Inclusion and education

CHAPTER
7
Schools

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KEY MESSAGES
Schools have a key role to play in helping build an inclusive education system.
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School leaders need to adopt an inclusive ethos and pedagogy, respond to diversity and deliver education of 
good quality for all through a whole-school approach.
Legal barriers hamper fair school admissions but head teachers can help overcome them in the process of 
developing an inclusive school culture.
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Exclusionary mechanisms and administrative barriers remain. In 15 countries, admissions depend on medical-
psychological assessments and other selection procedures.
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Of the 30 education systems, 17 do not include children with disabilities in primary and 21 in secondary 
education. Admission barriers exist for Roma children in 10 countries in primary and 13 in secondary education.
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School tactics lead to exclusion even when preventive legislation is in place. In 15 education systems, 
mainstream schools have special classrooms. In Serbia, children with a developmental disability are nominally 
enrolled in mainstream schools but placed in developmental groups where they do not benefit from daily 
interaction and inclusion in mainstream classroom activities.
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Home schooling is another exclusionary practice. Local schools register a child year after year in the same 
grade. This administrative grade retention allows the school to be flexible with the support offered to children, 
but usually only a reduced curriculum is accessible.
Organization of learner support is a key school responsibility.
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As they shift towards inclusive and in-school support, countries offer multiple support functions: counselling 
and mentoring roles in 25 countries, learning support assistance in 22 countries, and specialist and therapist 
support in 21 countries. The challenge is to overcome the targeted, exclusionary and often medical approach 
that has dominated such support.
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Head teachers in North Macedonia, Slovakia and Slovenia, on their own initiative or as part of school networks, 
can use a continuum of support offered by counsellors for preventive, supportive and developmental activities.
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Head teachers can rely on support teams for specific interventions. Latvia has established a pedagogical-
psychological support service. Support teachers in the Republic of Moldova provide special psycho-
pedagogical assistance, physiotherapy and speech therapy.
Special schools have a new role to play in an inclusive education system.
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Some countries are moving to establish resource centres to support mainstream schools with specialist 
expertise and resources, especially for learners with complex needs. Poland, where 34% of learners with special 
education needs are taught in special settings, is developing specialized centres to support mainstream 
schools.
Inclusive education requires appropriate and accessible school buildings and facilities.
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Much infrastructure is neither adapted nor accessible. In Kyrgyzstan, only about 8% of schools have the 
necessary infrastructure for children with disabilities.
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New school design approaches respond to learner diversity. In Georgia, schools must be adapted to learner 
needs and equipped using universal design standards.
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Few countries monitor infrastructure standards well. Lithuania collects online information by municipality on 
various aspects of accessibility and adaptability in general schools.
118
GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 2021

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Inclusive education depends on fair school admissions and social recognition ...119
Inclusive education depends on access to learning and learning support ..............122
Organization of learner support is a key school responsibility ...............................122
Special schools can play a new role in an inclusive education system ................124
Inclusive education requires appropriate school buildings and facilities ..................125
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................127
Inclusive school development cannot be 
reduced simply to improving schools’ 
physical accessibility or access to the 
curriculum
In the move towards inclusive education, schools and 
school leaders are crucial. Especially now, amid a rapid 
shift towards new and diverse forms of instruction, 
interaction and participation, accelerated during the 
COVID-19 crisis, schools need to ensure that teachers and 
learners learn collaboratively and socially. Mechanisms of 
exclusion from the school community, the pedagogical 
approaches schools develop to reach all learners, and how 
leadership promotes inclusive school development must 
be monitored.
As a school becomes inclusive, aiming to organize 
equal learning opportunities and ensure equal learning 
outcomes, two issues are central. The first concerns access 
and accessibility. As human and financial resources to 
address diversity are scarce and distributed unequally, the 
transition to inclusion is often a management challenge 
for schools and school networks. The second issue regards 
human and technological support for learning. Specialist 
support and targeted actions for vulnerable groups in 
mainstream schools are essential.
Despite these elements’ importance, inclusive school 
development cannot be reduced simply to improving 
schools’ physical accessibility or access to the curriculum. 
Access to learning requires a broader perspective 
involving the organizational, pedagogical and social 
conditions offered by schools and their ambitions and 
effect on learners’ performance, transition and future life 
opportunities (Ebersold, 2015; European Agency, 2017; 
UNESCO, 2020). In other words, developing accessible 
schools and improving procedures to facilitate access 
to support are part of a social contract in which school 
leaders and teams, as well as local stakeholders, are deeply 
involved. Schools need to consider education quality 
as a vehicle to enhance equal outcomes. By adopting 
an inclusive ethos and responding to diversity as an 
imperative for practice, school leaders can engage teachers 
in developing inclusive pedagogy and providing education 
of good quality for all (Artiles et al., 2010; Florian and Spratt, 
2013; Florian, 2019).
A whole-school approach is needed. This chapter 
focuses on schools as a community and a resource for 
inclusive education, taking the perspective of schools as 
organizations that manage admissions and help fulfil 
the right to learning. It considers how inclusive school 
leadership affects participation, equal outcomes and 
a sense of belonging. It primarily regards mainstream 
schools but also considers how special schools, home 
schooling and various forms of support and counselling can 
be involved in the process of developing inclusive learning 
environments. Finally, it discusses the accessibility of the 
school environment, which requires policy support beyond 
the school community.