Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education​

 

LEARNING KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

“The goal of an inclusive education system is to provide all students with the most appropriate learning environments and opportunities for them to best achieve their potential.” (Alberta Education, 2010)

Inclusive Education

Inclusive Education is a learning environment where children with and without disabilities are taught together, as equals. This approach is different from more traditional approaches to the education of children with disabilities, such as the SPED model used in the Philippines, which involves segregating CWDs into separate classes or even separate schools. Inclusive Education is recognized by teachers, families, and policymakers to be a more beneficial way of ensuring that children with and without disabilities achieve their full educational potential. 

Special Education in the Philippines

​Special education started in the Philippines in 1907 with the establishment of the Insular School for the Deaf and the Blind, a residential school located in Pasay City, Metro Manila by M. Delia Delight Rice, an American educator. This was later reorganized in 1970 into two separate government special schools: the Philippine National School for the Blind and the Philippine School for the Deaf. Other governments and private special schools based on categorical disabilities were also set up. Special schools were first set up for people with mental retardation and physical disabilities in 1927, cerebral palsy in 1953, and behavior problems and chronic illness in 1962. Such schools were few and private special schools were economically not accessible to many people with disabilities. Moreover, there was some social stigma attached to attending special rather than regular schools. In 1956, more formal training of teachers for children with mental retardation, hearing impairment, and visual impairment was offered at Baguio Vacation Normal School. Growing social concern for the welfare and integration of people with disabilities voiced by parents and advocates including legislations led to the enactment of Republic Act 5250 which established a 10-year training program for teachers in 1968 and led to the admission of children with disabilities into regular public schools. However, without appropriate school and parental support, these children had difficulty coping with the regular classes and soon dropped out of school. 

In striving to educate as many children as possible and with limited funds to build a separate special education infrastructure to cater to the needs of children with disabilities, inclusive education was officially adopted in 1997 by the Department of Education in the Philippines as a viable educational alternative (Inciong, T., Quijano, Y. 2013).

Inclusive Education (The Philippine Perspective) - click to watch a video about Inclusive Education in the Philippines

Inclusive Education as Strategy for Increasing Participation Rate of Children (DO 72, s. 2009 Department of Education.)

-Special Education in the Philippines has only served 2% of the targeted 2.2 million children with disabilities in the country who live without access to a basic human right: the right to education. Most of these children live in rural and far flung areas whose parents need to be aware of educational opportunities that these children could avail of.
​- The Department of Education (DepED) has organized the urgency to address this problem and therefore, guarantees the right for these children to receive appropriate education within the regular or inclusive classroom setting. Inclusive education embraces the philosophy of accepting all children regardless of race, size, shape, color, ability or disability with support from school staff, students, parents and the community.
- A comprehensive inclusive program for children with special needs has the following components:
1. Child Find. This is locating where these children are through the family mapping survey, advocacy campaigns and networking with local health workers. The children with special needs who are not in school shall be listed using Enclosure No. 1. These children shall be visited by Special Education (SPED) teachers and parents should be convinced to enroll their children in SPED Centers or schools nearest their home.
2. Assessment. This is the continuous process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the child through the use of formal and informal tools for proper program grade placement. Existing SPED Centers in the Division shall assist regular schools in the assessment process.
3. Program Options. Regular schools with or without trained SPED teachers shall be provided educational services to children with special needs. These schools shall access educational services from SPED Centers or SPED trained teachers.The first program option that shall be organized for these children is a self-contained class for children with similar disabilities which can be mono-grade or multi-grade handled by a trained SPED teacher.The second option is inclusion or placement of the child with disabilities in general education or regular class where he/she learns with his/her peers under a regular teacher and/or SPED trained teacher who addresses the child’s needs.The third option is a resource room program where the child with disabilities shall be pulled out from the general education or regular class and shall report to a SPED teacher who provides small group/one-on-one instruction and/or appropriate interventions for these children.
4. Curriculum Modifications. This shall be implemented in the forms of adaptations and accommodations to foster optimum learning based on individual’s needs and potentials. Modification in classroom instructions and activities is a process that involves new ways of thinking and developing teaching-learning practices.It also involves changes in any of the steps in the teaching-learning process. Curriculum modifications shall include service delivery options like cooperative or team teaching, consulting teacher program and others. The provision of support services from professionals and specialists, parents, volunteers, and peers or buddies to the children with special needs is an important feature in the inclusion program.
5. Parental Involvement. This plays a vital role in preparing the children in academic, moral and spiritual development. Parents shall involve themselves in observing children’s performance, volunteering to work in the classroom as teacher aide and providing support to other parents.​
- District and school-based special education and regular teachers, administrators and parents need to collaboratively develop and facilitate the most effective program for children with disabilities. This program shall be included in the School Improvement Plan (SIP)
- To realize the successful implementation of inclusive education in the schools, the duties and responsibilities of DepED officials are defined in Enclosure No. 2.
- Officials at the division, region and central offices shall provide the needed training on inclusive education to administrators, teachers and other school staff; regularly monitor the implementation of the program and provide the corresponding technical assistance needed and conduct evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the program and improve its implementation.
- Immediate dissemination of and compliance with this Order is directed.

Let us celebrate inclusion and highlight the many organizations that support people with disabilities in various ways. If we can normalize inclusion around the world, people will no longer be "different" - just differently-abled. 

Watch videos by clicking the icon below:

All information used is for academic and learning purposes.

 

For more information, visit:

lcdphilippinesfoundation.org

deped.gov.ph