Inclusive education is about acknowledging – and celebrating – diversity among students. It is therefore also about providing for students’ different needs in schools and in the classroom.
A key question then is: how do we go about catering for these diverse needs? But there is a more fundamental question that, unfortunately, very often remains unasked: who is going to identify what each individual student’s needs are?
The answer to that question is often taken for granted, with educators, allied health professionals and parents determining students’ individual educational needs.
There is no doubt that the expertise of the different professionals and the experience of parents are extremely important. But leaving out the perspectives and voice of the students themselves means that an equally vital component of inclusive education goes missing.
Unfortunately, this is the case with the National Inclusive Education Policy and Framework that were recently published for consultation. While these documents identify many of the key issues and challenges that need to be addressed for Malta to have a truly inclusive education system, and while they also propose valid actions for implementation, references to listening to students’ voices are absent.
Leaving out the perspectives and voice of the students themselves means that a vital component of inclusive education goes missing
It is not enough that those working towards achieving full inclusion have the right intentions and the necessary expertise. They need to take students’ perspectives into account. It is only by listening to students that they can ensure that their well-intentioned and carefully drawn up plans are effective. Otherwise, any evaluation of what has or hasn’t been achieved will not reflect how effective any intervention has actually been for the student.
As adults, we need to take time and put the necessary mechanisms in place to enable students to have their say. We also need to take note of what students have to say and factoring it into decisions that are taken.
For example, students with disability need to be involved in the drawing up of their own individual educational programmes. There is enough evidence from empirical research carried out in Malta and elsewhere that attests to both the importance and the benefits of involving disabled students directly in their own education.
While decision-taking remains in the hands of parents and the relevant professionals, they cannot by themselves determine what the needs of students with disability are.
Safeguarding the well-being of the latter, and providing them with a good education does not simply mean ensuring they have the skills, knowledge and competences that various professionals determine they should have, and that their progress is carefully monitored by these professionals.
Plans and progress need to be discussed with the students themselves as well, in order to determine each student’s actual needs and the best way to meet them. We therefore need to provide the space and time for students to have a say and – where necessary – support and access to communication.
Such processes help us realise just how much validity there is in what students with individual educational needs have to say for themselves. And how many insights they have that no adult could possibly be aware of.
The right of children to participate in decisions affecting them is clearly upheld in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, both of which Malta has ratified.
It is regrettable that the proposed policy and framework do not refer to this right. Without it, there is a risk that what is achieved will be a few changes here and there and a missed opportunity to bring into being an educational system that takes the needs of each student into account.
Anne-Marie Callus is senior lecturer, Department of Disability Studies, University of Malta.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece