Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities, UNICEF

Both where there is an absence of facilities and in thepresence of segregated structures, a growing bodyof experience indicates the feasibility of successfullyimplementing inclusive practices in education. Thisis demonstrated by two very different countries:Italy, where the shift to inclusive education began asearly as the 1970s (see box 6.6), and Uganda, whichhas recognized the crucial importance for nationaldevelopment of ensuring that Education for All is nota distant goal but a reality (see box 6.7).Training teachers for inclusive educationIn any country, and especially where material resourcesare scarce, the key resource in the learning environmentis teachers themselves. It is important thatteachers have a commitment to teaching all children.Where teachers can receive relevant pre-service andin-service training and have access to continuingsupport, they are well placed to become leaders andpacesetters in inclusive education.Inclusive teaching at the level of the classroomis no more than good teaching anywhere. Manyteachers are already teaching inclusively without thebenefit of additional specialist training (see box 6.8for an example from Lesotho). But faced with thechallenge of admitting children with disabilities intotheir class, it is understandable that teachers maydoubt their ability to meet all needs. But what theylack is not competence but confidence – because theskills required to teach children with disabilities areessentially those already possessed by all competentteachers. These include:• the ability to assess pupils’ strengths and needs;• the skill to individualize teaching procedures tosuit a wide range of abilities;• the flexibility to adapt the content of subject matterto pupils’ interests and abilities and ensure itsrelevance to the social and cultural context;• teamwork within the school and with outsideprofessionals, linking with other learning environmentsfor reinforcement;• a working partnership with parents;• using available technologies capable of supportinglearning, and monitoring the success of approachesbeing employed. 102Even so, teachers need to be able to call on specialisthelp from teachers with experience of teachingchildren with disabilities, particularly children withsensory or intellectual impairments. For example,specialists can advise on lighting conditions and lowvision aids, as well as the use of Braille materialsand computer-based instruction where this might bemade available. Similarly, it is helpful to have informedadvice on sound amplification, the use and repair ofhearing aids and the use of sign language for childrenwith different types of hearing impairment and, onoccasion, for the class as a whole to ensure theinclusion of a child with a severe hearing impairment.Box 6.8 Empowering teachers in LesothoIn Lesotho, a project was initiated in whichintensive training workshops on inclusion wereprovided to local teachers. i Despite large classesand an absence of basic resources in the 10 pilotschools that were selected, most teachers werefound to be already teaching along inclusive linesby ensuring that all children − even those in thelargest classes − were participating, understandinginstructions or getting appropriate support fromother children.Additional training received by these teachersprovided them with basic information aboutimpairments and helped them to develop positiveattitudes towards children with disabilities. Thistraining gave teachers the confidence to referchildren to local health workers for treatment ofcommon eye and ear infections that can affect achild’s learning. The success of the pilot schoolsencouraged the government to adopt the inclusionof children with disabilities as a national policy andto expand the number of schools involved.Source:iAs quoted in Mittler, Peter, ’International Experience inIncluding Children with Disabilities in Ordinary Schools’,paper prepared for UNICEF seminars in Tunisia andItaly, October 2002, .Advice and support can sometimes be found in specialschools and classes or from strategically placedresource centres in the community. It is important toensure that such specialist support gives teachers inordinary schools the skills and confidence to assumesome elements of a specialist role themselves.The same principle applies to the advice that canbe provided by speech and language therapists,physiotherapists and psychologists.With the aim of increasing the confidence of teachersand promoting their sensitivity to the individualneeds of children, UNESCO has prepared a range ofuseful resources, including teacher-training materialsin a Teacher Education Resource Pack that includesboth written and video material. This pack has beenused and adapted in over 90 countries and translatedinto more than 30 languages. It is supported by aninternational resource team engaged in national, regionaland international training and dissemination.The resource pack includes a Guide for Teachers, 103which is particularly useful in countries where specialistresources are scarce. The guide can be usedfor self-study or in the context of a workshop led bya facilitator. In addition, UNESCO provides accountsof developments from individual countries 104 andschools around the world. 105 It also publishes theOpen File on Inclusive Education, which providesmaterials for managers and administrators and is intendedto facilitate the implementation of inclusion. 106Innocenti Digest No. 13Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities30