Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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Inclusive Education in Brunei Darussalam

Dr. Teng Leong Koay
University of Brunei Darussalam
koay@shbie.ubd.edu.bn

Abstract

This paper describes major developments in Brunei Darussalam during the past decade that highlight inclusive education as a significant educational agenda. A brief history of disability services is first described to provide a backdrop of pre-1994 developments and activities that occurred in the country. Next, the education system in Brunei is introduced with specific reference to how special education became relevant to serving the needs of students with special needs within the mainstream school system. Major developments in the inclusion movement during the past decade are then described in terms of policy, implementation and teacher education. The article concludes with a discussion of current local research that seeks to inform the direction of practice and policy of inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam.  

Introduction

Brunei Darussalam is an independent Islamic Sultanate located in the northern part of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is an oil rich country with a land area of 5,765 square kilometers that shares its borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, is located in a district known as Brunei-Muara, one of the four districts that make up Brunei Darussalam (the other districts are Tutong, Belait and Temburong). According to the 2001 population census, Brunei Darussalam has a population of about 332,844, comprising 66.7% Malays, 11.1% Chinese, and 22.2% other races (Department of Statistics, 2002a).  

Significant developments in special education, especially in relation to the move towards embracing inclusive education as a key educational agenda in mainstream schools, have been taking place in Brunei Darussalam over the past decade. The purpose of this article is to provide information on developments in Brunei Darussalam’s education system during the past decade that characterizes a move towards inclusive education. A brief history of services for people with disabilities prior to 1994 is first provided, followed by a description of developments in special education and policy initiatives concerning the education of children with special needs during the past ten years. To illustrate the nature of inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam, the implementation model which has been used to address the needs of students with special needs within mainstream schools is explained. Since the progress of implementation is heavily dependent on the quality of teachers, this article also describes past and current activities in the training and professional development of teachers to meet the needs of children with disabilities. The article concludes with a discussion of local research that has been conducted to evaluate the progress of inclusive education.    

Brief History of Disability Services

            Early intervention programmes in Brunei Darussalam began in late 1981 when the first Handicapped Children’s Playgroup (HCPG) was set up in the former General Hospital building in Bandar Seri Begawan to provide some intervention to young children with disabilities in the Brunei-Muara district. This playgroup was run by an occupational therapist attached to this hospital, with the help of some paediatricians and expatriate volunteers. Within the next three years, similar HCPGs were opened in the other three districts. All these centres were attached to the district hospitals or clinics. At present, there are five HCPG centres in Brunei Darussalam, two in the Brunei-Muara district, one each in the districts of Tutong, Kuala Belait and Temburong.

            An important milestone in the history of disability services in Brunei Darussalam was the setting up of the Association of Handicapped Children of Brunei Darussalam (Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Cacat, KACA) on 5 th October 1986. KACA, a non-governmental organization, was formed primarily to foster the link between the home and the centre to facilitate the full development of children with disabilities. KACA also serves as an important avenue for promoting public awareness and involvement of the general public in the education and care for children with disabilities.

Another organization, the Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Association (PAPDA), was formed in 1995 to specifically cater to the needs of individuals with physical disabilities. The Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameeah Al-Hajjah Maryam was set up originally as a day care centre by PAPDA. Since its official opening on 1 st October 2000, it has occupied a prominent role in meeting the needs of the individuals with physical and mental disabilities, particularly in the Brunei-Muara District. This day care centre also provides services for early intervention and skills training for children with special needs to prepare them with the necessary foundation for either entry to mainstream schools or sheltered programmes within the centre. Children with severe disabilities above age six are placed at special centres, known as Kumpulan Bimbingan Kanak-Kanak Cacat (KBKKC) and run by the Social Affairs Services Unit of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (Koay, 1996). There is one KBKKC Centre in each district.

Governmental organizations, such as the Ministries of Health, Education, and Culture, Youth and Sports, also play in part in providing services for people with disabilities in Brunei Darussalam. The Social Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports runs special schools for children with severe disabilities and vocational training centres for adults with disabilities. The Ministry of Education is active in looking after the needs of students in schools who have mild disabilities. This inter-ministerial cooperation and demarcation of provision of services for the persons with disabilities is also seen in neighbouring countries, for example, in Malaysia (Koay, 1992).

