The problem of inclusive education in Moscow and Tomsk regions

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The problem of inclusive education in Moscow and Tomsk regions

Tat'yana Borisovna Lysunets Department of English Language and Business Communication Institute of International Education and Language Communication National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University

Abstract

The article tells about the problem of inclusive education in Moscow and Tomsk regions. It describes the possible variants of educating children with limited abilities in different types of educational establishments, gives the norms of organizing educational process and presents data on the amount of children with different diagnoses and the number of special educational establishments in Moscow and Tomsk regions.

Key words and phrases: inclusive education; children with limited abilities; disabled children; special schools; home schooling; special class; distant learning; equipment regulations.

Nowadays the question of inclusive education (or coeducation and education of healthy school students and disabled children together at mass schools and kindergartens) has become very urgent and widely discussed in mass media. The idea is that due to the coeducation our children will learn to communicate as equals with special children, stop avoiding disabled people, take care of them not only at charitable actions. To help this mutual process start, several important questions should be considered. Today inclusive education in the Russian Federation is regulated by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law “On Education”, the Federal Law “On Social Protection of Disabled People in the Russian Federation”, and also the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Protocol № 1 of European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

In 2008 Russia signed the Convention of the United Nations “On the Rights of Disabled People”. The twentyfourth article of the Convention says that the state should provide inclusive education and training at all levels during all human life. But legislative initiatives alone cannot solve the problem.

According to Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia in 2006 more than 1,5 million of children had deviations in development. In 2003/2004 academic year about four hundred thousand visited preschool educational institutions of compensating type pre-school specialized group. About two and a half hundred thousand children were taught in 1956 special (correctional) educational institutions for pupils with deviations in development. In special (correctional) classes at educational institutions of the general type there studied 26433 mentally retarded pupils, 171966 pupils with a delay of mental development and 5854 pupils with shortcomings of physical development.

Nowadays there exist the following types of educational establishments for children with alternative abilities.

Special schools or boarding schools are educational establishments with twenty-four hour service. They have been created to assist a family in educating, training, teaching children the basic life-skills and activities of daily living and social protection. There are also boarding schools where educational programs are given by social care teachers, but de jure these schools can't issue the document on education.

Special class in comprehensive schools is a form of differentiation of the education, which allows solving problems of the timely active help to children with limited abilities of health. A positive factor in this case is the possibility for disabled children to participate in many school activities on an equal basis with children from other classes, moreover children study closer to the house and are brought up in a family.

Home schooling is a form of training children when teachers of educational institution visit and teach them at home. In this case, training is carried out by teachers of the nearest educational establishment. Home schooling can be conducted according to the general or special curriculum designed for the learners needs. The certificate of secondary education is given upon the completion of education.

Distance learning is a complex of the educational services provided to disabled children by means of the specialized information and educational environment, educational information is based on means of distance information exchange (satellite television, radio, computer communication, etc.). For implementation of distance learning the multimedia equipment (computer, printer, scanner, webcam etc.) is necessary to provide the contact between the child and the center of distance learning. The two-way communication process is established. Today it is possible to get not only the secondary, but higher education as well by means of distance learning.

Besides the comprehensive schools working on the program of inclusive education, there are different specialized educational institutions for children with limited abilities of health which provide creation of the individual adaptive environment: compensating (234) and combined (426) kindergartens, special (correctional) schools and boarding schools (54), elementary schools-kindergartens of a compensating type (29), secondary educational establishments “School of home training” (14), average educational institutions “Health school” (81), sanatorium country boarding schools (4), sanatorium boarding schools (3), the centers of education (2), educational institutions for children with psycho-pedagogical and medical-social help (54), establishments of primary and secondary professional education (45).

According to the bill “On Education of Persons with Limited Abilities of Health in Moscow”, the number of children with other abilities at an inclusive school will be limited - no more than 10% for a school and no more than three students in one class. Psychologists recommend having 10% of differently gifted children at one school, otherwise the school is named specialized.

The school equipment for disabled children is a necessary component of the inclusive education, opening to children with limited abilities the way to be trained together with the classmates.

The following regulations concerning the environmental devices should be observed while implementing inclusive education. They concern school entrance, internal space of school, school locker room, school cafeteria, school toilet, library, offices, gym, and territory of the school.

For disabled children with violation of the musculoskeletal system it is necessary to place a ramp at the entrance to the school. The ramp should be rather flat (10-12°) that the child on a carriage could rise and go down independently. The width of a ramp should not be less than 90 sm. The necessary attribute of the ramp is the protecting side (the height not less than 5 cm) and hand-rail (height 50-90 cm) which length should exceed the length of the ramp on 30 cm from each side. Doors should open to the opposite side from the ramp; otherwise the child on a carriage can roll down.

Internal space of school

The perimeter of the school should be equipped with hand-rails. The width of doorways should not be less than 80-85 cm, or the person on a wheelchair won't pass through it. The school should have at least one lift for wheelchairs to ascend. It is better to limit the access of other pupils there. For sight-disabled children it is necessary to provide various covering of floors: when the direction changes the floor covering changes its direction too. It can be either a floor tile or simple carpet paths. Names of school classrooms should be written on plates with large print of contrast colours. It is necessary to double names in a Braille script. School toilet

In school toilets it is necessary to provide one specialized toilet stall for disabled people with violation of the musculoskeletal system (including disabled people in wheelchairs). The sizes of it is not less than 1,65 m to 1,8 m. The width of a door in a specialized cabin should not be less than 90 sm.

