Department of Education

Barriers to Inclusion

DR. MA. ELSIE C. ESMER

SVEPS, SID-BLD
Rehabilitation and assistive Devices can
enable People with disabilities to be
independent
970 meets:
0970 MIL - people need glasses and low vision
aids
75 MIL - people need a wheel chair; Only 5-
15% have access to one
466 MIL - people have disabling hearing loss
Production of hearing aids only meets:
3%of developing countries’ needs
10%of global need
%of global need
 Main barriers to education for learners with
disabilities
• Inadequate funding: Often, accommodation decisions are
made based on budgetary considerations rather than on an
assessment of the actual needs of learners with disabilities.

• Physical Inaccessibility: Lack of ramps and/or elevators in

multi-level school buildings, heavy doors, inaccessible
washrooms, and/or inaccessible transportation to and from
school.
Main barriers to education for learners
with disabilities
• Accommodation Process: Accommodation is not always
provided in a timely manner, is often insufficient, and
sometimes not provided at all.

• Lack of Individualization: At the elementary and secondary

levels, some education providers are relying on blanket
approaches to accommodation, rather than assessing each
student on an individual basis.
Main barriers to education for learners
with disabilities
• Negative Attitudes and Stereotypes: Lack of
knowledge about and sensitivity to disability issues
on the part of some educators, staff and learners
can make it difficult for LWDs to access
educational services equally.
 ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS
Negative Attitudes

Many people are not prepared to interact with people

with disabilities. They think that persons with disabilities
lack the skills needed to live in the community or to be
educated with nondisabled
children.
 Physical and Emotional
Bullying

which is a serious barrier to learning

and can lead to isolation and closure
of possible inclusion. Often, they are
the object of ridicule or outright
ostracism in school and
community.
 PHYSICAL BARRIERS
The lack of wheelchair ramps in school
buildings, malls, parks, playgrounds,
washrooms, and public transportation is a
main difficulty identified by several students
with disabilities when going to school and
public places. Undoubtedly, most school
structures do not respond to this
requirement.
There is also lack of facilities or assistive
technology to aid learners with a
particular type of difficulty. Assistive
technology (AT) means the products and
the services designed to meet the
particular needs of people with
disabilities allow them to build up their
abilities and meaningfully participate in
the affairs of their home, school, work
and community.
 As with society in general, it is important
that consistent and strong advocacy must be
given to them considering that negative
attitudes and stereotypes are often caused
by a lack of knowledge, understanding, and
acceptance of persons with disabilities.
 INADEQUATE FUNDING
Insufficient funding is a chief threat to the implementation
of inclusion. It is reflected in the scarcity of resources like
insufficient classrooms, inadequate facilities, lack of
teachers, and/or dearth of qualified staff, scarce learning
materials, and absence of support.
Significantly, insufficient funding can hamper ongoing
professional development that helps keep both specialists
and classroom teachers updated on the best practices of
inclusion.
 POOR ORGANIZATION OF THE
EDUCATION SYSTEM
Responsibility for decisions tends to be located at the
highest level and the focus of management remains
oriented toward employees, complying with rules rather
than ensuring quality service delivery.
Another organizational barrier is the lack
of communication among administrators,
teachers, specialists, staff, parents, and
learners. As a result, information on the
number of learners excluded from the
school system is lacking.
 BARRIERS TO LEARNING

• “Barriers to learning refer to difficulties that arise

within the education system as a whole, the learning
site and/or within the learner himself/herself, which
prevent access to learning and development.”
 BARRIERS TO LEARNING
• Educational environment—external influences on the
learner due to the educational environment.

• Behaviours and actions—what behaviours and

actions the learner demonstrates in a learning situation.

• Individual attributes—both the internal and external

attributes that the learner brings to their learning.
What are the barriers to learning?
 Educational Environment
• The nature of the institutional context, including the type or
style of institution (rural/regional versus urban, etc.).

