Personal choice: what to expect from inclusive education in the new academic year
In early July, the Ministry of Education commented on plans for the development of inclusive education for the 2025/26 academic year. In particular, the representative of the department touched upon the possibility of choosing the format of education for children with disabilities (in a regular school or in a specialized one), and also spoke about plans to conduct annual monitoring in educational institutions. Izvestia talked with experts in this field about the current situation in Russia with inclusive education and what possible innovations mean for it.
Diversity-based education
Larisa Falkovskaya, Director of the Department of State Policy for the Protection of Children's Rights at the Ministry of Education, told reporters about the plans of the Ministry of Education for the development of inclusion in the 2025/26 academic year in early July.
In particular, she noted that special monitoring is planned to be introduced in schools starting next year.
"Starting from the 2025/26 academic year, we will introduce an annual assessment of the inclusive environment in all schools. To do this, on behalf of the president, a special model has already been developed and approved in the Russian Federation with clear criteria on how an inclusive school should work," RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.
The Ministry of Education also plans to publish special textbooks for children with disabilities, and parents will retain the right to choose which format children with special needs will study in, together with their peers or as part of inclusion in a regular school, Larisa Falkovskaya promised.
In total, there are more than 1.15 million students with disabilities in Russia today, of whom 517,343 are in the care of preschool education institutions,13.6 thousand people are students of special vocational education with disabilities, 200.9 thousand are enrolled in private educational organizations. Secondary schools account for more than 600 thousand people.
Anna Bitova, a member of the Council of the Government of the Russian Federation on guardianship in the social sphere, the Coordinating Council for Disabled Children at the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and chairman of the Board of the Center for Curative Pedagogy "Special Childhood", told Izvestia that only 8.4% of the population in our country officially have the status of disabled people — this is one in five families.
— Inclusive education is not just about schools. It's about how we want our society to be: closed and afraid of anyone who strays from the "norm", or humane, able to accept and support different people. Inclusion is not for "them," it's about "all of us." No one is immune from changes in life, and it is important that society has working mechanisms of support and inclusion — from childhood, including through school, — said Anna Bitova.
Having a choice
Many people think that inclusion is about children being placed indiscriminately in the same class, but in reality, inclusion is precisely the possibility of choice. Thanks to this, one child can study in a specialized school, and the other in a general education school, but with the support that suits him better, says Anna Bitova, one of the largest specialists in inclusive education in the country.
— It happens that a child goes to inclusion, studies for several years, and then sometimes his parents, sometimes he himself says: "No, I want to study in a smaller class, I don't want to be in a competitive situation," and goes to a special school, but he becomes comfortable there. It's his choice," Bitova explained. — For some, a special school is good, but for others, inclusion is better. The choice should be for the child and his parent.
Many children and young people with disabilities know and understand much more of the neurotypical in some of their topics - from fossil mammoths to types of airplanes, says Bitova. Some of them may be talented musicians. "You feel that you are much weaker than this person, and he is stronger in his chosen topic. Someone draws, someone sings, and someone is just a good person. It is desirable that good people feel good, according to their choice," she stressed.
The main thing is the child's social adaptation, which will determine how he will live in the adult world, communicate with people and integrate into adulthood, and not how much academic knowledge the child will receive.
— Yes, some will go to university, some will graduate from college, some from a regular school, and some from an adapted school program. He will learn to read and write or not, he will learn to communicate with others, enjoy common joy with them, behave in a team. When such a person grows up, he can do some simple type of work: for example, help the janitor, be involved in planting flowers, gardening," says Anna Bitova. — Yes, he may not be able to explain something, but this person is in society.: they know him, they take him into account, because he had the opportunity to study and grow in society.
At the same time, those who studied at a regular school among other children have the highest rates of social adaptation, the expert clarifies. A person living in specially created conditions — for example, in a separate kindergarten or in a separate school — remains in a confined space, from which he may not find a way out later.
Marina Mantler, founder and project manager of ANO Tutor in Inclusion, a practicing tutor, expressed the hope that further research among the psychological and pedagogical scientific community would allow developing different models of inclusion and providing high-quality training for specialists focused on practice, but supported by scientific research and development.
Roman Dimenstein, head of the legal group at the Special Childhood Center for Therapeutic Pedagogy, emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia that inclusion presupposes people's kindness to each other and mutual support. However, at the same time, it has another idea, which is often not enough for ordinary classes.
— Inclusion involves new pedagogical technologies that make it possible to realize the potential of each student to the maximum. Whatever kids are in the class, they have to be successful. And this applies to everyone. If we disrupt the academic success of both the cognitively weaker and the strongest students, then we are violating the idea of inclusion," he explained.
Legal right
Inclusive education is an integral part of the provisions on the provision of special conditions, if necessary, stipulated in article 79 of the Law on Education, Marina Mantler recalls. At the same time, the successful implementation of its principles requires the interaction and mutual support of different institutions.
Recent innovations, including plans to evaluate inclusive work in schools, relate directly to Izvestia's interlocutor as a tutor. According to her, it is extremely important to use evidence-based methods, including those prescribed in the updated clinical guidelines.
— We think that in order to give an assessment, it is necessary to assemble a working group of experts in various scientific fields. An assessment of one institution can give a one—sided view of the problem, so it is necessary to gather a pool of experts and make a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in the education system," Marina Mantler emphasized.
