MODULE 2

INTRODUCTION

This Module discusses the bases and policies of special and inclusive
education that govern the implementation of special education locally and
internationally.

OBJECTIVES

After studying the module, you should be able to:

1. demonstrate understanding of the philosophies, theories, and

legal bases of special and inclusive education including its
application;
2. demonstrate knowledge of policies, guidelines and procedures
that provide safe and secure learning environments for learners
with special needs; and
3. demonstrate knowledge of the development of Special and
Inclusive Education in the local and international contexts.

DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

You will need approximately 5 weeks to finish this module. Learning is

largely self-directed. In case you encounter difficulty, you may email me at
lsoriano@dmmmsu.edu.ph or thru Messenger.

On honesty and integrity, avoid plagiarism. When you have other

sources of information, always appropriately cite the source. Do not also let
anyone write or answer the activities for you.

There are 4 lessons in the module. Read each lesson carefully then
answer the exercises/activities which are found on our Google Classroom’s
“Classwork”. Work on these exercises carefully and turn in your outputs on or
before the set deadline.

Module 2 is part of the Midterm Examination coverage.

Good luck and happy learning!!!

 2

BASES AND POLICIES OF SPECIAL AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Review of Bases

Lesson 1

Psychological Bases

Psychology is the study of the biological, social, and environmental

influences that affect how people think, behave, and learn.

The origins of educational psychology can be traced back to Aristotle

and Plato, but it’s psychologists like Jean Piaget who laid the foundations for
one of the most important principles of educational psychology: knowledge
can’t simply be given.

Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is a famous Swiss developmental psychologist

who changed the way we think about the development of children’s minds.

Cognitive development refers to how thought, intelligence, and

language processes change as people mature.

In Piaget’s view, children actively construct their cognitive world using

schemas to make sense of what they experience. A schema is a concept or
framework that already exists at a given moment in a person’s mind and that
organizes information and provides a structure for interpreting it. Schemas
are expressed as various behaviors and skills that the child can exercise in
relation to objects or situations. For example, sucking is an early, simple
schema. Later, more complex schemas include licking, lowing, crawling,
hiding, and so forth.

Piaget said that two processes are responsible for how people use and
adapt their schemas:

• Assimilation occurs when an individual incorporates new information

into existing knowledge. Example, the first time a child sees a flying
bird realizes that some things can fly.
• Accommodation occurs when an individual adjusts his schemas to new
information. Example, a child might posses the schema of “flying
birds”. With experience, the child might learn that not all that fly are
birds. There are other things that fly such as airplanes or drones.

Another important element of Piaget’s theory is his observation that

we go through four stages in understanding the world.
 3

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor Stage (birth to 2 years) – In this stage, the infant

constructs an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory
experiences with motor actions.

Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage:

- The infant learns about the world through their senses and
through their actions (moving around and exploring its
environment).
- During the sensorimotor stage a range of cognitive abilities
develop. These include: object permanence; self-recognition
(the child realizes that other people are separate from them);
deferred imitation; and representational play.
- They relate to the emergence of the general symbolic function,
which is the capacity to represent the world mentally
- At about 8 months the infant will understand the permanence
of objects and that they will still exist even if they can’t see
them and the infant will search for them when they disappear.

2. Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years) – In this stage, thought becomes

more symbolic than in the sensorimotor stage but the child cannot yet
perform operations.

Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage:

- Toddlers and young children acquire the ability to internally

represent the world through language and mental imagery.
- During this stage, young children can think about things
symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing, such as a
word or an object, stand for something other than itself.
- A child’s thinking is dominated by how the world looks, not how
the world is. It is not yet capable of logical (problem solving)
type of thought.
- Moreover, the child has difficulties with class inclusion; he can
classify objects but cannot include objects in sub-sets, which
involves classify objects as belonging to two or more categories
simultaneously
- Infants at this stage also demonstrate animism. This is the
tendency for the child to think that non-living objects (such as
toys) have life and feelings like a person.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years) – In this stage, thought

becomes more operational and intuitive reasoning is replaced by
logical reasoning in concrete situations.

Major characteristics and developmental changes during this stage:

 4

- During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about

concrete events.
- Children begin to understand the concept of conservation;
understanding that, although things may change in appearance,
certain properties remain the same.
- During this stage, children can mentally reverse things (e.g. a
ball of clay dough can be flattened or reshaped)
- During this stage, children also become less egocentric and
begin to think about how other people might think and feel.

4. Formal Operational Stage (12 years and up) – In this stage, thinking
becomes more abstract, idealistic, and logical.

Major characteristics and developmental changes during this time:

- Begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems

- Begins to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social,
and political issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning
- Begins to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle
to specific information

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura (1925-2021) is a Canadian social cognitive psychologist

who perhaps is best known for his social learning theory and the concept of
self-efficacy.

Social Learning Theory emphasizes the importance of observing,

modelling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of
others. Social learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive
factors interact to influence human learning and behavior.

Observational Learning is the social element of learning, arguing that

people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people.

Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:

1. A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or

acting out a behavior.
2. A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying
behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media.
3. A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and
explanations of a behavior.

It is important to note though that not all observed behaviors are

effectively learned. Certain requirements and steps must also be followed.

The following steps are involved in the observational learning and

modeling process:
 5

1. Attention: In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything

that distracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on
observational learning.
2. Retention: The ability to store information is also an important part of
the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors,
but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to
observational learning.
3. Reproduction: Once you have paid attention to the model and retained
the information, it is time to actually perform the behavior you
observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to
improvement and skill advancement.
4. Motivation: Finally, in order for observational learning to be
successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has
been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role
in motivation.

Lev Vygotsky’s Scaffolding Theory

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) is a Russian psychologist known for his work

on psychological development in children.

Scaffolding Theory

Vygotsky's scaffolding is a method of teaching that helps learners

understand educational content by working with an educator or someone who
has a better understanding of the material. Relative to this, is the concept
of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).

Photo Credits https://educationaltechnology.net

Vygotsky scaffolding then is a process used in the classroom in which a

teacher or capable student helps a student within their ZPD. When the learner
and teacher begin working together, the teacher models most of the work,
 6

explaining how and why they do things to help the learner comprehend the
content. As the learner becomes more comfortable with the material, the
assistance of the educator lessens and the learner does more of the work on
their own. The scaffolding continues to decrease until the student has
mastered the content and no longer needs any scaffolding.

Jean Lave’s Situated Learning Theory

Situated Learning is an instructional approach developed by Jean Lave

and Etienne Wenger in the early 1990s, who claim that students are more
inclined to learn by actively participating in the learning experience. Situated
learning essentially is a matter of creating meaning from the real activities of
daily living where learning occurs relative to the teaching environment.
Examples of situated learning activities are:

- Field trips where students actively participate in an unfamiliar

environment
- Cooperative education and internship experiences in which
students are immersed and physically active in an actual work
environment
- Music and sports (physical education) practice which replicate
actual setting of these events
- Laboratories and child-care centers used as classrooms in which
students are involved in activities which replicate actual work
settings