Education for all
The National Government's Education Revolution policy gives priority to the education of vulnerable populations and, within them, to those with disabilities because "if we train these populations that were previously marginalized from education, we bet that they become productive, be autonomous and strengthen social relationships, thus, education becomes a factor of development for themselves, for their families and for the municipalities where they live, "explains Fulvia Cedeño, advisor to the Ministry of National Education.
"When the Educational Revolution states that these populations are a priority, it means that educational establishments must transform and modify their culture of attention to them," he explains. Hence the importance of the Institutional Improvement Plans (PMI) containing actions aimed at the relevant attention to these populations in all areas of management: directive, academic, administrative and community. "Previously it was thought that people with disabilities did not have conditions to learn; we started working to change these imaginary, to review practices and to generate a policy of inclusion," says Dr. Cedeño.
During the last four years, the issue of inclusion has been energized in territorial entities (see the Debate section). In several of them there is an organized educational offer and a classification of them by levels, according to the management they have developed to serve these populations¹.
Data from the 2005 Census report 392,084 children under 18 with disabilities, of which 270,593 attend school and 119,831 do not.
From 2003 to 2006, the secretariats report the enrollment of 81,757 students with disabilities in 4,369 educational establishments. Despite these undoubtedly significant advances, there are still great challenges to ensure that everyone enters the education system and is educated with relevance and quality.
Thus, the inclusion policy of the population with disabilities seeks to transform school management to guarantee relevant education to students who have cognitive disabilities, Down syndrome and other delays such as autism, hearing impairment due to deafness or low hearing, visual limitation due to blindness or due to low vision, motor disability due to cerebral palsy or other neuromuscular injury and multiple disabilities, as is the case with deaf-blind people.
All these people have the potential to develop within the educational and social space and can access the different levels and grades of formal education in Colombia. The school must guarantee them the additional support they demand, to develop basic and citizen skills, even when they need more time and other strategies to achieve them.
From integration to inclusion.
It is not a question of opposing integration and inclusion models as policy exclusion options (how can we integrate without including, or include without integrating?), But to understand and advance the idea that each school faces the concrete challenge of including everyone and don't leave anyone out.
This necessarily implies the development of an articulated and coherent set of policies referring, among other aspects, to a relevant and relevant curricular proposal inscribed in a shared vision, which facilitates dialogue between the different educational levels; varied and complementary pedagogical strategies that duly address the specificity of each student; have physical infrastructure and teaching materials aligned with the pedagogical project; permanently support teachers in their classrooms so that they can effectively develop the curriculum, and dialogue and understand the expectations and needs of communities and families at local levels.
In Colombian education, it is moving from one model of integration to another of inclusion of students with disabilities. And that concept intends that the school be transformed and that the school management is modified to respond to its particular conditions.
Inclusion means, then, attending with quality, relevance, and equity to the common and specific needs that these populations present. To achieve this, it has been necessary for the education system to gradually define and apply ethical conceptions that allow us to consider inclusion as a matter of rights and values, which means implementing flexible and innovative teaching strategies that open the way to an education that recognizes styles. of learning and different abilities among students and that, in consonance, offers different alternatives of access to knowledge and evaluates different levels of competence.
Inclusive education gives the possibility of welcoming all students to the educational institution, regardless of their personal or cultural characteristics. Part of the premise that everyone can learn, as long as their educational environment offers conditions and provides meaningful learning experiences; In other words, all children in a given community can study together.
Inclusion has to do with building a more democratic, tolerant and respectful society of differences, and constitutes a universal concern common to educational reform processes, as it is visualized as a central strategy to address the causes and consequences of exclusion, within of the approach and goals of Education For All and of the conception of education as a right.
The concept of inclusion has evolved towards the idea that girls, boys, and young people have the right to education, which implies equivalent learning opportunities in different types of schools, regardless of their social and cultural backgrounds and their differences in skills and abilities² ... Here is the question: why can't the boy or girl with a disability be educated in the same institution where his little brother goes? They are also subjects of rights. It is about generating inclusive environments in all schools, through the provision of a varied and complementary set of offers that are part of an integrated school network and through articulation with other social services³.
The basic standards of competencies foster a set of common criteria about what all students can achieve in their passage through the educational system; With these criteria, teachers design relevant pedagogical strategies to get their students to develop them. If these students have disabilities, the strategies should take them into account.
In this sense, the inclusive education policy aims to serve children and young people with disabilities throughout the entire educational cycle, from initial to higher education. Inclusion aims for these populations to develop their life skills at all levels,
Enroll them and include them in formal education.
Fathers and mothers must enroll their child in the ordinary enrollment process established in the territorial entity. On the registration form they are asked if they have any special educational needs (SEN), a disability and of what kind. It is a way of knowing the conditions in advance, to guarantee the corresponding support.