During monitoring in schools, it is necessary to take into account the opinion of parents and involve professional non-profit organizations and representatives of higher pedagogical educational institutions involved in personnel training in monitoring, says Alexandra Fadina, executive director of the Center for Therapeutic Pedagogy "Special Childhood".
— According to which program a child with disabilities will study at school, a comprehensive psychological, medical and pedagogical examination determines. In my opinion, it is necessary to monitor the quality and completeness of the implementation of the adapted basic general education program and the availability of the necessary special educational conditions recommended to the child during the passage of the psychological, medical and pedagogical commission, and this is the presence of defectologists, tutors, assistants, teaching aids, - listed Alexandra Fadina.
At the same time, teaching a child with disabilities, with any developmental disabilities, is more expensive than teaching a neurotypical child. Fadina recalled that the law provides for the creation of financial and economic conditions for this, but in practice it is not always possible to implement it.
— If a child with a disability comes to school in Moscow, the standard is doubled, if a student with a musculoskeletal disorder or is blind, it is tripled, but this money is still not enough. In the calculations made by the same Institute of Correctional Pedagogy, there are coefficients — 7, 8, 9 — so many times more funds are required for the education of a child with a particular developmental disorder," said Fadina.
In addition, in accordance with current regulations, if a child with an autism spectrum disorder enters a class with 25 students, then the class occupancy rate relative to the standard, which is 25 people, should be reduced by three people. If two children with an autism spectrum disorder are accepted into the class, then six. More than three children with this disorder cannot be admitted to the class, because otherwise, according to the regulations, no more than 16 people should study in it.
"If they monitor the strict implementation of existing regulatory requirements for the education of children with disabilities, then this can only be welcomed," Nadezhda Fadina expressed.
Support the tutor
A tutor is an important figure in the development of inclusive education. They should provide individual support to children with additional needs. Today, the field of inclusion and correctional education still needs solutions that will make their work easier, experts believe. Marina Mantler, founder and project manager of the NGO Tutor in Inclusion, notes the need to increase the number of tutors in each educational organization, provided that these are individual specialists with a good training base. In her opinion, it is also necessary to improve the material and technical base.
— I would really like to monitor the training of tutors, not for show, but with a request from the community, so that tutors are not afraid to come and say: "We do not know how to work, please teach us, give us specific recommendations, what should we do in particularly difficult cases?". To provide them with support from mentors and more experienced specialists, not control, but support and assistance, that is, support," Mantler emphasized.
Such a request could be met by an electronic resource for accumulating descriptions of successful experiences, with which it would be possible to track positive dynamics, identify difficulties, and exchange practices in inclusion within the framework of longitudinal research, she believes.
In addition, in her opinion, tutors need the support and assistance of a mentor-consultant from practicing specialists, additional training in practices and methods for working with students with different behavioral characteristics.
— Unfortunately, not everywhere provides high-quality practice-oriented training for teachers and tutors, as well as speech therapists, speech pathologists and psychologists. This is often theoretical knowledge that does not tell you how to work with children with complex behavior in practice. The training has been completed, but there are no "handwork" skills," explained the interlocutor of the publication.
Equally important is the transition from a nosocentric model (medical perception) to a subject—oriented model - not to divide children by diagnosis, not categorize by deficits, but to see the personality in everyone, consider changes in the environment rather than the child, study his interests and resources, create trusting relationships within the framework of humanistic pedagogy and relying on ethics and empathy., she emphasized.
Previously unattainable
Inclusive and correctional schools, approaches to working with children with disabilities have changed or even turned around by 190 degrees since much attention has been paid to this, the publication's interlocutors agree. In 2012, the current law "On Education" was adopted and the right to study for everyone in an educational organization of their choice was regulated with the provision of special conditions. However, it is difficult to speak unequivocally about the final changes, said Marina Mantler, project manager of the Tutor in Inclusion NGO.
— It's been a long time and a short time at the same time. It is important that teachers and support specialists receive high-quality qualifications in working with students with disabilities. It is not enough to see positive changes in the entire education system using inclusive models," said Marina Mantler.
Anna Bitova remembers how serious the problems with the placement of children with autism used to be, who were not even accepted into special schools. However, if there is a willingness to interact on the part of the surrounding society, the dynamics can be very impressive, she believes.
— One day, the director of a gymnasium finally offered to take our children. We were given separate rooms and an entrance, and we selected the teachers ourselves, but at first the gymnasium teachers strongly resisted. The parents of ordinary children insisted ("Let everyone who wants to study"), and we started. At first, everything was strict: a separate entrance, other changes, but by the middle of the year the separate entrance was closed, and the children were already walking with the others: they ran and played together, common clubs appeared, for example, theater and pictographs — autistic people succeeded even better in it, — said Anna Bitova.
According to her, gradually many children began to go to lessons in common classes, and some completely switched and were able to stay in them.
— It took several years, but those who graduated from general school showed high social adaptation: they travel around the city, work, and several people went to university. They remain autistic, with special contact features, but with excellent adaptation — this is exactly what we want for all children, with and without disabilities," Bitova shared.
Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Education with a request to comment on plans for further development of inclusion, but no response had been received by the time of publication.
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