Count me in: comparative perspectives of inclusion from India and England’ Dr. Chandrika...
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Count me in: comparative perspectives of inclusion from India and England’ Dr. Chandrika Devarakonda University of Chester and Dr. Krishna Duhan Common Wealth Academic Fellow The Forum for Research into Equality and Diversity (FRED) 1
Count me in: comparative perspectives of inclusion from India and England’ Dr. Chandrika Devarakonda University of Chester and Dr. Krishna Duhan Common
Count me in: comparative perspectives of inclusion from India
and England Dr. Chandrika Devarakonda University of Chester and Dr.
Krishna Duhan Common Wealth Academic Fellow The Forum for Research
into Equality and Diversity (FRED ) 1
Slide 2
Aim To explore the concept of inclusion To compare and contrast
the perspectives of inclusion in India and England To raise
awareness of historical and contemporary contexts of inclusion in
India and England 2
Slide 3
Who excludes/includes Individual Institution Society Is it
accepted ? Or expected ? 3
Slide 4
Journey of inclusion GlobalNationalSettingPersonal 4
Slide 5
5
Slide 6
6
Slide 7
Diverse how SES /background Culture Language /communication
Ability Religion Ethnicity /race Practices Expectations Types of
families Services needed 7
Slide 8
Who are not included reality check Marginalised groups -
Disadvantaged families - Races - cultures - Gypsy Roma and
Travellers families - Caste Political / social / religious contexts
Lack of access Lack of facilities Attitudes stigma Quality of
inclusion Values and stereotypes 8
Slide 9
Multiple perspectives Elusive concept (Ainscow, 1999; Ballard,
1999, Slee 2000) No universal definition (Florian, 1998) Who
includes/ excludes whom (Sebba and Sachdev, 1997) Different
interpretations (Florian 1998; Ainscow et al 2006) Global agenda
(Pijl et al., 1997) Ongoing process (Ainscow 2005) 9
Slide 10
Concept of inclusion Armstrong, Armstrong, and Spandagou (2011)
have argued that the origin and development of the concept of
inclusive education is restricted to the North and its entry into
the global agenda has been driven by international agencies
Children with disabilities were placed in regular school so that
they could study along with their nondisabled peers. 10
Slide 11
Continued---- elusive concept (Singal 2005, 332), statement of
fashion (Hodkinson and Devarakonda 2009, 97), and a tendency to be
politically correct by taking on current trends in the West without
a real or common understanding of their meaning (Kalyanpur 2008,
247). 11
Slide 12
India Singal (2006) - there is a visible struggle for clarity
Singal (2008) rationalises her disability focus in her study based
on how inclusive education is understood in India. highlighted the
ambiguity and confusion surrounding the concept in government
policies and among government officials and practitioners (Singal
2006, 2008) integration and inclusion were used interchangeably as
if they mean the same. 12
Slide 13
Relevance to Indian context Establishing the concept of
inclusion Translating policy from global perspectives to practice
Preparing teachers to identify diversity of needs and meet them All
children and their families are respected for who they are 13
Slide 14
Policies - Global level Education for all Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of having every child complete primary
school by 2015. Salamanca statement 14
Slide 15
Policies at national level India Indian Constitution (Part IX,
Article 45)states : The state shall endeavour to provide, within a
period of ten years from the commencement of this constitution, for
free and compulsory education for all children until they complete
the age of fourteen years. The constitution of India does not
explicitly include children with disabilities in the provisions
made for education, but Article 41 does mention people with
disabilities and says in part the state shall within the limits of
its economic development make effective provisions for securing the
right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of
unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement and in other cases of
undesired want Right to Education Act 2010 15
Slide 16
Continued-- Article 45 does rectify this by stating that free
and compulsory education should be provided for ALL children until
they complete the age of 14 The ALL is never specifically
explained. But the most recent 93 rd amendment to the Indian
Constitution passed in December 2001, affirms the Governments
commitment to (EFA) or Education for ALL. In Sanskrit it is Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The preamble explicitly states that this
includes children with disabilities. 16
Slide 17
Continued-- The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) aims to provide
Universal Elementary Education by the end of the plan. It also aims
to provide basic education for the un- reached segments and special
groups. the groups included girls, scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes, working children, children with disabilities, urban
deprived children, children from minority groups, children below
poverty line, migratory children and in the hardest to reach
groups. 17
Slide 18
RTE Act (2009) Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The implementation of this Act will be
considered successful only if it addresses the issue of making the
children of marginalized communities visible within the four walls
of the classroom. Many of these children, across the country come
from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, such as Scheduled Caste
(SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities; ethnic and religious
minorities, economically weaker sections (EWS), migrant labourers,
nomadic and de-notified tribes, urban poor, children with special
needs (CWSN) and so on 18
Slide 19
Historical context (England) Journey began in 1960s when
policies of segregation were questioned with in the context of
civil rights movement. Birth of integrated system which was
legitimised by the Warnock Report (DES,1978) and Education Act
(DES, 1981) The term Inclusion became part of governmental rhetoric
gaining status in schools. New Labour Govt swept to power on a
tidal wave of equality rhetoric and a commitment to reform how
children with SEN and disabilities were to be educated (Hodkinson,
2005) Inclusion became a political process and a key component of
governmental planning (Corbett, 2001) Equality Act (2010)
simplified 19
Slide 20
Contemporary context Warnock critiqued the ideological
understanding behind inclusive education, instead of the simplistic
ideal of including all children under the same roof, we should
consider the ideal of including all children in the common
enterprise of learning (2010, 1415) 20
Slide 21
England The intention of Mary Warnocks term special educational
needs, coined in the UK in 1978, was to imply that any child, with
an impairment or not, may have an individual educational need at
some point in their school career (e.g. dyslexia, or language of
instruction as a second language) which the teacher should adapt
to. (Giffard-Lindsay, 2006). 21
Slide 22
Inclusion is not Not just children who are easy to work with,
obliging, endearing, clean, pretty,, capable, but every child -
respecting them for who they are, respecting their language, their
culture, their history, their family, their abilities, their needs,
their name, their ways and their very essence. (Nutbrown 1996, 54)
22
Slide 23
Challenges and dilemmas Diverse Interpretations Overwhelming
Literature from Western perspectives Raise awareness among schools,
media and community Attitudes towards children from diverse
backgrounds Provide training and resources to update teachers
knowledge and understanding 23
Slide 24
Conclusion No consistent interpretation of the concept of
inclusion Inclusion is a priority in national policies, but does
not reflect in practice at grass root level Diverse perspectives of
inclusion due to the social, political and cultural contexts of the
settings and the community 24
Slide 25
The emphasis should be on developing situational appropriate
solutions, by adopting a pragmatic and strategic approach, embedded
in the realities of India. Singal (to be published), promotes
fluidity of spaces and value-free transition points between
different educational settings. 25
Slide 26
Idealistic or realistic ? If inclusion is based primarily on
ideological feeling, it may suffer the fate of most ideologies by
running out of steam when social or political conditions and
fashions change. We may wish to continue to promote it, we may even
such is the power of fashion be stuck with it and be obliged to
make it work as well as we can; but if we are to do it justice, we
have also to clarify and evaluate it. Wilson.J (2000) Doing Justice
to Inclusion, European Journal of Special Needs Education, Volume
15, Issue 3 October, pages 297 304 Wilson.J (2000) Doing Justice to
Inclusion, European Journal of Special Needs Education153 26
Slide 27
References Armstrong, D., A. C. Armstrong, and I. Spandagou.
2011. Inclusion: By Choice or by Chance? International Journal of
Inclusive Education 15 (1): 2939. Giffard-Lindsay, K. 2007.
Inclusive Education in India: Interpretation, Implementation, and
Issues. CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No. 15.
Brighton: CIE, University of Sussex. Hodkinson, A., and C.
Devarakonda. 2009. Conceptions of Inclusion and Inclusive
Education: A Critical Examination of the Perspectives and Practices
of Teachers in India. Research in Education 82 (1): 8599.
Kalyanpur, M. 2008. Equality, Quality and Quantity: Challenges in
Inclusive Education Policy and Service Provision in India.
International Journal of Inclusive Education 12 (3): 243262. MHRD.
2009b. Right to Education Act. http://mhrd.gov.in/acts_rules_SE
MHRD. 2011. Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan. Framework for Implementation.
Government of
India.http://ssa.nic.in/page_portletlinks?foldernamessa- framework
Balasundram.P (2005) The journey towards inclusive education in
India, paper presented at SEISA UNIVERSITY ASHIBETSU SHI, HOKKAIDO,
JAPAN, 9 th July 2005. 27
Slide 28
References Singal, N. 2005. Mapping the Field of Inclusive
Education: A Review of the Indian Literature.International Journal
of Inclusive Education 9 (4): 331350. Singal, N. 2006. Inclusive
Education in India: International Concept, National.
Interpretation.International Journal of Disability, Development and
Education 53 (3): 351369. Singal, N. 2008. Working Towards
Inclusion: Reflections from the Classroom. Teaching and Teacher
Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies 24 (6):
15161529. Taneja.S.J (2014) A critical and contextual approach to
inclusive education: perspectives from an Indian context,
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18: 12, 1219
-1236,DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2014.885594 UNESCO. 1994. The Salamanca
Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education.
Madrid: UNESCO/Ministry of Education and Science. Warnock, M. 2010.
Special Educational Needs: A New Look. In Special Educational
Needs: A New Look, edited by L. Terzi, 1146. London: Continuum
International Pub. Group. 28