Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress
International
Special Education Conference
Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity?
1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland
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Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland |
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Anastasia Hadjiyiannakou
University of Sheffield
Ph.D. cand.
The main purpose of this paper is to present the dilemmas faced by the practitioners in the field of special education who are practicing inclusion in Cyprus. The data that will be presented here is part of the data I have collected for my Ph.D.
Today we are living in the years that as academics and professionals in the field of special education, we are not wondering about whether inclusion is providing advantage to special needs children. We do know and believe through practice, that inclusion of special needs children is achievable and beneficial for disabled children. We also believe that inclusion is a human right issue and that all children whether they have the label of “special needs” or not, must have the chance to be provided with the right education for them.
The definition that professionals or academics give to the way they view inclusion is something very personal and unique. And those personal definitions of inclusion are a waited result, since the way we view inclusion, reflects the way we view our personal life. Experiences that each one of us had or has or will have in our lives influence our definition of inclusion. A disabled person will define inclusion in a much different way compared to a non disabled person. Also a person who used to work with disabled people will view inclusion is a much different perspective than any another professional. Inclusion as it had been already mentioned differs. On the other hand though, it is my belief that the main ingredients that inclusion has are the same, wherever in the world, whenever this will happen. In my personal view, inclusion is about listening and respecting the different voices of the others that are next to us, whether those persons are labeled as “persons with special needs” or not. We do not need the label in order to include someone. If we wait for the approval, then inclusion has already failed. A definition of inclusion could be that it is that inclusion is a social phenomenon, which demands for everyone to listen to the voices that are around him/her. Inclusion wants people to have their ears opened and clear. Inclusion is the way to respect the provision needs and try to make those needs accessible and real.
Inclusion is a never ending process. It does not stop only in the field of schools and to the educational policies of each government. Inclusion means a different perspective of the whole lives of people. If academics and also professionals will not stop viewing inclusion in the sense of special needs, then inclusion will start become a reality. We need a whole society policy if we want to apply the right face of inclusion.
In my journey in special needs I have faced various difficulties especially with the theme of inclusion. I did not know how to define inclusion and I have to admit that I had believed in various definitions, before I ended with the belief that the journey of inclusion is something personal and unique. No one, no matter how good academic is, or how good professional is, can tell you the exact meaning of inclusion. I have found my self wondering whether what I have heard to seminars or conferences was the answers to all the questions I had. It took me lot of time to understand the personal view of inclusion. Some days I felt that I was not a good professional and some other that I was not a good researcher. I had to include all those worries and feelings to my inner self; I had to have an inclusive policy for me, before I started answering all those questions.
Today I believe that I am almost sure about my beliefs of inclusion. I am sure that my journey to special needs will lead me to other questions and misunderstandings but this is the inclusive way that this issue must be seen.
The method I have chosen for the data collection was semi-structured interview. All the participants were working as special teachers for the Ministry of Education and Culture in Cyprus. The vast majority of them have neither a bachelor nor a master degree in the field of special education. Some of them have only a bachelor degree in education, but they are working in special education for years. The number of interviews that will be presented in this paper is 12 cases of teachers who work in various special education settings in special education. Four of the teachers are working in a special school, four are working in special units and four are working in a mainstreaming setting in a primary school.
After the 1999 Special Education Act, which put into force in 2001, special education provision in Cyprus appears in various settings:
It is very interesting to find out the answers when teachers who worked in special education mentioned. All the teachers who did not hold a master or a bachelor degree in special education mentioned that they can not understand exactly what inclusive education is and how they can apply inclusive education into every day life of school. They admitted that the Ministry of Education and Culture did not explain to them what inclusive education was and the various ways they can implement inclusive education, even though there is a new special education law, (which named as inclusive law, even though it aimed to promote integration). In contrast the vast majority of special education teachers mentioned that even though, they did not have any special training about the new legislation of special education, they understood what is inclusive education. Their concern though was that no one ever asked them how they apply inclusion into every day life of school. No one ever asked them also if they have some suggestions for this application of the new law, or even some suggestions after the use of this law. This group of professionals mentioned that unfortunately the application of inclusion is not an easy task. It is a time waited aim which involves social notions. According to those professionals the Cypriot society was not ready for such a big social change. A pilot study of various applications of inclusion may provide to the Ministry of Education and Culture lot food for further thoughts and improvement. If such policy existed the application of inclusion will be mush easier and bigger success.
