Making schools inclusive: how change can happen

This report is about how non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can help school systems in developing countries become more inclusive. It shares experience of developing tools and approaches that have improved education for the most excluded children in society.

The report finds that while the principles of inclusive education have been broadly accepted by many since the international Salamanca Statement of 1994 on special needs education, efforts to make these a reality have been rather limited. The report points out that for such commitments to be fulfilled by governments, donors and others involved with education, strategies must be found to ensure that children viewed as ‘hardest to reach’ – the most socially and economically marginalised – can access good-quality education. This requires the principles of inclusive education to be put into practice on a much wider scale, including in resource-poor or crisis-affected settings.

The report concludes that:

• mechanisms need to be established to ensure that parents and community members participate and engage with schools on an equitable basis are vital to the success of inclusive education initiatives and can make change happen despite lack of funds
• local governments need to support participatory processes, this includes teacher training in inclusive, child-centred methods as well as funding
• persistent lobbying is needed to get sustainable government resources to fund school development plans. When making such demands for change at higher levels in the education system, the role of campaigning groups becomes more crucial
• school communities need training in comparable ways of collecting and recording data
• community members and teachers need to help mobilise funds from the local community to help the poorest children go to school
• strong children’s groups with representation on school committees need to be established in order to ensure that children’s views are properly heard
• inside the school system adults with an independent mindset (school psychologists, social workers, school principals, etc) need to take up their valuable roles.