Readiness Of Urban Primary Schools

For Inclusive Education In Pakistan

Article by
SHAHEEN PASHA

Journal of Research and Reflections in
Education
December 2012, Vol.6, No.2, pp113 -128
Presentation by QURAT UL AIN NAEEM,
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION

Pakistan is among those 164 signatory countries who
have committed to provide quality basic education for
all children by 2015 . (UNESCO, 2000).

Achieving this goal seems very challenging;
particularly inclusion of disabled children in
mainstream primary schools.
(Miles & Farhad, 1999; UNICEF, 2003a; Haider, 2008).

LITERATURE REVIEW- INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Global efforts can be traced back to 1948 when
education was recognized as a human right.

Due to the efforts of the global community and
advocacy of the disabled people, a series of
conventions and declarations materialized including
the Convention on,

a) The Rights of the Child (UNICEF, 1989)
b) World Declaration on Education for All (UNESCO,
1990)
c) UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (1993)

d) UNESCOs (1994) earlier Salamanca declaration and
Education for All initiative.


e) The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities:
Towards Inclusion (UNESCO, 1995).


f) Later, in 2006 Global Monitoring Report on Education
for All, UNESCO for the first time identifies inclusion of
children with disabilities in universal primary quality
education as a global priority for education
development.
INCLUSION: VIEWS OF GLOBAL COMMUNITY
Booth & Ainscow (1995),
Inclusion aims to maximize the participation of children
with disabilities and/or special educational needs in
mainstream schools.

Strmstad (2003),
Inclusion is not about bringing somebody who has been
formerly excluded into an environment that has not
adapted to normal diversity. Inclusion is about diversity
living and working together


Booth et al, (2000) maintain that the main task of
inclusive education is overcoming barriers to
learning and participation for all. They further
suggest that we must stop categorizing children into
special and general categories so that we could
emphasize existing variations amongst all children
without creating divisions amongst groups of
children.

This approach is in line with Article 3 of UNESCO
(1994) which state Schools should accommodate
all children regardless of their physical, intellectual,
emotional, social, linguistic or other conditions.
METHODOLOGY
This survey based, cross-sectional descriptive study
aimed to address two research questions,

I) What is the implementation status of inclusive
practices in schools?

II) Are mainstream primary schools educators ready for
inclusive education?

The survey questionnaire, adopted from Quality
Indicators for Effective Inclusive Education Guidebook
(NJCIE, 2010), focuses on eleven quality indicators for
effective inclusive education, consisted of 37-item.
POPULATION AND SAMPLING
o The population of research consists of seventy five
(75) public & private primary schools within the city
limits of Lahore (Pakistan).

o Three hundred teachers - 231 Female (77%) and
69 men (23%), from these schools participated in
this study.

o None of the participant was holding the status of
special education teacher in their respective
schools.

i. RESPONSES ABOUT THE BEST PRACTICES INDICATOR
LEADERSHIP ---(6 ITEMS)

The Mean value (0.24) for the factor Leadership
indicates that teachers perceive leadership not ready
yet for the inclusion.

Although the high frequency of Not Yet indicates
unpreparedness of head teachers for inclusive
education, but it does not allow concluding the head
teachers have a negative attitude towards inclusion.

ii. RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
SCHOOL CLIMATE ---(4 ITEMS)
The frequency of responses to statement 2.1 & 2.2
indicates that,
the educational environment of the sample schools
appreciates diversity.
Positive relationship among students.

The mean score (1.49) for this factor indicates partial
readiness but not substantially ready for inclusive
education.


iii. RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
SCHEDULING AND PARTICIPATION--- (3ITEMS)

High response rate of this factor indicates lack of
readiness due to the reason that the target
schools do not admit children with disabilities.
Only two schools offer inclusive education.


iv. RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT
--- (4 ITEMS)

Responses indicate that the teachers are well
aware of a variety of learners need and, in their
common practice, adopt appropriate pedagogy to
enhance their students learning.

High responses of (not yet) indicate it is due to the
non-existence of disabled children in the
respondents classes which is due to their
schools policy of not admitting disabled children.
RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
v. PROGRAM PLANNING AND IEPS DEVELOPMENT ---(
2 ITEMS)
vi. PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSMENT --
-(2 ITEMS)
vii. INDIVIDUAL STUDENT SUPPORTS --- (4 ITEMS)
viii. FAMILY-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS ---(3 ITEMS)

Responses of these factors indicates lack of readiness
and absence of the above factors because of the
non- availability of disabled children , due to schools
admission policies or inclusive education being not a
part of schools mission statement so the teachers feel
less responsible for
preparing IEPs for pupils who are with special
needs.

RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
ix. COLLABORATIVE PLANNING AND TEACHING ---
-( 3 ITEMS)

High frequency responses of (not yet) indicates the
participants are not practicing collaborative planning
and teaching.

It also indicate that a majority of schools do not
follow the practice of providing information about
teachers roles, responsibilities and required skills to
teach and support all students including disabled
children in written form.
RESPONSES ABOUT THE INDICATOR
x. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT --- (3ITEMS)
xi. PLANNING FOR CONTINUED BEST PRACTICE
IMPROVEMENT --- (2 ITEMS)

Responses of both factors indicates,

Lack of training opportunities is very evident from
the participants responses.

A dire need of strategic planning for inclusive
education in mainstream schools.


CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

Findings of the study reveal that mainstream primary
schools are not ready yet to meet the challenges of
inclusive education. More efforts are needed to make
mainstream schools ready for inclusive education.

Existing educational policies and practices need to
be reformed in order to facilitate inclusion.

Inclusive education in-services training should be
arranged for teachers, staff and school
administration.




Specific incentives should be offered to the
administration and teachers for showing positive
attitude towards the inclusion of children with
disabilities in mainstream schools.

An advocacy and awareness campaign needed to
be launched to create a positive attitude of the
community towards inclusive education