EENET
asia Newsletters : inaugural issue JUNE
2005 Contents
Roundtable Discussion on Mainstreaming
in Action: The Case of Inclusive Education
Health Link Organising Committee
This roundtable discussion, held in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia in May 2005 was the third of three regional events being held
as part of the Disability Knowledge and Research programme (Disability
KaR). It was attended by 64 participants from:
• The Inclusive Education (IE) Team
• The Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS)
• UN agencies
• Donor organisations
• International non-governmental organisations (INGOs), and
• Regional, national and grass roots disabled people’s organisations
(DPOs).
The discussions focused on the:
• Concepts of inclusive education (IE)
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to inclusive
education (SWOT analysis)
• Strategies to overcome the challenges identified through the SWOT
analysis
Presentations were made on:
• Background to and the development of inclusive education (IE)
• Biwako Millennium Framework and the Draft International Convention
on Persons with Disabilities
• UNESCO and its promotion of inclusive education in the Asia-Pacific
region
• Inclusive education in Laos and Cambodia
The presentations on inclusive education in Cambodia and Laos enabled
participants to learn about programmes that were in different stages of
development demonstrating what can be achieved even with very limited
resources.
The SWOT analysis identified a range of strengths
and weaknesses from participants’ own experience of inclusive education.
Strengths included:
• Development and implementation of inclusive education policies
• Community participation and support
• Existence of good teacher training
• Awareness of inclusive education programmes
In contrast, weaknesses included:
• Lack of inclusive education policies and their implementation
• Negative cultural beliefs and behaviors related to disability
• Lack of community awareness of and participation in inclusive
education programmes.
There was debate over whether donor support
for inclusive education represented a strength or weakness, as it could
lead to donor dependency and hence poor sustainability of inclusive education
programmes.
Participants were also given an opportunity
to talk to students with disabilities in inclusive schools and hear their
views. They could visit schools, both special and mainstream, where children
with disabilities attended. A “materials supermarket” enabled
participants to share, recommend and talk about inclusive education information
resources that they had developed or used in their work.
The roundtable resulted in participants working
together on six outputs:
• Framework for action to good implementation of inclusive education
• Suggestions of further research in inclusive education
• Changing community attitudes to disability
• Recommendations for mainstreaming inclusive education in the education
sector and beyond
• Good practice for inclusive education
• Identifying when is inclusive education not appropriate
EENET asia
Newsletters : inaugural issue JUNE 2005
Contents
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