In turn, the education secretariats have the obligation to assign them the institution that guarantees the most relevant support, framed in institutional educational projects which, by nature, are dynamic and must evolve not only to achieve inclusive education but to achieve good results from all students. Schools, where students with disabilities enroll, must review all areas of their school management, to reorganize or reorient their processes based on inclusion. Pedagogical and evaluation strategies must be relevant to the type of disability presented by enrolled students. Also, it is necessary to promote the institution's new forms of relationship between partners to achieve acceptance of differences and their support and solidarity. For example, in the case of deaf students who use sign language, they should be evaluated in written Spanish or in sign language, and blind students, in Braille or with a reader.
Concerning the basic standards of competencies, each educational institution must generate strategies and methodologies that allow students with SEN to reach them, establishing the appropriate adjustments. "From 2008 the efforts will focus on the development of flexible models and methodologies for this population; in reviewing the proposals of New School, Acceleration of Learning and Cafam among others, to adjust their strategies and materials to the particular needs of the population with disabilities, "explains Dr. Cedeño. Likewise, the work of consolidation and articulation in the improvement plans will be reinforced, both by the educational institutions and the education secretariats, in which inclusion is an approach to achieve cultural changes and significant paradigms. Within the framework of these plans, training processes for managers and teachers will be carried out in the same direction. Work will also be done with the normal higher schools and faculties of education to ensure the presence of such a vision in the training processes of the new educators in the country.
Objective, expand coverage.
To guarantee the entry into the system of these populations, there is a general policy framework, released since 2004 to the 78 certified territorial entities and which makes clear, in the first instance, the right of children, youth and adults with Disability to access education informal education institutions, with the required technical, material and human support.
The second point of the policy framework establishes that territorial entities must have a diagnosis of the demand, based on the 2005 census (see table Dane Census 2005) and the Disability Register applied by DANE in more than 60% of the municipalities. This tool is available to find out how many people are of age to receive education and how many young people and adults with disabilities are illiterate. By having this information, the education secretariats can search for them, guaranteeing these first supports.
Likewise, in the municipalities where possible, and according to their educational offer, some geographically distributed institutions should be defined that will be in charge of giving priority attention to students with SEN, and they will be allocated economic, human and material resources to carry out organizational, curricular and access adjustments.
Another issue that aims to guarantee coverage, relevance, and quality is the training of teachers in the normal higher schools and in the faculties of education. "If they are clear that the population with disabilities has the right to education, they will facilitate their access and welcome them in their institutions." Both access and permanence and the fight against desertion are related to the transformation of cultural imaginary. In this regard, Fulvia Cedeño says that "if a father of a minor with Down syndrome believes that his son is not going to learn, he does not take him to school, or when he enrolls him and faces a negative institutional situation, he withdraws it. Training is needed for fathers and mothers to understand that their child has this right, knowing that there may be inconveniences, which can be overcome with relevant attention. "
On the other hand, the coverage strategy Not one less guarantees them - like the other students - transportation, food, and conditions so that they arrive at the school, remain and promote themselves. Mayors and education secretaries should know that the resources that their territorial entity receives for permanence apply to students with disabilities.
Local authorities can also guarantee access by contracting the education service with private institutions, which offer inclusive education in preschool, elementary and middle school.
Inclusion, Improvement Plans and Support Plans.
Inclusive education is a policy that is embodied in strategies for expanding access, promoting permanence and relevant and quality education, and improving efficiency through the assignment of support staff and the identification of educational institutions that can give proper attention. Therefore, the so-called "inclusive education program" is an activity articulated to the policy of quality improvement from improvement support plans. Its foundation is to recognize that in diversity each person is unique and that inclusive education is the vehicle to reach the goal of education for all.
When the educational institution ensures that inclusion is the center of its development, when it reviews its policies, culture, and practices by reorienting its management processes, then the approach of students with disabilities is done from the rights approach, which guarantees better quality.
This program is being developed in 65 municipalities of 32 certified territorial entities, selected with the following criteria: high demand for people with disabilities, who belong to the JUNTOS6 Network against extreme poverty, who are larger recipients of displaced population or who have indigenous groups. The condition of disability is transversal to other population groups; For example, in an educational institution, an indigenous person of the Curripacos ethnic group, with Down syndrome and in a situation of displacement, and an illiterate adult with visual impairment can enroll.
The work proposal has an organizational structure articulated to the Institutional Improvement Plans and the plans to support the improvement of the education secretariats and uses the materials to support the improvement generated within the framework of the quality policy.
With the education secretariats of the certified municipalities, the educational institutions that are going to participate are defined, giving priority to those that currently offer education to vulnerable population and, specifically, to students with disabilities, in such a way that mayors, councilors, secretaries are involved , various organizations and institutions of higher education. They are summoned so that from the development and sector plans they guarantee the support to the citizens who need them.
