Inclusion and education

Figure 8.1
).
 
Parents of vulnerable children need to know their 
rights
Parental involvement depends largely on access to 
detailed knowledge about their rights, obligations and 
opportunities. Parents of children with special education 
needs or disabilities and those who, for instance, are 
Roma, immigrants or poor may need information on 
fulfilling their children’s right to inclusive education and 
access to early identification and intervention, medical 
and therapeutic services, and early childhood education 
and schooling. In many cases, these parents are more 
likely to be uninformed, and their signature or permission 
may not even be required for decisions regarding 
psychological or pedagogical support.
The key to keeping parents, guardians and families 
informed of their rights and enabling them to make 
informed decisions on their children’s education is to 
strengthen efforts to include them. The Republic of 
Moldova is organizing information activities for parents, 
activating parent councils, improving information 
modalities and establishing partnerships between 
multidisciplinary team members and parents of children 
with special needs, as well as between the teaching staff, 
the supporting teacher and community social workers.
In contrast to such government-led initiatives, many 
efforts in the region are isolated, partly carried out as 
pilot projects, partly implemented and supported by 
non-government organizations (NGOs) or civil society 
organizations (CSOs). In Bulgaria, school managers 
participating in the One School for All project, run by 
the Centre for Inclusive Education, an NGO, work on a 
document setting out a vision of inclusion as a foundation 
of quality. It is discussed, endorsed and communicated 
with parents, students and teachers (Centre for Inclusive 
Education, 2017).
Parents need support to choose their 
children’s education setting
The right of parents to choose the education setting of 
their child is a fundamental human right. Parents and 
families of vulnerable children may prefer and support 
inclusive education but may also be apprehensive about it. 
It is very important that the right of parents to choose the 
educational setting for their children does not come at the 
expense of their children's right to inclusive education.
Parents of children with disabilities may favour special 
education and resist inclusion in mainstream schools if they 
believe their children will not receive sufficient attention. 
They need to be confident that mainstream schools will 
understand and respond to their children’s needs.
Even some well-informed parents prefer early 
identification and placement in special needs sections