Topic
Children with disabilities have been recognized as one of the ‘at risk’ groups for a long time; in particular, ‘at risk’ is the term commonly used to identify special categories of children, and also, it carries quite a strong emotional and intuitive connotation (Moore, 2006).
However, education for children with disabilities is a relatively new issue that has appeared eventually as society grew to develop a more liberal and egalitarian view on the place of individuals with disabilities. In particular, less than a century ago, people with disabilities used to be excluded and isolated from the rest of the society as severely ill and unfit to function alongside their peers without disabilities (Shonkoff & Meisels, 2000). Sadly, the interventional and educational programs for individuals with special needs only started to be developed and implemented during the 1960s; however, the pattern of isolation continued to persist (Shonkoff & Meisels, 2000).
Today, in the USA, the number of schools embracing inclusive education varies from one state to another; in particular, among the children with autism, the rate of inclusion is about 37% (Heasley, 2014). However, this percentage shows an average number collective of all states, whereas in Iowa, the actual rate of inclusion is as high as 62%, and in Washington D.C. it is only 8% (Heasley, 2014). The general percentage of inclusion for children with disabilities is rather low, even though it has been steadily rising over the last ten years. As a result, the problem of barriers to inclusive education is rather significant and needs creative and fast solutions helping to foster further improvement in the area and the increase in the number of included learners.
Rationale
The problem of barriers to inclusive education was recognized globally in 1994, when the representatives of ninety-two governments and authorities from twenty-five international organizations gathered in Salamanca, Spain, to discuss the problems related to inclusion in education and work out an appropriate policy for their minimization. As pointed out by Miles (2000), the Salamanca Statement specified that “every child has a fundamental right to education, and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning” (para. 10). Moreover, in the Statement, it was recognized that it is one of the major objectives of the education systems to provide the children with the required quality and type of education regardless of how different and unique their learning styles and abilities can be (Miles, 2000).
In that way, it is possible to name the need for inclusive education as one of the superior requirements for the modern education systems functioning across the globe and the one in place in the United States. Moreover, according to Opertti (2008), the representative of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), inclusive education is a way towards the formation of an inclusive society and the elimination of isolation and alienation patterns faced by children and adults with disabilities. In addition, it is also underlined that governments and researchers play a very significant role in the development of the inclusive educational system (Opretti, 2008).
Also, the problem is that there exists a set of barriers preventing the adoption of inclusive education in many schools around the United States. In particular, such barriers involve physical and mental barriers that are expressed in the lack of the educational institutions’ preparedness to host children with disabilities, as well as the community’s attitudes leading to the alienation of the latter learners.
Also, they can manifest as educational barriers such as the lack of proficiency allowing the teachers to deliver inclusive education and the presence of curriculums unfit for the diverse learners. Moreover, there exist administrative barriers in the form of the prevention of successful inclusion by entire organization of the present educational system, the lack of necessary funding, and the expectations from the learners that to not allow the children with disabilities to fit in the school environments (Murphy, 2015).
Some of the barriers mentioned above can be addressed locally in the schools, and some require the participation of the governments. Since schools and communities tend to vary based on the components creating their individual barriers to inclusive education, it is important to research and analyze each particular school or district in regard to the aspects that serve as the contributing factors preventing the development of the inclusive education there.
Questions
There exists a broad scope of questions that could be asked for the purpose of researching different aspects and sides of inclusive education and the issues that surround it. In particular, the proposed research could focus on the problems and barriers that prevent the development of inclusive education at national, state, and local levels. The research would target a specific community and aim at exploring the obstacles to inclusion that exist there, the rates of current inclusion, and the experiences of the learners with disabilities who attend this school and have to face and overcome the existing obstacles. In that way, the research questions will be the following:
- What are the general barriers to inclusive education, their causes, and outcomes?
- What are the specific barriers typical to the selected community?
- How do the existing barriers impact the current learners with disabilities in this community?
Review of the Literature
What are the general barriers to inclusive education, their causes, and outcomes?
Types of barriers
There are two main types of barriers faced by children with disabilities attending inclusive schools; they are attitudinal and physical barriers. The former type can be of international and unintentional nature and is often linked to underidentification that is the lack of literacy concerning disabilities among students, parents, and teachers (Pivik et al., 2002; Black, 2010). Physical barriers can also be characterized as structural obstacles – the organization of school environments, curricula, programs, and demands in a manner that isolates and limits learners with special needs (Powell, 2015).
Causes of barriers
European Commission has noticed that some of the causes for the lack of inclusion are the specificities of the mainstream education, as well as the initial division into special and regular education systems that prevented the development of inclusive settings (Halachev, 2015). Also, there are enculturated forms of attitudinal exclusion such as ableism; they run within the social perception, and their minimization usually takes a very long time (Children with disability Australia, n.d.)