The way teachers, who are involved in special education in Cyprus, describe the term inclusion varied greatly. The biggest difference between persons who were educated to be special educators and people who work for years in special education was the absence of the term human rights. Almost all of the special educators mentioned that inclusion is a social phenomenon which is closely relevant to human right issue. All the other teachers could not understand exactly the meaning of inclusion and this is the main reason why they could not understand why special schools must change their program and finally must give their position to mainstream schools. In their mind some children who are labeled with the term “children with special needs” can not be anywhere else except from special schools. They admitted though that they need help neither immediately from either the Ministry of Education or Culture nor from the University of Cyprus, in order to be ready to meet the needs of this new inclusion phenomenon.
The vast majority of persons who worked for the application of this new law mentioned that even though they are trying to involve children with special needs in primary schools, they sometimes feel that they are excluded from the existing education system of education. According to them their role is so complicated and tiring, since they have to do so many things. Some of them even mentioned that they felt that someone “throws” them to schools in order to make inclusion a reality, but with no support from anyone. They face various difficulties in their effort to apply inclusion. The main problems they face have to do with the fact that the Cypriot society is not ready for such a big social change, as inclusion. They have to inform the educators of the school and sometimes they have to try to change the notion of some teachers that “this special needs child is not my responsibility, is the responsibility of the special educator”. Some others faced similar problems with some colleagues who believed that “the teaching staff who worked in special education is not equivalent to primary teachers, since they have to do only with ten or twelve students”. All those notions and attitudes make the special education staff feel uncomfortable and also alone in this process of change.
Unfortunately example of “problematic Administrators” also exist and this aggression become bigger and bigger. They believe that special education staff is not equivalent to other teachers of the school. This is why there are several examples of administrators who used to interrupt the tutorial between special teacher and special education child in a mainstreaming school and make the special education teacher to leave his/her class and do something else that the administrators decide. Sometimes there are some administrators (I believe only few of them react like this) who believe that it is a waste of money when the Ministry of Education and Culture used to spend such amounts of money for this purpose.
On the other hand teachers who worked in special education face several problems with their everyday relationship with the parents of special needs children. When I have asked them to say to me the ingredients of a good relationship with parents of special needs children, no difference existed between people who have special training in special education and teachers who do not have special training. All of them faced in the past several problems and difficulties in their relationship with parents. All of them mentioned that the main explanation why parents used to act in a strange way sometimes is because there is no provision of psychological support for this group of people in Cyprus. Parents of children with special needs are left alone by the society in Cyprus. There is no one to support them. Some of the special education teachers mentioned that they seemed to be “heroes” sometimes, because they are facing so many problems. All those difficulties that those parents faced before their child enters school (the first precious years of a child), make them look hard and strange. They can not trust someone easily and they are waiting that a professional will never make mistakes.
In addition, parents gained lot of rights according to the new special education law. The place where a disabled child will attend is not a decision of the professionals in some cases, but it is the decision of parents in the end of the day. After the application of the new law there are cases like this, where parents appealed the decision of the Provincial Committee and went to the Central Committee, in order for their special needs child to attend the place they believed would best suited to their needs. Attitudes like this cause lot of problems to professionals, since some of them believe, that their professionalism would not take into consideration and that at the end of the day they can not be professionals, but they have to serve what parents of special needs children want them to. Even though teachers who worked in special education are trying to understand the parents, they sometimes find it extremely difficult to do this. So they are alone once more
Another very serious problem that came out of this research is the attitude of the Ministry of Education and Culture regarding special education. The Ministry of Education and Culture believes that special education is not a part of general education, but something different, because it operates as a separate department. Also, it is unbelievable according to some special teachers that even though this new law is a reality for four years now, no financial support had been given in order to educate teachers to understand inclusion. On the other hand, Ministry of Financial can not understand the specific needs of this children and these is the main reason why it does not allow the employment of more special educators, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapist, e.t.c This situation ends to be one of the major problems in special education nowadays, because of the lack of staff, the special education staff work in a way they do not believe is the right for disabled children. For example, some special teachers mentioned that they are responsible for the I.E.P. (individual educational program) of 20 disabled children. For doing this they have to visit four different schools. Almost all of them are very tired and also do not know what to do to change the existing situation. Some of them complain various times to the Ministry of Education and Culture, but the answer was negative, for the employment of more specialized staff. The Ministry also said to them that if they manage to group special education children, they will have better results. Unfortunately, according to special education teachers this is something not feasible in all cases. Special education seemed to be only for children who had been labeled as children with special needs.
