each of these domains.
Students with disabilities who are included in school are healthier and, in the long haul, more likely to be civically engaged and employed later in life. In sharing classrooms, students without disabilities have much to gain too, including broadening their perspective-taking skills, gaining opportunities to collaborate in creative ways and understanding first-hand the process of inclusive community building. These are just some of the reasons we need to make a change now.
A report by Unicef published last year indicates that there are about 43.1 million children (0–18 years of age) with physical and/or intellectual disabilities in East Asia and the Pacific. Many of these children do not attend school at all and are vulnerable to exploitation in the informal and illegal job market. Other risks include child marriage, violence and poverty.
While school closures from the pandemic have caused devastating effects on student learning, thei closures have offered us an opportunity to think about meaningful inclusion in schools. School closures have affected a staggering 140 million students in Southeast Asia and 260 million students in East Asia, according to the same report.
Unesco estimates that at least 2.7 million children will not return to school after Covid, in addition to the 35 million students in East Asia and the Pacific who have dropped out. Students with disabilities are more likely to remain out of school once schools fully reopen, which can perpetuate a cycle of poverty.
All 10 Asean member states aspire to create inclusive education systems for students with disabilities, but they can struggle to make progress on the ground.
Challenges to progress abound, but those same challenges lend themselves to innovative opportunities. For example, even before a student enters a classroom, the student's medical model diagnosis is limited in its ability to present strengths and weaknesses in the learning process and may lead to segregated intervention and education planning. This challenge has given rise to the need for a functional approach to data collection. The Washington Group/Unicef Child Functioning Module identifies children who have difficulties that can hinder learning by understanding varying degrees of limitations in their functions as interactions with the environment. A disability is, after all, a barrier between a person and their environment. This module shifts our thinking to see this connection more clearly.
Another fundamental challenge lies in the heart of the education system -- teacher training. High quality and consistent pre-service and in-service teacher education remain fundamental for inclusive education. Funding, political will and incentives for teachers can support this cause.
Finally, a country's leadership has the power to set the tone for a cultural shift towards inclusion. Leaders must be inclusive themselves, publicly use inclusive language, and advocate for the human rights of all their constituents including those with disabilities.
In summary, inclusive education is necessary at all levels of education, from preschool to post-secondary school, to technical and vocational training. It is an agent of change to encourage lifelong learning and full participation in social, economic and political life. And inclusive education is not just for students with disabilities -- it offers transformative learning opportunities for all students to build a more accepting and resilient society.
Rubeena Singh is The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia's External Consultant on Inclusive Education. The opinion, however, is entirely her own.