In the institutions of the municipalities that begin their transformation towards quality inclusive education, the baseline is taken through the application of the Inclusion Index, which consists of a set of materials that, articulated to the PEI, are intended to guide the processes of school development. The goal is to build collaborative school communities that promote high levels of achievement in all students. This material stimulates the realization of a comprehensive analysis of all aspects that are part of the life of an educational institution, explains the self-evaluation of cultures, policies, and practices, using a set of indicators, each of which is detailed through a series of questions. Through this exploration, barriers to learning and participation are identified, the institution's development priorities are determined, and the plans aimed at offering relevant and quality education are implemented. The Inclusion Index can be found at the following Web address: www.eenet.org.uk/index_inclusion/Index
The results shown in the Inclusion Index require an analysis process to determine the conditions of quality and inclusion and establish priorities in the Improvement Plan related to inclusion. The process of gradual and systematic transformation of the educational service is supported, supported by methodological and collaborative learning strategies such as didactics and flexible educational models.
Supplementary Education Plan.
Another way to ensure the success of an inclusion policy is that, for example, the teacher has the tools to meet the various conditions of the populations that attend the classroom. Thus, inclusion has to do with complementary strategies to ensure the permanence that, in addition to the assignment of support staff, includes teaching materials and educational equipment to promote teaching and learning, flexible teaching that allow teachers to teach better and guarantee student the conditions to learn more and better; and generate strategic alliances so that these complementary supports arrive to school in a timely manner.
The latter vary according to the type of disability students present:
Students with sensory limitations require, above all, to have accessibility to communication and information. In the case of blind people, it is necessary, among others, to have state-of-the-art equipment such as intelligent reading machine, texts in macro and Braille, Braille printer, spoken book, Jaws which is a screen reader capable of reading all texts that appear in it and even the menus of Windows and many other programs. This software requires the use of a sound card, in addition to speakers; teachers or support staff should also teach them the Braille literacy system. It should be noted that with new technologies many blind people can live and develop without Braille, because they have machines that read to them, computers that speak to them, etc.
The complementary supports for a deaf sign user are basically the sign language interpreters, the linguistic and cultural models and the visual teaching material that allows the development of the competence to read and write the Spanish language. Deaf students using Spanish require support for the development of their communication skills.
Those with cognitive disabilities and, therefore, are more difficult to learn, require, in addition to tutors, the use of materials such as puzzles, lotteries and the application of flexible teaching to develop their reading and math skills.
Search allies and improve quality.
"The idea is that representatives from all institutions, such as the National Institute for the Blind (INCI), the National Institute for the Deaf (INSOR), the SENA and the community, participate in the positioning of the inclusion policy. many instances and organizations to develop the policy. This work cannot be done only by the education sector, "says Fulvia Cedeño. Strategic allies are sought, higher education institutions, the productive sector and representatives of other sectors are convened with the idea of generating institutional capacity installed locally to guarantee the complimentary support that is required, for example for teacher training and the improvement of learning environments, among others. In this way, the inclusion policy is positioned in the country.
International cooperation is also sought. Currently, UNESCO, International Inclusion, International Migration Organization, Save the Children and Give to Colombia support the development of the inclusion policy. The Saldarriaga Concha, Mamonal and Luis Felipe Vélez foundations are allied nationally. "We are asking the territorial entities to seek the support of the companies in their environment. It is about taking advantage of the social responsibility resources of the companies to focus on this issue. Likewise, those of the solidarity sector; the cooperatives are financing projects for baskets didactics that support the teaching and learning processes of students with special educational needs. "
Education for work.
"In an experience that is currently taking place in Caldas, the expert Nidia García notes, the University of Manizales has been hired to support 22 official educational institutions that report more than 600 students enrolled with disabilities. For young people with cognitive disabilities develop a hotbed of talents and they set up a micro-enterprise for arranging computers; previously, they did nothing. "
On the other hand, says Fulvia Cedeño, "just as there are those who will not be able to continue higher education studies, we must consider their human development and propose a stage of transition and training for the world of work. People with cognitive disabilities may not develop processes very complex conceptual, but they have a very good memory; they would be very good at quality control. " "For example, in the department of Cauca, an experience was fulfilled with people with Down syndrome. They were taught to discriminate the colors red, green and yellow. Once they learned these colors they took them to the coffee plantations and told them that they should only take the red potatoes, not green or yellow. When they finished the task, their baskets had almost all red potatoes. Inattention and concentration processes they are very good, "adds Nidia García.
For this reason, the process of certification of the competences of young people is necessary and that is where SENA intervenes. An example is the certification of competences for citizen care to 130 young people with cognitive disabilities who work in Alkosto, in Bogotá, Pereira, Pasto, and Villavicencio; later it will be done in Barranquilla, Cali, and Medellín. Also, SENA develops training projects with the support of INCI and INSOR and with secondary education institutions. This is a sign that it is possible to involve all sectors in the care of this population, making it visible and providing opportunities for productivity.
By 2010, at least 80% of the population with disabilities is expected to attend school; It is complex to reach 100% because there are people with severe or multi-disabled disabilities, whose conditions do not allow them to go to formal school. However, it is the responsibility of local governments to offer relevant programs.
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