In my belief inclusive education is not a reform in special education today. It is the convergence of the need to restructure the public education system, to meet the needs of a changing society. It is the development of the unitary system that has educational benefits for both disabled and non disabled students. It is a system that provides quality education for all children (Lipsky,.and Gartner,. 2000). The realization of inclusion is not seen as something that has to be fought for but as something that results from taking the “right” sort of action at different levels of policy-making and implementation (Dyson, 2000). Inclusive education is not merely a characteristic of a democratic society, it is essential for it (Lipsky, and Gartner, 2000).
We do know the fact that some children, especially the group of children that face multiple difficulties, can not be included in mainstream classrooms, but they can be treated in an inclusive way, using inclusive techniques. Experience revealed us that this is something feasible. Inclusion is not a monolithic concept. There are multiple versions of inclusion, in order to make sense to talk about “inclusions”, in the plural (Dyson, 2000). Inclusion as an idea and as a belief it is something that can not mean the same to each person, no matter in which society this person is living. Inclusion is a personal feeling that each human being will transform in his /her own way. In my opinion the only ingredients that inclusion must has is, respect, dignity and equity. Those are the ingredients. Some teachers in my every day life at school used to complain that even though they believe in the necessity of inclusion they can not apply inclusion, because the school environment does not support them at this. I must admit that I hate those beliefs. Because in my opinion, if you believe in inclusion, you will find the various ways to support it and make it reality. All outside factors are “excuses”. This may sounds hard, but reality in Cyprus according the general theme of special education makes me see the truth in a clear view.
There is a real danger that inclusion will become the prison that confines inquiry and practice, rather than the key that releases them. If a dialogue about inclusion does not take place, inclusion may become an empty slogan. We do need to ensure that inclusion itself is deconstructed and reconstructed in such a way that it does not become a barrier to the continuation of that process (Skrtic, 1995). The reason why I mention this, is because I want to express the view that this dialogue must take place in the mind of each one of us and especially in the mind of educators that have to do with this everyday. No matter how helpful the Ministry of Education and Culture must be in order to apply inclusion, inclusion does not need technicalities in order to be a reality. The only thing it needs is minds and souls. I do not express the view that the role of Ministry of Education and Culture is not important. It is important but not the most important part. The desire for an inclusive society and educational system is motivated by a deeply held, informed conviction that discrimination is a stubborn and long-standing feature of a society based on inequalities and disadvantages (Barton, 2000).
The main job of school in the year 2005 must be to take part in the regeneration of social differences and stereotypes (Armstrong, 1998). Unfortunately in the case of Cyprus this is the most crucial theme. Students in the primary schools of Cyprus are not taught to view and accept the term “difference” as something normal from one hand and valuable on the other hand. They are afraid of those differences. If we face those beliefs how can we believe that the aim of inclusion will be something accessible? Barton (2000) mentioned that the pursuit of an inclusive society is concerned with issues of equity and non-discrimination in which the good of all citizens is a central commitment. By setting the issue of disability and all forms of oppression within the human rights perspective, the possibilities for the realization of a society based on community, solidarity and in which difference can be viewed in dignified ways, becomes much stronger.
My everyday experience from the various settings I have worked (special teacher in a special school, special teacher in a special unit, consultant of special education) make me understand, how students with special needs are feeling everyday. They feel that they are not valuable, they are in a school and in a society that does not believe they have something to offer. They are different and different is equals to a crime. I fought very hard in my career until now and through those fights I came to the conclusion that “being different is not easy to be accepted from yourself. It became must worse when all the others around you sees you as not able.
