Veliya Targamaze. Inclusive education has gone beyond educational institutions

Article 5, Point 5 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Education defines the concept of inclusion in education: “5) Inclusion – the educational system creates conditions for everyone to develop, develop their rights and abilities, receive the necessary education. Help, succeed in learning, social, cultural and/or other activities, and does not discriminate due to the diversity of educational needs and/or educational assistance.”

It is possible to write, but how to implement it?

I don’t even doubt that teachers, educational support specialists, administrators, at least educational scientists really understand that every child has the right to education and needs to be educated. I don’t think there are negative attitudes towards any child (it may happen sometimes), but the question is different: how to implement inclusive education? Implement it in such a way that children with different abilities and needs are not excluded and education is not considered unworthy.

Some schools say they are ready, and I believe it, because it all starts with the attitude and understanding of inclusive education, having experts, no doubt teachers, leaders, educational support experts, teaching assistants, the ability of teaching (learning) tools, educational spaces, etc. Let us not forget that inclusive education emphasizes teamwork between teachers, educational support and other experts.

What about schools that are short of psychologists, special educators, speech therapists, etc.? Let’s look at the statistics. The shortage of psychologists appears to be decreasing. In fact, schools are shrinking. If 52.34% of schools did not have a psychologist in 2019-2020, they will not have one in 2023-2024. 40,34%Can you imagine helping pupils and teachers with special educational needs without psychologists or special educators? And they are also insufficient: in 2023-2024, even 213 out of 875 schools (24.34%) did not have a specialized teacher. So what really matters is: Do children have the right to adequate help and how to implement inclusive education?

Where are the educational materials? After all, the general program has changed, and everyone lacks training tools, and SEN children often need other tools. Many places lack educational space, elevators or lifts. Therefore, solving the implementation of inclusive education is not such an easy task. In this context, I would like to point out again that every child is important and needs help to grow. Only one teacher or school is certainly not capable, and neither are the Lithuanian Inclusive Education Center, the Regional Special Education Center, etc. There is no potential to help all schools and kindergartens at present.

So we definitely have reason to worry and grieve. Here, it does not help to flatter or explain that so many specialists have been added, millions of dollars have been allocated for inclusive education. The teacher encounters the student here and now, so if there is no help or means, the situation is unusual or even a conflict, then the teacher will focus all his attention on solving it, and other children will no longer pay attention.

Any suggestions? I’m interested and I understand Inclusive Education It is not possible to achieve everything in one go, as “inclusive education is a never-ending process driven by the identification and removal of barriers to educational achievement”. Therefore, it is very dangerous to attempt to strike without being fully prepared.

To amortize or avoid potential risks, it is necessary to understand the essence of inclusive education, increase the number of educational support specialists, review their norms, make teaching assistants real student assistants (for this it is necessary to help them develop their competences and increase their wages (since in many places wages are minimum), learn teamwork and perform many other tasks. Do not be angry if the teacher does not meet all your expectations – some teachers will burden you too much, some will be happy or disappointed with the achievements.

Teachers, educational support specialists, administrators are not miracle workers, but people who want to work professionally. Yes, they make mistakes, get tired, so it is necessary to help them implement inclusive education, not to condemn or abuse them. To make it easier to do this, I recommend that you get acquainted with the practical recommendations of the Vilnius City Educational Psychological Service as early as 2021. Release suggestion.