• A number of these factors influence learner s’ sense of

academic integration and social integration or, conversely,
can contribute to academic isolation.
 Educational Environment
• Teaching styles
• The classroom climate
• The curriculum
• Assessment
• The provision of academic or learning support.
• The provision of institutional support for issues beyond the
academic, including counselling, careers advice and financial
advice.
INAPPROPRIATE CURRICULUM
The curriculum is one of the chief impediments to
the progress of inclusive education. It happens
because it does not meet the needs of a broad
range of diverse learners. In many contexts, it is
centralized in design and rigid in approach which
causes little flexibility for modification based on the
local setting or for teachers to try out new
approaches.
 UNTRAINED TEACHERS
The educators are the most significant human
resource for advancing inclusive education. Their
proficiency and outlook have a dramatic
impact on the lives of students who are different and
who have learning challenges. Unfortunately, the
teachers’ competency and attitudes can be the
most important constraints for inclusive education.
 Apart from lack of technical ability is the
teachers’ attitude. If teachers do not have
optimistic attitude toward children with special
educational needs, meaningful education for them
is far-fetched.
Moreover, the persistent demand for
standardized testing or other
academic standards might hinder
teacher’s creativity in teaching learners
with special needs.
 BARRIERS WITHIN THE LEARNER
NEUROLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR
• ADHD
• Epilepsy
• “Conduct Disorder”
• Tourette • Anti-social behaviour
• Autism • Psychopath Emotional
• Obsessive Compulsive problems
• Depression and anxiety
disorders
GENETIC
• Specific learning disorders

PHYSIOLOGICAL • Down Syndrome

• Deaf/hard of hearing LOW COGNITION

• Blind/low vision
• Physical disabled • IQ
• Multiple disabled • Brain injuries
• Developmental delays
 Examples of Conditions That Can Increase
Barriers to Learning
Neighborhood Family Internal Student
School and Peers
• High poverty • Domestic conflicts, Factors
• Poor quality schools,
abuse, distress, • Neurodevelopmental
• High rates of high teacher turnover
grief, loss delay
crime, drug • High rates of bullying
• Unemployment, • Physical illness
use, violence, and harassment
poverty, and • Mental disorders/
gang activity • Minimal offerings and
homelessness Disabilities
• High • Nomads and/or
low involvement in
• Inadequate nutrition
unemployment, extracurricular
minority status and healthcare
abandoned activities
• Family physical or • Learning, behavior,
• Disorganized • Frequent student
mental health illness and emotional
teacher conflicts
community • Poor medical or problems that arise
• Poor school climate,
• High mobility dental care from negative
negative peer models
• Lack of positive • Inadequate child environmental
• Many disengaged
youth dev’t. care conditions aggravate
students and families
opportunities • Substance abuse existing internal
factors
 DYNAMIC INTERPLAY

Barriers

Emotions/ Behaviour
 Responding to learner diversity:
removing barriers to learning
• Inclusion is an ongoing process that aims to
increase access and engagement in learning
for all learners by identifying and removing
barriers.
 <><><><><><><><><>

The current focus of school improvement policy

and practice is too limited to ensure that all
learners have an equal opportunity to succeed
at school.

<><><><><><><><><>
 Activity 1
As a school head you already encountered learners with
disability. What action did you do for the learner? What is the
result? What is your recommendation?

In a meta strip write the disability – Use a blue color

The action you do for the LWD - Use the yellow color
The result of your action - Use green color
For your recommendation - Use Orange color
If you are done, please summarize by table your results.
The limited focus of schools contributes to:

• High Learner Dropout Rates

• High Teacher Dropout Rates
• Continuing Achievement Gap
• So Many Schools Designated as Low Performing
• High Stakes Testing Taking its Toll on Students
• Plateau Effect
To Recap
School Improvement policy and planning have not
addressed barriers to development, learning and
teaching as a primary and essential component of
what must be done if schools are to minimized
behavior problems, close the achievement gaps and
minimized dropouts.
Next

We turn to four fundamental interrelated concerns

involved in moving forward to develop

A COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM
LEARNING SUPPORT
 We have to begin with the concern
for framing interventions to address
barriers to learning and teaching as
a comprehensive system of
interventions.
Thank You!!!