Inclusive Education Essay example -- Education

What is inclusive education? Inclusive education is concerned with the education and accommodation of ALL children in society, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, or linguistic deficits. Inclusion should also include children from disadvantaged groups, of all races and cultures as well as the gifted and the disabled (UNESCO, 2003). Inclusion tries to reduce exclusion within the education system by tackling, responding to and meeting the different needs of all learners (Booth, 1996). It involves changing the education system so that it can accommodate the unique styles and way of learning of each learner and ensure that there is quality education for all through the use of proper resources, suitable curricula, appropriate teaching strategies and partnerships within the community (UNESCO, 1994). Inclusion will not happen instantaneously but requires careful planning and thinking, positive attitudes and behaviour and utilising the necessary specialised support, accommodations and adaptations to ensu re all children become part of the school (Burstein, Sears, Wilcoxen, Cabello & Spagna, 2004), actively participate in the education system and later become fully contributing members of society (Department of Education, 2001). Inclusive education is about ensuring that schools can meet the needs of all learners. It is thus the responsibility of an inclusive school to embrace the diversity and special needs of all its learners, (Flem, Moen & Gudmundsdottir, 2004) identify and minimise the barriers to learning (Department of Education, 2001) and create a tolerant and respectful atmosphere in which people are valued and stigmatisation is minimised (Carrington & Robinson, 2004). All children thus need to be given the su... ...eps: Stories on Inclusion in Early Childhood Education. Received from the World Wide Web on 20th July 2005. Web Address: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001102/110238eo.pdf UNESCO. (2001). Including the Excluded: Meeting Diversity in Education. Received from the World Wide Web on 20th July 2005. Web Address: http://dit-fs1.hq.int.unesco.org/ulis/docs/0012/001226/122613eo.pdf Van Kraayenoord, C. (2003). "The Task of Professional Development." In International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 50 (4): 363 - 365 Wong, A. I. P, Pearson, V & Kuen Lo, E. M. (2004). "Competing philosophies in the classroom: a challenge to Hong Kong teachers."