Overview of Brunei Darussalam’s Education System

The education system of Brunei Darussalam has its roots in the British school system and has adopted a 7-3-2-2 pattern, which represents primary, lower secondary; upper secondary and pre-tertiary levels, respectively. Students are required to sit for four public examinations throughout the length of their schooling years, one at the end of the primary cycle and three more at the end of lower and upper secondary and pre-tertiary levels, respectively. The medium of instruction from pre-school to Primary 3 is the Malay language for all subjects except English language. It is changed to English from Primary 4 onwards for Science, Mathematics and Geography. In 2002, a total of 96,334 students were enrolled in 158 government and 74 non-government schools (Department of Statistics, 2002b).

Statements found in the National Education Policy highlight an education system that aims to:

To give all Bruneian children every opportunity to achieve at least an upper secondary or vocational education…

To provide opportunities for all children in Brunei Darussalam to develop to their full potential so that they play a useful role in the development of the country… (Ministry of Education, 1992, p.7)

            The focus on providing opportunities for all Bruneian children has led to a practice of admitting children with special needs, especially those with mild disabilities, into regular mainstream schools. However, many of these children met with academic failure and subsequently repeated grade levels. This pattern of repeated failures and repeating grade levels among children with special needs, resulting in the presence of many over-aged students across grade levels, was attributed to the lack of remediation available within mainstream schools to adequately address the learning needs of these children (Omar, 2001). Observations that the education system has a strong orientation towards valuing academic performance (Abu Bakar, 1999) as well as being teacher- and curriculum-centered, examination-oriented, rigid, and inflexible (Larking, 1993), further exacerbated the negative learning experiences of many children with special needs in the mainstream.

Turning Point in the Provision of Special Education

To arrest the large number of students who were failing in the school system, the Ministry of Education introduced special education into mainstream schools to provide the needed assistance to help children and youth with special needs cope better (Csapo & Omar, 1996). The Special Education Proposal (SEU, 1994), presented to the Ministry of Education in 1994, made the following recommendations:

• The Special Education Unit (SEU) should be set up without delay to begin the planning and implementation of a special education system within mainstream education in Brunei Darussalam.
• The Learning Assistance Model should be used to deal with the learning problems of students. It was proposed that at least one Learning Assistance teacher (LAT) be trained for each school.
• The setting up of the National Advisory Committee on Special Education comprising the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Law, University of Brunei Darussalam, and Parent Representative. This Committee will meet once a month to advise, monitor and facilitate the development of special education in Brunei Darussalam.
• The Ministry of Education should formulate a clear policy statement of special education to reinforce its commitment to the education of all children.
• The three ministries, Education, Health and Culture, Youth and Sports should formulate a comprehensive plan for people with disabilities with clearly defined area of responsibilities.                     
• The adoption of the Special Education Proposal by the Ministry of Education in 1994 was a turning point in the development of special education in Brunei Darussalam (Koay, 1996).

The Special Education Unit was set up at the end of 1994, with the following mandates for action in the following ten areas:

• teacher education and in-service training in special education;
• establishing a database on children with special needs;  
• formulate educational and psychological assessment and intervention procedures for children with special needs, such as individualized education plans and progress monitoring system;
• production of a blueprint for special education in terms of policy development and transition planning;
• research and evaluation on factors that contribute to school failure, and the need to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programmes;
• liaison and collaboration between agencies and bodies involved with children with special needs, such as the Ministry of Health, University of Brunei Darussalam, and non-profit organizations providing services for the people with disabilities;
• liaison and networking with relevant international organizations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and World Health Organization (WHO);
• collecting and producing resources related to assessment and teaching materials to be stored in a library for special education;
• raising public awareness through the mass media in the form of articles, radio, television, posters, seminars and public events; and  
• parent counseling and support services for parents such as parent training, direct support, and the production of educational materials for parents such as booklets and pamphlets on disability information.

 

Policy Initiatives

During the past few decades, there has been a growing worldwide commitment to education for children with special needs, especially through the United Nations’ activities and global statements, which have influenced Brunei Darussalam’s decision to embrace the concept of inclusive education. The Declaration of Rights of Disabled Persons (UN, 1975) calls for member countries to support human rights, education, integration, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress for persons with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of the Child reaffirms the rights of all children to equal education without discrimination within the mainstream education system (UN, 1989).

