What About Inclusive Education and ICT in Italy: a Scoping Study
European Scientific Journal September 2016 edition vol.12
What About Inclusive Education and ICT in Italy: a Scoping Study
Valentina Della Volpe
Special Education
Italy
Strategies and approaches to inclusion in the classroom are important in developing a high quality, inclusive experience for students with Special Education Needs. Generally, strategies are not geared towards specific exceptionalities, but are instead designed to be implemented across exceptionality categories. Pavone (2014) and de Anna, Gaspari, Mura (2015) determined through their systematic literature review and research results that co-operation among staff, commitment and accountability to the teaching of all students, differentiation of instruction, and recognizing “that social interaction is the means through which student knowledge is developed” are key to successful inclusion of students with SEN. This paper looks at the issue of school inclusion by referring to the most recent laws about the inclusive education of students with special educational needs in Italy. Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their neighbourhood schools in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of the life of the school. Inclusive education is about how we develop and design our schools, classrooms, programs and activities so that all students learn and participate together. So ICT should be considered as a key tool for promoting equity in educational opportunities, that is using ICT to support the learning of learners with disabilities and special educational needs in inclusive settings within compulsory education. The paper also argues how the Italian teachers can realized good practices for inclusion through the use of ICT.
Inclusive education - ICT - Special Education Needs
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Introduction
“Inclusive education - according to UNESCO- means that the school
can provide a good education to all pupils irrespective of their varying
abilities. All children will be treated with respect and ensured equal
opportunities to learn together. Inclusive education is an on-going process.
All students, have the right to have equal opportunity in education
(EADSNE, 2010a; United Nations. 2006; UNESCO, 2009), and to be
considered as being an integral part of the learning community. Recognition
of this right has recently given rise to the concept of “inclusion”, which in Italy
has gradually substituted that of “integration” (Della Volpe, 2014).
Inclusive education is:
- a constantly evolving process of change and improvement within
schools and the wider education system to make education more welcoming,
learner-friendly, and beneficial for a wide range of people
- about restructuring education cultures, policies and practices so that
they can respond to a diverse range of learners - male and female; disabled
and non-disabled; from different ethnic, language, religious or financial
backgrounds; of different ages; and facing different health, migration, refugee
or other vulnerability challenges;
- about changing the education system so that it is flexible enough to
accommodate any learner;
- an ongoing effort to identify and remove barriers that exclude learners
within each unique situation;
- about identifying and removing barriers to learners' presence in (access
to) education, participation in the learning process, and academic and social
achievement;
- focused on solving attitude, practice, policy, environmental and
resource barriers;
- a process in which all stakeholders should participate (teachers,
learners, parents, community members, government policy-makers, local
leaders, non-governmental organizations, etc);
- something that can happen outside the formal education system, as
well as in formal school environments (inclusive education can happen in
learning spaces that are non-formal, alternative, community-based, etc; with
learners from young children through to elderly adults).
Inclusion is actually a much stronger concept which refers to “the right
to belong to the mainstream”; leaving behind the idea that only few learners
have “special needs”, the social model of inclusion rather suggests that all
students as individual learners present their own peculiar characteristics and
have their own specific educational needs. Such a perspective implies a
Copernican revolution which brings all students at the very heart of the
educational process whilst the school is required to adjust and change in order
to enable each of them to participate in the life of the school to the best of their
abilities (de Anna, 2014a, 2014b, 2015; Mura, 2012).
Inclusion should, then, be regarded as a long-lasting process which
requires time, effort, competence and strong conviction by all those involved
in students’ education, first and foremost, by teachers (de Anna, 2014c).
The key role of teachers in giving birth to and maintaining a truly
inclusive classroom is unquestionable (de A (...truncated)