Are regular schools ready for full inclusion of students with disabilities

Abstract

Inclusive education (IE) has multiple meanings, which range from the placement of students with disabilities in regular classrooms to the transformation of the entire educational system. In literature, the current debate is no longer about what inclusion is and why it is needed; the key question is how it is to be achieved’ (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2014). Although inclusive education is a globally recognized goal for education (UNESCO 1994), the implementation of an IE agenda has not proceeded as expected. There is still resistance to inclusive practice in schools throughout the world. Inclusive education requires three key changes - mainly at national, but also at European and international levels: 1. Political will, 2. An in-depth systemic change in the focus on education to increase the capacity of the education system and 3. Re-definition and the re-organization of the existing and requiring human and financial resources (Committee of the European Parliament, 2017). The effect of inclusive education of all children with disabilities should be empirically validated. To attract public attention, politicians often promise a lot, as is done in the case of full inclusion. This is currently happening in our country as well. This paper aims to determine, despite the supportive inclusive legislation, that regular schools are ready for inclusive education for all students with disabilities. A retrospective analysis of all research on inclusive education in our country for the last ten years have been made. It can be concluded that despite inclusive legislation, we still face significant obstacles in the implementation of IE. Some barriers for full inclusion in schools are architectural barriers, lack of training, shortage of teaching materials, lack of time, poor governmental and parental support, poor working environment and difficulties in supporting pupils with disabilities, poor collaboration with other teachers and special staff. In general, it can be concluded there is a big gap between the formulations and realizations of inclusive education in our country.