One hundred and fifty-five countries, including Brunei Darussalam, attended the UNESCO’s World Conference of Education for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 (Norjum, 2002). This conference highlighted the basic learning needs of all children and called attention to the unmet needs of students with special needs. UNESCO designated the year 1992 as the “Year of Special Needs in the Classroom” and ministries of education around the world examined and modified their activities in order to increase their assistance to children with special needs. In 1994, representatives from 92 governments (including Brunei Darussalam) and 25 international organizations attended the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca, Spain (Norjum, 2002). The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994) urged all governments to adopt, as a matter of law or policy, the principles of inclusive education.

In line with world trends towards inclusion, the Ministry of Education, Brunei Darussalam, embraced the concept of inclusive education and its philosophy, as stated in the Special Education Policy Guidelines (SEU, 1997, p.2), which emphasized that:

All pupils are able to learn given an appropriate learning environment. Appropriate learning environments can be created within the inclusive school. The inclusive school is one that provides appropriate instruction for all pupils based on their level.

The Minister of Education, Brunei Darussalam, during the opening address of the 1 stNational Conference on Special Education in 1996, stressed that:

We must look at how the system can better serve all children, including children with special needs who require special education and related services if they are to realise their full potential…

The special education, or special needs agenda in Brunei Darussalam, is an essential element of the drive for education for all. The emphasis is on inclusive education where the aim is to respond to the needs of all children. (Abdul Aziz, 1996, p.2).

Teacher Education Initiatives

The quality of teachers’ implementation of special education programmes in schools depends on how teachers are trained. At his opening address to the 1 st National Conference on Special Education, the Minister of Education emphasized that:

There is also a need for trained teachers to teach children with special needs… therefore, teachers must have the knowledge and special skills needed to educate them … (Abdul Aziz, 1996, p.3).

The emphasis on inclusive education, conveyed by the Minister of Education during his opening address at the 1 st National Conference on Special Education in 1996, coincided with as well as stimulated a number of important education reform agendas for school curricula and curricula for teacher training (Koay, Sim & Elkins, 2003). In the mid-1990s, the Ministry of Education introduced a number of major curriculum reforms in the areas of bilingual policy education, information technology and curriculum revisions for various school subjects. These initiatives not only predisposed schools to expect and experience change but also encouraged them to initiate change.

Moving in tandem with these changes at the school level were changes at the teacher training level. In the mid-1990s, the Sultan Hassani Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE), which is the sole teacher education institute in Brunei Darussalam, undertook a total curriculum reform which involved a major curriculum shift towards greater articulation, balance, coherence and differentiation (the so-called ABCD principles) of its new programme TEACH. This curriculum reform involved the integration of the major components: Teaching praxis, Education studies, Academic studies, Curriculum studies and Helpful other courses (Sim, 1999), and these integrated components are more aligned with the principles and practices of teacher preparation for inclusive education. Prior to these changes, SHBIE had been dissatisfied with the minimal pre-service exposure to special education that it was endeavoring to provide.

On its part, SHBIE adopted a three-pronged strategy for the inclusion of inclusive education in its programmes (Sim, Koay & Liew, 1999), namely:

(a)      Pre-service preparation, in terms of:

• Introduction of a core course on inclusive education in the revised primary teacher education programme.
• Inclusion of methods of teaching children with learning problems in several curriculum studies courses.

(b)      In-service upgrading, in terms of:

• Conversion of upgrading programmes to Bachelor in Education (B.Ed at the primary education level.) in specialized areas, including special education.
• Offering individual courses/modules for in-service courses, including the existing Certificate in Special Education courses, and allowing for exemptions in the upgrading programmes, thereby reducing its total duration.

(c)      Post-graduate specialization, in terms of:

• Introduction of new areas of specialization, including special education, with senate approval of the revised Master’s of Education (M. Ed.) regulations.
• Recruitment of additional highly qualified staff in special education to conduct upgrading and postgraduate programmes at SHBIE, so that the Special Education Unit of the Ministry of Education, as well as SHBIE, can concentrate on developing a critical mass of specialized local staff.

SHBIE jointly mounted, in collaboration with the Special Education Unit at the Ministry of Education, the Certificate in Special Education in January 1995 to train special education teachers, called Learning Assistance Teachers (LATs), to cater to the learning needs of students with special needs in mainstream schools. LATs are equipped with basic skills and knowledge about children with special needs. Their main roles are to conduct screening tests to identify students with special needs and to prepare and implement individualized educational plans (IEP) for these students. The first cohort of LATs completed their training in May 1996. Beginning June 1996, the Learning Assistance Programme was implemented in regular schools in Brunei Muara District. By December 2003, a total of 211 LATs have been trained.

