Inclusion and education

participation in actual dialogue and negotiation of 
curriculum content. Armenia’s Ministry of Education, 
The most common forms of curriculum adaptation in the region are 
individualized education plans and adaptation for learners belonging to 
ethnic minorities
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GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 2021

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Science, Culture and Sport began a comprehensive 
revision of the general education curriculum and subject 
standards in 2018 and issued a public call for working 
groups, encouraging subject teachers and experts to 
apply. In July 2019, the ministry initiated a review of the 
draft curriculum. To receive and review the text, however, 
a new round of expression of interest was called, limiting 
the number who could participate (Armenia Ministry of 
Education, Science, Culture and Sport, 2019
).
In Georgia, a national curriculum regulates teaching 
hours, learning environment conditions, minimum 
student workload, expected learning outcomes upon 
completion of each level, and ways to acquire the 
required skills and knowledge while allowing for school 
curricula and individual curricula for students with special 
education needs. The National Curriculum Department 
leads curriculum planning and implementation. Other 
stakeholders’ contribution to the national curriculum for 
2017–23 was channelled through the national curriculum 
portal (Georgia Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and 
Sport, 2020
).
In Turkey, the centralized curriculum authority does not 
prioritize stakeholder participation, making it difficult 
to introduce democratic citizenship education (Sen, 
2019
; Sen and Starkey, 2019) and contributing to the 
preference of ethno-cultural over political definitions of 
citizenship that can exclude some communities (İnce, 
2012
). A recent review called on the Ministry of National 
Education to expand the range of non-government 
and expert stakeholders it engages with in curriculum 
development (ERG, 2016).
An inclusive curriculum should be flexible
Student diversity requires flexible curriculum in terms of 
adaptability and accessibility to various needs and abilities 
so as to increase student participation and engagement.
At the same time, adaptations must meet curricular 
standards and expected outcomes without lowering 
expectations or compromising students’ future 
opportunities (Flecha, 2015). There are degrees of flexibility, 
along a continuum from fully flexible to traditional fixed 
curricula (Jonker et al., 2020). Flexibility can manifest in 
what, how, where and when learning occurs.