Outcomes of barriers
Due to the enculturated exclusion, students with disabilities feel isolated, limited and devalued (Children with disability Australia, n.d.). In addition, structural and physical barriers such as the schools’ inability to create physical environments suitable for their learners result in their limitations in opportunities to attend classes and move around the school buildings (Powell, 2015).
What are the specific barriers typical to the selected community?
Need for training
In the community selected for the proposed research, that is Chicago, Illinois, there are many schools that made public their stories and experiences with tackling the issues of inclusion. For example, Chicago’s Audubon Elementary School reported having spent over seven years attempting to better their inclusive education practices; however, the institution still faces such challenges as the lack of specially trained educators to help solve behavioral issues and address the unique needs of learners with disabilities, as well as of strategies and tools for working with the included learners and supporting their development and communication with the community (Connolly, 2017).
Funding needs
Also, St. Matthias Catholic School reported focusing on inclusion but facing budgetary constraints, especially when it comes to the training programs for the educators to master working with special needs students; moreover, the school authorities mentioned that research is required for them to be able to learn more about the needs of the students who face severe limitations due to their disabilities (Klich, 2017).
How do the existing barriers impact learners?
Navigation limitations
According to the findings of Pivik et al. (2002) and Murphy (2015), the administrative, attitudinal, and physical barriers can limit children’s ability to attend classes, navigate the school buildings. In particular, if the rooms, hallways, and ramps or stairs are not suitable for the special needs of students with disabilities, the mere presence of such learners in schools is a problematic task to accomplish. The occurrence of this type of barriers should be the primary concern because it prevents inclusion at the most basic level.
Attitudes and isolation
In order to be able to communicate with their peers successfully and effectively, become accepted as members of the school community, comprehend the delivered knowledge, and keep up with the rest of their classrooms, students with disabilities require a lot of support and understanding on the part of their peers and educators (Pivik et al., 2002). Educational programs and classes for the peers and teachers helping to raise awareness and improve literacy for the purpose of tackling ableism could be rather helpful.
Conclusion
When it comes to the general barriers to inclusive education, their causes, and outcomes, the findings of several different authors recognize a set of main barriers to inclusive education – administrative, attitudinal, and physical. These barriers prevent learners with special needs from functioning successfully as members of their communities and as learners. The barriers tend to result in isolation of students with disabilities in an intentional or unintentional manner.
As for the specific barriers typical to the selected community, in the area of Chicago, there are many inclusive schools that report facing such challenges as the lack of training for the teachers, the absence of professional consult for the teachers when needed, funding limitations, and attitudinal problems driven by uneridentification and enculturated ableism. It can be theorized that the delivery of educational classes raising awareness and improving literacy in regard to students with disabilities could help address this issue.
Also, training and support from experienced professionals for the teachers working with students with disabilities are a necessity because there can be everyday life situations that only a specifically trained instructor could help handle. The existing barriers impact learners in a negative manner and prevent them from fitting in the school environments (or even attending classes in the first place), and, in some cases, learners with special needs remain isolated and cannot obtain quality education due to attitudinal and social barriers, as well as their teachers’ lack of training and experience in working with such children.
References
Black, R. S. (2010). Underidentification and overidentification in special education. In F. E. Obiakor, J. P. Bakken, & A. F. Rotatori (Eds.), Current issues and trends in special education: Identification, assessment and instruction (pp. 35-50). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Children with disability Australia. (n.d.). Inclusion in education. Web.
Connolly, C. (2017). Inclusion – Is it working? Web.
Halachev, R. (2015). The main barriers to inclusive education: lack of political will and fear to change. Web.
Heasley, S. (2014). Report: Inclusion on rise in nation’s schools. Web.
Klich, S. (2017). An Inclusion revolution: A Chicago school’s journey. Web.
Miles, S. (2000). Enabling inclusive education: Challenges and dilemmas. Web.
Moore, K. A. (2006). Defining the term “at risk”. Web.
Murphy, P. (2015). The biggest barriers to inclusive education. Web.
Shonkoff, J. P., & Meisels, S. J. (2000). Handbook of early childhood intervention. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Oppretti, R. (2008). Inclusive education: The way of the future. Web.
Pivik, J., Maccomas, J., & LaFlamme, M. (2002). Barriers and facilitators to inclusive education. Exceptional Children, 69(1), 97-107.
Powell, J. J. (2015). Barriers to inclusion: Special education in the United States and Germany. London, UK: Routledge.