The B.Ed. (Special Education) and the M.Ed (Special Education) were offered by SHBIE in August 1999 as opportunities for LATs to upgrade themselves. The number of teachers involved in programs offered by SHBIE on inclusive education is shown in Table 1. The irregular pattern of intakes and outputs is due mainly to the fluctuating numbers of teachers that could be released for full-time in-service programmes as well as the specialised staff limitations at SHBIE.

Table 1

Numbers of teachers involved in programmes for inclusive education

Implementation Model

The implementation of special education into regular mainstream schools in Brunei Darussalam is based on the Learning Assistance Model. The LATs are responsible for identifying students with special needs by using various screening tests designed by SEU (SEU, 1998a). A draft individualized educational plan (IEP) is prepared by the LAT, with input from class teachers and parents. The draft IEP is then presented to the School Based Team (SBT), comprising the head teacher as chairperson, LAT, regular class teacher, and parents (SEU, 1998c). The SBT discusses the various adaptations/modifications in the draft IEP to ensure that the student receives an appropriate education programme to meet his or her individual needs. Members of the SBT collaborate and discuss ways to ensure the provision of appropriate resources and support for students with special needs at the school level (SEU, 1998b). The teamwork and successful partnerships generated by the SBT help promote decision-making and shared responsibility, thus translating inclusive education into reality (Norjum, 2000).

Once the IEP for a student has been approved, it is implemented and monitored by the LAT in collaboration with regular class teachers. From time to time, depending on the needs of the student, he or she may be pulled out for a short period to the Learning Assistance Centre (LAC) for individual or small group instruction by the LAT. In the LAC, the LATs use a variety of teaching materials and teaching strategies, such as direct instruction, task analysis, and reinforcement such as token economy system, precision teaching and record keeping procedures to monitor student progress. The LAT also helps the class teachers to plan and make instructional adaptations for students with special needs, demonstrates teaching techniques and assists to monitor the student’s progress.

Data collected at the end of January 2002 (SEU, 2002) on the number of pupils with special needs included in primary schools in Brunei Darussalam receiving support from LATs in one, two or three subjects are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2

Number of primary school pupils, with and without IEPs, receiving assistance in January 2002 (Source: SEU, 2002)

Legend: BM: Bahasa Melayu, M: Mathematics, E: English Language

By the end of January 2002, a total of 1303 students with IEPs were receiving assistance from the LATs in inclusive settings. There seems to be more students with IEPs in the upper primary level. This could be due to the increased referrals from classes, where students faced difficulty coping with subjects taught, in particular the abrupt transition to English language as the medium of instruction from Primary 4 onwards. Furthermore, it would be less likely for students at a higher grade in primary schools to be released from the Learning Assistance Programme due to cumulative learning difficulties.

The LATs also provide assistance to students without IEPs. These students are those who achieve between 31% and 49% in the screening tests at their respective grade levels. Support for these pupils in inclusive settings is done through team-teaching by LATs and class teachers, as well as sharing and demonstrating by LATs of appropriate remedial teaching strategies.

Beginning February 2002, SEU enlisted the LATs to administer Mathematics and Bahasa Melayu screening tests based on the pre-school syllabus to all Primary 1 students. The main objective of this was to identify students who needed special assistance as early as possible so that they do not fall behind in their schoolwork. Students identified as having difficulties are further observed, interviewed and diagnosed by the LATs. The LATs then discuss their findings with the class teachers and plan early intervention programmes. The implementation of an early intervention programme is very important to reducing the number of students requiring support through the LAC.

S o far, the implementation initiatives are directed mainly at students in primary schools who experience learning difficulties. Although lacking in a comprehensive and concerted course of action, the SEU’s support team has also been assisting the SBT in dealing with 174 primary school students with high support needs in terms of sensory disabilities, 115 (66.1%) of whom are boys. Special attention have been paid to 39 students with varying degrees of visual impairment, 23 (59.0%) of whom are in primary schools, and to 73 students with different degrees of hearing impairment, 56 (76.7%) of whom are in primary schools. (SEU, 2002).

            There is also a  pre-vocational programme in regular secondary schools that caters to their vocational preparation needs for students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. There are currently 275 students (84% of whom are boys) enrolled in this programme across a number of regular schools. The programme covers three years: Year 1 – Career Awareness and Exploration, Year 2 – Career Preparation and Specialisation and Year 3 – Career Placement and Follow-up. This programme aims to teach the students to acquire basic functional academic skills, living and social skills, vocational and work skills, all of which prepare them for employment, after completing school. It is noteworthy that the first batch of 141 students of the pre-vocational programme enrolled in 15 secondary schools in 1999 completed the three-year programme in 2001. About 60 of these students are continuing their studies at vocational or technical institutions. The rest are at work or looking for work, and those with more severe disabilities are placed in centres – namely, Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam, Pusat Kemahiran Belia and Pulaie Centre (SEU, 2002).

