Addressing Diversity Through Special Education and Inclusion

Special Education 

Individually planned, systemically implemented and carefully evaluated instruction to help

exceptional children achieve the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency and success in
present and future environments. (Heward & Orlansky, 1998)

It can be differentiated from regular education by its curriculum. - Some children need intensive,
systematic instruction to learn skills that typically developing children acquire naturally. 

The individual needs the child to dictate the curriculum. Individualized programming is the core
of Special Education.

Some children with exceptionality are taught certain skills to reduce the handicapping effects of
the disability.

The Special Education movement supports the proposition that children with exceptionalities
need to be included in regular educational services to the extent that is reasonable.  

Goal of Special Education

 Eliminate or reduce the obstacles that might keep a child or an adult with exceptionality
from full and active participation in the society.

Inclusion

Inclusion is the main goal of Special Education. It is an educational practice that places students
with disabilities in the general education classroom along with typically developing children
under the supervision and guidance of a general education teacher (Del. Corro-Tiangco 2014). 
It is anchored on the philosophy that every child has an inherent right to be educated quality with
his peers, no matter how different he or she may appear to society.
The global arena has been consistently vocal in its stand on children, persons with disabilities,
and education. In as early as 1948. there have already been worldwide declarations on children
and their right to be educated (Universal Declaration of Human Right 1948; United Nations
Convention on the right of Child 1989). In 1990, many countries banned together for the world
declaration of Education for All (EFA). which stated that all children must have access to
complete, free, and compulsory primary education.
Soon after, the UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for person with
Disabilities (1993) was affirmed. It is also in this directive that the importance of providing
education integrated and general school settings was first specified. This mandate was
immediately followed by the landmark policy on special education. The Salamanca Statement
and Framework for action on special for Action on Special Needs Education (1994), which
reiterated that schools should accommodate all children, including the disabled, the gifted, and
the marginalized. 
         These groundbreaking directives eventually formed the foundation for other initiatives: the
World Education Forum Framework for Action and the Millennium summit of the United
Nations, both of which happened in 2000; the EFA Flagship on the Right to Education for PWDs
in 2001; of Persons with Disabilities in 2006; and the Education 2030 Framework for Action
following the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. All of these were created with the
same goal in mind: Inclusion.
        The Guidelines for Inclusion (2005) published by UNESCO enumerates four key elements: 

1. inclusion is a process, that is, "a never-ending search to find better ways to respond to
diversity." 
2. inclusion involves a preventive dimension, specifically in identifying and removing
potential barriers. to this process through "collecting, collating, and evaluating
information" for improving policy and practice. 
3. inclusion is all about the "presence, participation, and achievement" or learning outcomes
of all types of student; and 
4. inclusion puts "particular emphasis on learners who may be at risk of marginalization,
exclusion, or underachievement," and therefore, they must be consistently monitored and
represented in the inclusive process

Inclusion in Education Involves:

1. Valuing all students and staff equally

2. Increasing participation of students in; and reducing their exclusion from; cultures,
curricula, and communities of local schools.
3. Restructuring the cultures, policies, and practices in schools so that they respond to the
diversity of students in the locality.
4. Reducing barriers to learning and participation for all students, not only those with
impairments or those who are categorized as "having special educational needs"
5. Learning from attempts to overcome barriers to the access and participation of particular
students to make changes for the benefit of students more widely.
6. Viewing the difference between students as resources to support learning, rather than
problems to be overcome.
7. Acknowledging the right of students to an education in their locality
8. Improving schools for staff as well as for students
9. Emphasizing the role of schools in building community and developing values, as well as
in increasing achievement
10. Fostering mutually sustaining relationships between schools and communities.
11. Recognizing that inclusion in education is one aspect of inclusion in society