Gym

Locker room, shower and a toilet at a gymnasium for disabled children with violations of the musculoskeletal system is also necessary to equip with wide passes and doorways which width should not be less than 90 sm. The wheelchair should enter a shower cabin freely. School library

In a reading room of school library the part of chair of books issue is necessary for lowering to level not above 70 sm. Some tables need to be made at such height.

It is recommended to have the books being in open access and card file within the zone of reach (outstretched arm) of the person on a carriage, i.e. 1,2 m.

Ensuring availability of educational institutions, granting to disabled children and children with limited physical abilities the equal access to the education of high quality becomes one of the priority directions of the state policy in education.

Let us consider the situation in Tomsk region.

The category “children with LPA” makes 9,5% (in 2009 - 9,1%) from total being trained, and disabled children - 2,3% (in 2009 - 1,56%) in educational institutions of Tomsk region.

By the beginning of the academic year 2009/10 there existed the differentiated network of educational institutions of various types for training of children with limited abilities of health in Tomsk region:

• preschool educational institutions;

• regional public special (correctional) educational institutions; * municipal special (correctional) educational institutions;

• municipal educational institutions.

Educational conditions creation for disabled children and children with LPA has been conducted according to the plan and has been realized in the following directions:

- development of integrated (inclusive) education;

- development of distance learning for disabled children; - modernization of special (correction) schools networking; - creation of available educational environment.

Table 1

Experimental work on the development of integrated (inclusive) education has been conducted since 2008 on the territory of Tomsk region with the support of Tomsk region Administration, Tomsk Administration, DIVO public organization (The higher education available to disabled people). Till September 2010 only two educational institutions of Tomsk - Secondary school № 54 and Secondary school № 40 conducted experimental work on approbation of integrated (inclusive) education models.

Today from the total of disabled children at the age from 7 till 18 years - 49,9% are integrated into mass educational institutions. Available experience of disabled children and children with LPA integration in educational institutions shows high efficiency of such work.

At school № 54 there are studying 11 disabled children, 76 children with a delay of physical development, two children with violation of speech and one child with sight violation. There has been allocated 4 accompanies for children: one parent, two former teachers and the expert with medical education. The school is equipped with a separate toilet room, a wheelchair, walkers, and also a game room where children with LPA can have a rest in case of fatigue.

In boarding school № 15 (for deaf children and children with hard-of-hearing) ten children of 6-7 years with different diagnoses passed preschool preparation. The special tutor and psychologist work with children. In the boarding school there are ramps, doorways, sanitary rooms (according to sanitary requirements for children of preschool age), the first floors of standard buildings are equipped.

In kindergartens № 40, 13, 53 training and education (together with healthy children) are organized and taught for children having various “difficult” diagnoses - cerebral spastic infantile paralysis, Down syndrome, autism, mixed psychological frustration, behavioural violations, mental retardation.

In the sphere of additional education for children, integrated (inclusive) education is also organized. Teachers of additional education establishment “Torch” (Tomsk) initiated a circle of contacts for children with limited physical abilities and disabled children. They encouraged children to participate in social projects: “Let's warm each other kind”, “The Christmas fairy tale”, the telephone hotline for people with limited abilities “Protected”, professional orientation, training “The profession world”, support training “Be sure! Be successful!”, complex classes in M. Montessori's technique “The world without barriers”.

A number of the educational institutions which took part in program “Children should study together”, September, 1 2010, supported the idea of coeducation. The resolution of participants of August Pedagogical conference confirmed that the pedagogical community and the parental public also supported the idea of coeducation.

On the basis of Regulation № 515 of Tomsk region Department of education experimental work on integrated (inclusive) education formation in regional educational system is prolonged from 15.09.2010 till 01.09.2013. The educational establishment network, involved in the experimental approbation of integrated (inclusive) training model, which includes 18 municipal schools of the regional resource centers, 2 schools and 2 kindergartens of Seversk, 5 schools and 5 kindergartens of Tomsk, 4 subordinated educational establishments, is expanded.

The Ministry of Education of Russian Federation adopted a number of regulations where the following options are described: features of education for people with limited physical abilities, the form of certification, including granting for higher education, and also the creation of special conditions for examination. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation defines the rule of the organization and carrying out the graduation final examination for separate categories being trained, including for being trained with limited abilities of health. In 2010 3,15% of graduates were disabled children and children with limited physical abilities.

inclusive education children diagnos

Table 2

At the same time, the development of integrated (inclusive) training and education system for children with limited physical abilities in the conditions of educational institutions allows allocating the arising number of problems:

- availability of architectural environment;

- problem of transport delivery of children to the educational institution in climatic conditions of the region; - further development of early identification and support system;

- rules of children integration in educational institutions aren't registered and aren't adopted at federal level;

- conditions for training of children with limited physical abilities at comprehensive schools aren't created: there is no trained staff, equipment and resources are insufficiently specialized, there is no psychological and material availability of school systems (children and teachers) to accept children of this category;

- educational institutions have not got enough experts who can carry out complex psycho-pedagogical support;

- there are no organizational and methodical or advice centers, capable to render special help to children with limited physical abilities and to their parents as well, the methodical help to teachers and specialists of regional comprehensive schools.

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