So what must be done is first of all change the policy, the educational policy in general. We must make the educational policy in Cyprus more socially oriented. Such an education, in its inclusivity would be richer, more diverse and more stimulating education and a more appropriate preparation for post-school life in an egalitarian community not only for those students who are disadvantaged by the current arrangements, but indeed for all students (Ramsey, 1993).
This is the right path to apply inclusion. We must not forget that inclusion and participation are essential to human dignity and the exercise of human rights (p.11, Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action in Special Needs Education, 1994). Kunc (1992) argues that the fundamental principle of inclusive education is the valuing of diversity within the human community. Every person has a contribution to offer to the world.
Equity in education for all students with disabilities, including those with severe disabilities requires:
(Kerzen and Gartner, 1996)
Concerning the first parameter of equity as Kerzen and Gartner (1996) mentioned does not exist in the Cypriot Educational System of Special Education. Disabled students do not have access to public and adequately funded education. The educational services that are provided in an inclusive setting in a primary school do not offer those students as much as they deserve, even though there is a special education law called “inclusive law”. They do not have the proper held for special educators and speech-pathologist since they are specialized staff are not enough for the large amount of special needs children. From the other hand inclusion does not involve special educators and speech-therapists so much. It involves classroom teachers, who do not have the knowledge and the most important do not have the will to include those students in their class. Regarding their attitude they are mentioning several reasons such as: the large amount of work they have, their inability to control and teach those students, their belief that only specialized teachers can work with those cases, and finally their view that those cases (special needs children) are not their responsibility, they are the responsibility of the specialized staff. Those reasons are serious reasons, but in my opinion as I have mentioned before those are the “excuses”. They do not believe that difference can exist normally in their class, since they can not accept the meaning of difference. It is well known between professionals in the field of education in general that a teacher acts like a model in his/her class. If this teacher does not accept difference and does not respect those persons with difficulties then what do we expect from our students? We are the models and students will learn to act and behave as their model.
Even though there is individual educational program for each student who have special educational needs this program exists only when the child is with the special teacher or the speech-therapist. In other cases the existence of this program is unknown. There are no opportunities for success for this student. I must not be so pessimistic and I have to mention that there are cases where the ordinary teachers are trying. Those cases though are not enough.
The Ministry of Education and Culture have conflict policies in this point. Because from one hand it believes that we must provide to special needs children all we can, and from the other hand it does not offer any training or support to classroom teachers. Also the Ministry of Education and Culture push their teachers to complete their aims in terms of how many chapters they have to teach at mathematics and language for example and did not pay any attention to students who may not be children with special needs but may be slow learners. There is no individualization, there is not much quality in education, while there is quantity. And the reason for this is obvious. Quality is much more difficult to be seen and to be understood. Quantity though can be seen very easily.
Those who manage schools have so many problems to solve and such amount of work that is not accessible for a human being. You have to be a superman in order to manage a school and also care about the social aims of your students apart from the learning goals. Head teachers of primary schools are not going to have good reports or good evaluations because they are working on social skills and aims. They have to work for the aims that the Ministry of Education and Culture will define every year. For the last five years those aims are the same and they are the following: creativity and using technology in education. There are no official aims for social education. How then do we want to establish inclusion if we do not have anything to start from? What is clear then is the immediate need for a social policy from the Ministry of Education and Culture, in order to implement the meaning of “difference”. This policy though must not remain in the theoretical form. What is needed is within this policy a time schedule with plans for action in order to apply this policy. The University of Cyprus and especially the Education Department of the University of Cyprus may help this social change in a professional way. What do I mean by this? I mean that the University of Cyprus may set up a research plan which will examine the existing situation before the implementation of the inclusive policy and the situation after the application of the policy, in different time levels. Everybody counts in Special Education. Inclusion is like a life journey. It never ends. No matter how many difficulties you will find no matter if you become poor, or rich from this journey, the meaning is one and only: that inclusion deserves the tire
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