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Bibliographies : Save the Children (UK) : Towards Inclusion: SCF UK's Experience in Integrated Education - Contents
SCF's involvement in IE is new and as an organisation it has had only a few years of experience in this field. Nevertheless its activities, in the different countries, have encapsulated a wide variety of starting points and ways of working.
The work in China started in 1988 at the invitation of the Anhui Provincial Education Commission, who are responsible for the education of nearly 7 million children in a poor central province. They were new partners for SCF. The project aimed initially to integrate children with learning difficulties into local kindergartens. Starting in one school with 4 children, it extended to a second school in 1990, by which time children from the first school had started to move up to the primary level. This initial period was therefore one of building experience and confidence and providing a training base for later expansion.
During 1993-94 an SCF IE Advisor assisted with the expansion to a further 15 kindergartens - at least one kindergarten in each city or prefecture. In 1995, the kindergarten staff and local administrators began to train others within their prefecture. It is aimed that over the next two years at least 100 integrated kindergartens will be developed, one in each county of the province. Children who have been through the kindergarten programme are now attending primary school and this has been achieved without much input into the primary school system.
The IE programme in Thailand came from a very different background. Thailand SCF had been supporting a wide range of disability projects since 1983. These included homes for disabled children, units for hearing impaired children and a day care centre for mentally disabled children run by Rajanukal Hospital in Bangkok. The day-care centre had such a long waiting list that in 1989 the hospital, decided to approach a local primary school with the aim of starting a special class for special needs children who would then be integrated into mainstream classroom activities. This was extended to a second school in 1990, but the special class model achieved only a low level of integration and required a non-replicably high level of resources.
Real integration began in 1991 with a project run by a local NGO for blind children. After a period of preparation at a Centre, 56 children were returned to their home communities over a 3 year period. During this time they were supported by itinerant teachers from the Centre. After an evaluation in 1994, this project moved on to addressing sustainability and ownership issues by passing responsibility to government in a new project signed with the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 1995.
Another initiative towards IE began with the introduction of the UNESCO Resource Pack on Special Needs in the Classroom in February 1993. At a workshop in Bangkok teacher trainers from a number of colleges throughout the country were introduced to more child-focused teaching methods that would allow teachers to include children with a range of individual needs into their classes. In Thailand this initiative made little progress within the Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs). However, through SCF's lobbying, support and contacts in the Primary Education Department the MoE has taken up the initiative and is now implementing IE in a number of provinces.
Also at the workshop were, participants from Laos and Vietnam who were able to use these approaches and contacts to build further on IE initiatives and thoughts.
IN in Laos grew naturally from an SCF supported primary education project which aims to improve teacher effectiveness through teacher training. Looking at what was happening in classrooms it was recognised that children's individual learning needs were given little attention. Following on from this, a lengthy period of awareness raising (from 1991 onwards), on special needs issues was conducted within the project and MoE. This was backed up with study tours abroad to broaden perceptions of special needs provision. A UNESCO workshop held in October 1993, helped to concretise government commitment and clarify possible approaches. This led to implementation in one pilot school in 1993. Following an evaluation in 1994, an IE advisor was appointed to strengthen the pilot project school and to consider possible ways forward for the MoE. In 1995 six more primary schools and four kindergartens joined the programme.
In Vietnam, work in the area of disability began in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in 1989, when a SCF consultant began initial investigation and collaboration with local agencies, one of which was the Centre for Research and Education for Disabled Children (CREDC) of the HCMC Department of Education. In 1990, SCF supported some pilot projects of CREDC, such as a resource library, a basic training course for special school teachers, and a scholarship for professional training overseas. In June 1992, a local programme team was set up in HCMC with three project officers, one of whom had responsibility for the disability programme. Since then, training and support activities have developed in three main areas: for a special school for children with learning disabilities run by a Buddhist monk, for local kindergartens piloting integrated education - initially one school in one district, now extended to four schools in two districts, and for a community-based care and support programme for disabled children, initiated by award level People's Committee.
In Lesotho, prior to 1980, special provision for disabled children had been the responsibility of NGOs, churches and individuals. During the Decade of Disabled People (1983-92) disabled people, their parents and their organisations began to demand national educational provision for disabled children. At that time the concepts and language of universal human rights, social justice, solidarity and individual dignity were spreading and gaining support and influence throughout Southern Africa. Lesotho, surrounded as it is by South Africa, was inevitably strongly affected by this. Arising from this it was increasingly recognised that marginalised and vulnerable groups need to participate in change and become empowered to promote their own development. Education is one key to this empowerment.
In 1987 the Lesotho Ministry of Education, funded by USAID, commissioned a study of the needs of disabled children. This initiated the process of policy development and programme planning which has led to the current programme. The report highlighted the fact that the small number of institutions offering specialist care and education worked against traditional care taking within the Basotho extended family, were costly, unable to meet more than a minority of needs and were even detrimental to the child's emotional and psychological needs.
Following the report, the Ministry of Education, Lesotho National Federation of disabled People and SCF (UK) worked together on a special education policy and on developing a plan for its implementation. In 1991 the Special Education Unit in the MoE was founded and SCF seconded an IE Adviser with extensive practical experience to work with the Head of Early Childhood Education Department. Since that time IE has been established in 10 schools.
Bibliographies : Save the Children (UK) : Towards Inclusion: SCF UK's Experience in Integrated Education - Contents
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17/10/1997