In the year 2000, a pilot enrichment programme was carried out with 20 primary 4 students. The students were selected based on teacher and peer nomination and creativity tests. They were pulled out once a week for eight weeks during school term and provided with various enrichment activities at the Sixth Form Centre, Science College and University of Brunei Darussalam. The enrichment programme was extended to the same cohort of pupils in 2001 when they were in Primary 5. However, due to lack of resources and suitably trained personnel, this programme was not carried out in 2002. It has been proposed that in future, this enrichment programme could be carried out within the classroom settings (SEU, 2002).

Summary of Developments

            Brunei Darussalam’s history of special education can be divided into two epochs: pre and post 1994. Since 1994, a number of major developments, as described throughout this article, have occurred to serve the needs of students with special needs within the mainstream. These developments reflect the country’s efforts to engage in reforms in various areas (e.g., curriculum, teacher education) at different levels (e.g., school levels, tertiary level) across relevant bodies (e.g., Ministries) to achieve quality education for as many students as possible within regular mainstream school settings. These major developments that have occurred since 1994 are summarized below:

Conclusion

In retrospect, the provision of special education supports and services for students with special needs within regular schools has grown at an unprecedented rate in the past decade since 1994. To inform the future direction and development of inclusive education policy and practice in Brunei Darussalam, it is important that current practices related to school and tertiary levels be monitored and evaluated. There is an emerging body of research on related aspects of inclusive education that is shedding light on the status quo of inclusive practices at the school as well as tertiary levels. Many of these research studies have been completed by postgraduate students enrolled at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam as partial fulfillment of the requirements of their Master’s of Education programme. These research studies, though preliminary in nature, have contributed to painting quite a positive picture of schools’ responses to inclusive education (e.g.,   Abdullah, 2000; Osman, 2000; Saibah, 2000;   Alus, 2001; Aziz, 2001; Mak, 2001; Pang, 2001; Taibah, 2003).

A major study (Koay, Sim & Elkins , 2004), which examined the attitudes and perceptions of Learning Assistance Teachers (LATs) and Regular Teachers (RTs) towards inclusive education, was initiated in the year 2000, with the specific intention of recommending possible improvements to policy and practice regarding inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam. The participants of the study comprised 56 Upgrading LATs (ULs), 96 Practising LATs (PLs), 308 Regular Teachers with experience in teaching children with special needs (RYs) and 308 Regular Teachers with no such experience (RNs).

In terms of quantitative findings, the most consistent results showed significant differences in the attitudes and perceptions towards inclusion, perceived self-efficacy, perceived desirability, feasibility and frequency of use of instructional adaptations for inclusive classrooms; and perceived actual and ideal collaborative roles of LATs and RTs between the LATs and RTs. In general, an invariant order was found, with Upgrading LATs (UL) having the highest means and Regular Teachers with no experience teaching special needs students (RN) the lowest.

There were various qualitative differences between the LATs and RTs in their open-ended responses related to perceptions of inclusive education; examples of classroom adaptations for instruction; supports needed and barriers encountered when using these adaptations; examples of collaborative roles for inclusive classrooms; and supports needed and barriers encountered during collaborative efforts. It was, however, observed that the strategies they suggested were very similar and not very innovative.  

While the findings imply that the current programmes and activities for inclusive education are apparently proceeding in the right direction, they have also been suggestive of some specific changes that might help towards improving policy and practice, not only in schools but also for teacher education in Brunei Darussalam. For example, in developing innovative strategies for teaching and managing children with special needs, special attention needs to be paid to the collaborative relationships between LATs and RTs. Research into specific collaborative arrangements, including in-depth case studies, comprise one of several possible options for further research.   

As inclusive practices occupy a greater part of teachers’ work in regular schools, a more comprehensive body of research is needed to continually monitor, inform and improve current inclusive education efforts in the school system. Brunei Darussalam has achieved in the past decade significant developments in promoting the practice of inclusive education within its mainstream schools. Further research, when strategically planned and developed, can certainly help in the future development and improvement of inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam.

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