Including Disabled Children in Learning: Challenges in Developing Countries.

Abstract

This is an exploratory study suggesting ways of analysing challenges for developing countries in the move to greater inclusion of disabled children and young people in learning. The paper focuses on pedagogical challenges to realising more inclusive education. Pedagogy encompasses not only the practice of teaching and learning, but also the ideas that inform practice held at various levels of the education system and in broader society. This paper therefore examines aspects of teaching and learning and ideas about the social purposes of education. It is based on a review of relevant literature drawing together insights from developing and developed economies.

The paper is divided into five chapters. After a brief introductory chapter, Chapter 2 looks at analyses of the concepts of disability and inclusive education in order to explain the rationale for looking at challenges to educational access for disabled children and young people. Chapter 3 considers the relationship between pedagogy and inclusion. Chapter 4 considers some of the pedagogical challenges to inclusive education and Chapter 5 concludes the paper by looking at the implications of the review for future research. This paper aims to be an introduction to some current work on disability and educational access for those working more generally in education and development and thus seeks to contribute to mainstreaming disability in educational research, policy and practice.

Citation

CREATE Pathways to Access Series, Research Monograph Number 35, ISBN: 0-901881-43-0, 61 pp.

Including Disabled Children in Learning: Challenges in Developing Countries.

Published 1 January 2010