Some parents may not realise the extent of difficulties at hand.Experts should be given more weight than parents when deciding on the best schooling programme for disabled children, according to Kevin Bonello.
The Malta Union of Teachers president says inclusion of disabled students in mainstream schools must be encouraged but this should not apply to all cases.
“There are a handful of cases where inclusion is not working for the child and the rest of the classroom,” Mr Bonello says when asked whether teachers were prepared for inclusion.
He insists the union agrees with inclusion but a blanket policy is not the best option.
A point of concern, he notes, is those cases in which experts suggest different arrangements for the children but parents refuse to consent.
As the law stands, parents have a right to veto these decisions and insist their children be taught in mainstream schools.
He says that for some children it may be more useful to be educated in a resource centre while for others it may be better to have a mix of specialised programmes and mainstream schooling.
There are a handful of cases where inclusion is not working for the child and the rest of the classroom
The MUT, Mr Bonello says, is proposing removing the parents’ veto. “If I go to a doctor who suggests an operation in the stomach, I am in no position to tell him to operate on my leg… if experts on disability and behavioural challenges suggest the best way forward is a specialised programme for the child because he will be getting nothing from the mainstream programme, parents should not be able to veto that decision.”
Mr Bonello says parents should be involved from start to end in the process but there are some instances when they are in denial. “I can understand them because it is their child after all, but to objective observers it would be clear they are not realising the extent of the difficulties at hand.”
In these circumstances, he adds, the parents’ refusal to accept the proposed arrangements will be doing more harm to the child than good.