How can we support systemic change towards a more inclusive education system for all?

December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, offers an ideal moment to reflect on the progress towards more equitable education systems for all as guided by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Despite progress, challenges persist

Access, participation and achievement in education is still a challenge for learners with disabilities.Despite considerable progress worldwide to strengthen access to education and the quality of education, many of the most vulnerable and marginalized learners are still left behind. 

Critical transitions must take place to achieve inclusive education for all learners, including learners with disabilities. Learners most at risk of not accessing school or quality learning opportunities include children and youth from poor, rural, or remote communities; girls; sexual-orientation and gender-identity (SOGI) minority groups; ethnic or racial minorities; indigenous groups; migrants; displaced or refugee learners; and learners with disabilities. Intersectionality of various marginal identities can further marginalize learners if this is not considered in building more inclusive education systems and societies.

Multiple shocks during the recent years have affected all learners, and especially marginalized learners. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 258 million children were not in school. The pandemic impacted 1.6 billion youth globally, with the most marginalized learners affected the most, especially in terms of learning poverty—the proportion of 10-year-olds who cannot read a simple text. The learning poverty rate was estimated at 57% in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in 2019 and is estimated to have increased to 70% because of the pandemic.

Building inclusive education systems

To support various country contexts in building more inclusive education systems for all, and to strengthen the support for World Bank education teams in ensuring that all Investment Project Financing (IPF) projects in education will be disability inclusive by December 2025, the World Bank has launched an Inclusive Education Approach Paper.The paper introduces four principles to support inclusion of any marginalized groups in education and focuses on applying these principles to disability inclusion in education. The principles aim to help the World Bank and its partner countries mainstream and ensure a focused approach for disability inclusion in all education operations and analytical work.

The four principles highlight the importance of the following:

1. Meet countries where they are on the pathway towards inclusive education. Disability and disability inclusion is context specific. It is important to identify and address contextually relevant environmental, social and educational barriers. Meeting countries where they are may mean starting with small, low-risk interventions and phasing in larger-scale programs. For some countries it might mean starting conversations on inclusive education or drafting inclusive education policies. For others, there might be a need to make an action plan on how to implement inclusive teacher education policy, design more inclusive curriculum and assessments systems, or identify and scale innovative interventions. 
2. Provide an enabling environment through systemic change and a twin-track approach. Disability inclusion requires working towards a system-wide enabling environment and quality inclusive education system. This implies government ownership and multisectoral collaboration between education and other sectors, including health, finance, transportation, water, social protection, sanitation. A twin-track approach requires making the general education system more inclusive and mainstreaming disability inclusion in sector-wide efforts, as well as targeted actions to support persons with different types of disabilities.
3. Identify and support inclusive practices in schools and other education settings.  This can be done by increasing teachers’ and school leaders’ knowledge and awareness of disability inclusion in education. It also includes ensuring adequate human resources and finances for arranging required support to ensure access, participation and achievement in education for all learners, including learners with disabilities.  Recognizing that teachers, including teachers with disabilities, have a key role in advancing disability inclusion in education, it is important that teachers are supported by school leadership, other teachers and additional school staff, such as resource or special education teachers, teacher assistants or community volunteers.
4. Collaborate and engage with relevant stakeholders in communities. Collaboration with persons with disabilities, as well as with parents, teachers, community members, and civil society, including organizations for persons with disabilities (OPDs), is an essential strategy for raising awareness and knowledge and taking concrete actions to make disability inclusion in education a reality.

Lessons from Fiji: Inclusive EMIS

Fiji is currently implementing principle 2 by building an enabling environment with a more inclusive data collection approach. Fiji’s Education Management Information System (FEMIS) is used in real time in schools to gather data on variables, such as attendance to identify students at risk of dropping out.

Starting in 2015, a disability disaggregation package was introduced within FEMIS to provide schools with a standardized way of recording and analyzing information related to disability (such as prevalence, type, and severity of disability), the availability of resources (e.g., school infrastructure and transport), and the qualifications and training of school staff with respect to disability inclusion in education.

The most common approach to EMIS disability disaggregation, according to research, is to categorize children based on impairments, which is less reliable and comparable as a measure than categories based on difficulties in functioning, which FEMIS utilizes.

Because the technology for FEMIS was successfully integrated within an existing education management information systems (EMIS), Fiji’s Ministry of Education saved time and resources on software development.  

The success of FEMIS can be attributed to strong government ownership and support and the engagement of local stakeholders in the education system. Fiji’s Ministry of Education plays a pivotal role in raising awareness among key stakeholders around the importance of effective education system processes, as well as overseeing the system’s operation and training staff.  It is important to continue to ensure enhancing the data systems to enable reporting against relevant indicators and a more useful evidence base for disability-inclusive education.

What do you think is the most important factor in building more inclusive education systems for all, including learners with disabilities?  We look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: blogs.worldbank.org