L.A.Tagashbayeva
Taraz State Pedagogical Institute, Kazakhstan
THE IMPORTANCE OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN
KAZAKHSTAN
This year, Kazakhstan will develop a concept of
inclusive education, Kazakh Minister of Education and Science Aslan Sarinzhipov
has said at a roundtable on the
development of inclusive education. "This year we set the goal to develop
the concept of inclusive education," Sarinzhipov said. Thus, according to
him, the ministry will design a specific action plan aimed at implementing the
concept of inclusive education, according to the website of Prime
Minister.
There are 138 thousand children with
disabilities under 18 years of age, which is 2.8% of the total child population
in Kazakhstan. Of them 93 thousand 740 children are school students, 44
thousand 773 people are of preschool age.
According to the ministry, more than 62 thousand
students are trained in accordance with special programs, more than 27 thousand
children are trained in accordance with special preschool programs. Over six
thousand disabled children studying at home are provided with computers at the
expense of the national budget.
In addition, 178 colleges are preparing
specialists from among persons with disabilities.
Correctional and educational support is provided
to children with disabilities by 17 rehabilitation centers, 133 psychologists
offices, 558 logopedic rooms in schools.
As we see from Ministry’s words, special
attention is paid to exclusive education in Kazakhstan.
According to vocabulary determinations,
inclusion (cut-in) is defined as «the process, under which anything is included
that is to say it is involved, covered, or included in, as a part of whole».
Inclusive education is an
idea in the field of education. It means
that persons with disabilities or persons who need special care can learn in schools together with people who do not have special needs. This idea comes from the idea of social justice, which demands that all people have human rights without
any discrimination. The Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also says
that access to education is a right. However, inclusive education may make
special aid, care or knowledge for persons with disabilities difficult if
enough reasonable
accommodation are not given.
By contrast, inclusion is about the
child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept the child.
Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from
students without disabilities. A premium is placed upon full participation by
students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and
educational rights. Inclusion gives students with disabilities skills they can
use in and out of the classroom.
Inclusive education is an
approach once thought only necessary for educating students with special educational needs. Now it is crucial that all teachers ensure inclusive
practice for all students in their classroom and the wider school. Under the
inclusion model, students with special needs spend most or all of their time
with non-disabled students. Implementation of these practices varies. Schools
most frequently use them for selected students with mild to severe special
needs.
Students in an inclusive classroom are generally
placed with their chronological age-mates, regardless of whether the students
are working above or below the typical academic level for their age. Also, to
encourage a sense of belonging, emphasis is placed on the value of friendships.
Teachers often nurture a relationship between a student with special needs and
a same-age student without a special educational need. Another common practice
is the assignment of a buddy to accompany a student with special needs at all
times (for example in the cafeteria, on the playground, on the bus and so on).
This is used to show students that a diverse group of people make up a
community, that no one type of student is better than another, and to remove
any barriers to a friendship that may occur if a student is viewed as
"helpless." Such practices reduce the chance for elitism among
students in later grades and encourage cooperation among groups.
Teachers use a number of techniques to help
build classroom communities:
·
Using games designed to build community;
·
Involving students in solving problems;
·
Sharing songs and books that teach community;
·
Openly dealing with individual differences by discussion;
·
Assigning classroom jobs that build community;
·
Teaching students to look for ways to help each other;
One of the main problems of education in Kazakhstan is
the problem of inclusive education. Inclusive education is the involvement for
all children of all religious and ethnic backgrounds, with any features in
their physical development, of any economic or social status in the studying.
The main objective of the introduction and development of inclusive education
is the adaptation to the various needs of children in order to achieve full
access to high-quality education.
On the one hand, inclusive education is the principle
of education system forming, and, on the other hand, it is a process. The
essence of this process is that schools, educational institutions,
kindergartens, must accept children regardless of their peculiar
characteristics. We are talking not only about children with physical
disabilities, but also about healthy children, for example, very clever ones.
All children are different, every child is unique in his abilities, and the
education system should be based on the principle of distinction of children.
All children belong to the society, and we should have an individual approach
to each child, in order to consider and meet all their educational needs.
The basic principle of inclusive education is teaching
children with special educational needs in ordinary educational institutions.
The requirement for educational institutions is to provide all conditions for
children.
Many specialists believe that inclusive education is a
new stage in the development of education. State educational establishments in
most cases do not consider the abilities of every child. The reasons of this
may be overcrowding of classes - teachers just have no time to find individual
approach to every student. But inclusive education gives a new opportunity to
teach disabled children, which takes social support of this category of
children to the next level.
Inclusive education is a progressive way in education
that has big opportunities to develop in the modern society. To make it nationwide
we need to consider the experience of foreign countries, which can be carried
out by specialists, as most of current teachers are not able to change their
approach to educational system.
Disabled students first of all need an environment
different from their family environments, communication with other students and
mediator whose role is assigned to the teacher. Inclusive educational
environment is formed by teachers that work altogether. Today development of
inclusive educational system is the teachers' duty. There is no doubt that the
inclusive educational environment is formed by a teacher, not just a teacher,
but a team of teachers and specialists - a team working in interdisciplinary
cooperation. Today primary school teachers, subject teachers, speech
therapists, educational psychologists, teachers, speech pathologists, physical
therapy instructors, teachers, teacher educators and tutors take part in the
development of an inclusive educational environment.
Development of system of inclusive
education — one of the priority directions of the State program of a
development of education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011-2020. The
rights of children with limited opportunities on receiving the equal rights to
quality education are consolidated by the legislation of the Republic of
Kazakhstan. In our country 39 special kindergartens and 315 special groups in
which receive education and education more than 15 thousand children of
preschool age, 106 special schools and 1219 special classes at comprehensive
schools where about 25 thousand children of school students are trained
function
In conclusion, inclusive
education is trying to develop a new method of teaching that would be more
flexible to meet the needs of different students. And if education becomes more
effective due to changes that inclusive education adopts, all students will
benefit from it.
References:
1. National
Programme for the Development of Education in the Republic of
National programme of Republic of Kazakhstan in education system development
for 2011-2020. // "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda", December 14, 2010.