Inclusion and education

CONCLUSION
Data on inclusion deliver a clear message: Many millions 
continue to be excluded from education access and 
success. Among them, disproportionately, are those 
living in poverty; ethnic and linguistic minorities; people 
with disabilities; and, especially, those experiencing 
intersecting sources of discrimination and disadvantage. 
To reach the excluded requires understanding who they 
are and the barriers they face.
Many countries still struggle to collect meaningful data 
for inclusion of educationally vulnerable populations. 
Comprehensive data collection that helps monitor 
equity and inclusion without creating stigma at the 
individual level is possible. Inclusion of data on qualitative 
experiences at the school level in the national EMIS is 
needed. Comprehensive data on inclusion must cover 
inputs, processes and outcomes at all levels of the system 
and on all learners.
Monitoring education inequality at the system level 
requires identifying specific groups. Whether involving 
ethnicity or poverty, such categorization will always be 
imperfect. With respect to disability, the Washington 
Group’s set of survey questions and the Module on 
Child Functioning, which adapts them to children, form a 
contribution in line with the social model that can improve 
comparability between countries.
By contrast, inclusion at the individual learner level is best 
served by avoiding categorization and labels as much as 
possible. Assumptions about what learners can or cannot 
do, based on assigned categories, should be replaced 
with understanding of every individual’s abilities and their 
experience of exclusion and inclusion.
The Monitoring Framework for Inclusive Education in Serbia has been 
integrated within the school quality assurance policy 
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GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 2021

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