Children 'hold the solution'

The solutions to an inclusive society, which embraces every person into the social process, are already available. They stand in the children themselves and in the educational institutions they attend, said Andrew Azzopardi, a teacher, social worker and University Visiting Lecturer.

Dr Azzopardi, who has just completed a four-year Doctorate in Inclusive Education at the University of Sheffield, said that in a system hijacked by standards, we are already surrounded by solutions.

"Children hold the solution: they want to be surrounded by other children and not segregated, and they must attend schools that are more flexible, can engage in creative forms of pedagogy and can provide an overall framework to encourage this inclusion."

In his thesis, entitled Reading Stories Of Inclusion, Engaging With Different Perspectives Towards An Agenda For Inclusion, Dr Azzopardi argues that one of the features that contribute to the creation of inclusive education is the need to qualify the responsibility of each member of the school community.

"Parents, students, teachers and administrators need to believe that relationships and their equivalent actions are at the heart of creating an empathetic environment for all children."

Coupled with first-hand experience of teaching and providing social work to disabled persons, Dr Azzopardi's thesis looks into the experiences of disabled persons and their parents through a pilot study and focus groups. His methodology, he said, was based on narrative technique and emancipatory values.

He said the most worrying aspect is that children and disabled youths do not seem to be integrating socially with their counterparts. "Why do we rarely see disabled youths in places of entertainment during the weekend, or at the beach?" Students at the margins have a right to equal participation in all aspects of society and in all decisions that concern them.

Having a facilitator does not automatically mean that the disabled child is included, unless he participates in what is going on in class. Dr Azzopardi said that according to his respondents, "educators are to help children reach out to each other and encourage friendship at a personal level by initiating ways for the children to connect outside school."

Furthermore, inclusion in a school environment, although a very good step in the right direction, is not enough, for the aim of inclusive education is in fact to serve as a platform for inclusion in society.

According to the respondents, "a school community is alive when it is actively engaging with the changes and development of the wide social realm. The basic goal in a school project is the experience to reach out to all students and empower them with the skills they need for the future."

Dr Azzopardi said he agreed with the recent recommendation in the Inclusive and Special Education Review, published in July, that children with special needs should be integrated as far as possible into mainstream schools, while special schools should be upgraded into resource centres providing professional and specialised physiotherapy and other technological resources.

"The relevant resources, expertise and proficiency, which are currently confined in the special schools sector should be released and made accessible to a far wider group of children. Children who are not identified as having a disability or learning difficulty might benefit from known forms of pedagogy, support service interventions and information technology. Schools would benefit from support provisions and expertise for children that could easily fall under the category of needing specialised schooling facilities."

Mainstream and special schools should be complementary, he said. "The point of arrival should be that all children live together as of school age, except for children with very complex special needs who require the attention of a specialised school after making sure that no resources can be assembled around that person to be able to function within mainstream schools."

Much depends on the parents of disabled children, some of whom still think that special schools are more suited than an inclusive mainstream environment. "I respect this position, however, these parents need to become aware that in most cases, as long as they have the adequate support, disabled children benefit more from mainstream schools. Like all educational institutions, the advantage of a mainstream school goes beyond what is purely academic, because it helps children integrate and engage in social experiences. Parents need to be in the forefront to ensure that these resources are made available."

On the other hand, for a child to benefit from the advantages of a mainstream school, he/she needs to be well-trained to pick up these advantages, and to acquire basic social skills, such as the ability to form relationships.

In general, educators believe in inclusive education, however they sometimes face difficulty, fear or lack of confidence, by having a disabled child in class. Some fear lack of experience and training, which is why the Working Group on Inclusive Education suggested a reform to the training of facilitators and educators.

Inclusive education is still an alien concept to many. Able-bodied children also play an important part, which is why we have to hear what these children have to say, whether they are happy. "The rest of the students would be enriched by understanding and experiencing the diversity of human society and by improving their communicative experience."

One of the main advantages of the Inclusive and Special Education Review is that it provides a basis for debate, Dr Azzopardi held. It brings to the surface the arguments and concerns underlying inclusive education processes.

However we cannot stop here, he added, speaking of the need to create a network within the wider community that would deal with the advantages of students' identities without trying to eradicate them from their roots, from where they belong - schools.

"One more engagement we need to make is to have 'a culture of questioning'. All of us involved in this sector need to learn how to ask questions positively and assertively. We necessitate opportunities to learn to ask without feeling threatened or threatening."

"This brings to mind the power of stories," Dr Azzopardi said. Stories tell us a lot. We need to listen and engage with what students are telling us at play and when they are interacting with each other. If we were to observe children we soon realise that students have the ability to connect with their peers and it is through structured 'training' of students that we will be able to make inclusion work. Inclusion is a whole miscellany of experiences, ideas, pre-conceptions but fundamentally it is a practice based on relationships, on removing fears and on realising the exquisiteness of diversity.

"We need to take into account that inclusion benefits the whole of the school community," he said, "because the values experienced by students with a disability can be relocated in other experiences where children are sidelined and marginalised, such as those with non-traditional family backgrounds, students having different religious experiences and students coming from a different ethnic milieu."