Chapter Two

Inclusion
2.1. Definition of Inclusion
Inclusion in education/service refers to an ongoing process aimed at offering quality education/services
for all while respecting diversity and the different needs and abilities, characteristics and learning
expectations of the students and communities and eliminating all forms of discrimination (UNESCO,
2008, as cited in EADSNE, 2010,). Inclusive services at any level are quality provisions without
discrimination or partiality and meeting the diverse needs of people.

Inclusion is seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all persons
through increasing participation in learning, employment, services, cultures and communities, and
reducing exclusion at all social contexts. It involves changes and modifications in content, approaches,
structures and strategies, with a common vision which covers all people, a conviction that it is the
responsibility of the social system to educate all children (UNESCO 2005), employ and provide social
services. Besides, inclusion is defined as having a wide range of strategies, activities and processes that
seek to make a reality of the universal right to quality, relevant and appropriate education and services. It
acknowledges that learning begins at birth and continues throughout life, and includes learning in the
home, the community, and in formal, informal and non-formal situations. It seeks to enable communities,
systems and structures in all cultures and contexts to combat discrimination, celebrate diversity, promote
participation and overcome barriers to learning and participation for all people. It is part of a wider
strategy promoting inclusive development, with the goal of creating a world where there is peace,
tolerance, and sustainable use of resources, social justice, and where the basic needs and rights of all are
met. This definition has the following components:
1) Concepts about learners
 Education is a fundamental human right for all people
 Learning begins at birth and continues throughout life.
 All children have a right to education within their own community
 Everyone can learn, and any child can experience difficulties in learning
 All learners need their learning supported child-focused teaching benefits all children.
2) Concepts about the education system and schools
 It is broader than formal schooling
 It is flexible, responsive educational systems
 It creates enabling and welcoming educational environments
 It promotes school improvement – makes effective schools
 It involves whole school approach and collaboration between partners.
3) Concepts about diversity and discrimination
 It promotes combating discrimination and exclusionary pressures at any social sectors
 It enables responding to/embracing diversity as a resource not as a problem
 It prepares learners for an inclusive society that respects and values difference.
4) Concepts about processes to promote inclusion
 It helps to identifying and overcoming barriers to participation and exclusionary pressures
 It increases real participation of all collaboration, partnership between all stakeholders
 It promotes participatory methodology, action research, collaborative enquiry and other related
activities.

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 5) Concepts about resources
 Promotes unlocking and fully using local resources redistributing existing resources
 It helps to perceive people (children, parents, teachers, members of marginalized groups, etc) as
key resources
 It helps to use appropriate resources and support within schools and at local levels for the needs
of different children, e.g., mother tongue tuition, Braille, assistive devices.

2.2. Principles of Inclusion

The fundamental principle of inclusion is that all persons should learn, work and live together wherever
possible, regardless of any difficulties or differences they may have. Inclusive education extends beyond
special needs arising from disabilities, and includes consideration of other sources of disadvantage and
marginalization, such as gender, poverty, language, ethnicity, and geographic isolation. The complex
inter-relationships that exist among these factors and their interactions with disability must also be a
focus of attention. Besides, inclusion begins with the premise that all persons have unique characteristics,
interests, abilities and particular learning needs and, further, that all persons have equal access education,
employment and services. Inclusion implies transition from separate, segregated learning and working
environments for persons with disabilities to community-based systems. Moreover, effective transitions
from segregated services to inclusive system requires careful planning and structural changes to ensure
that persons with disabilities are provided with appropriate accommodation and supports that ensure an
inclusive learning and working environment. Furthermore, UNESCO (2005) has provided four major
inclusion principles that support inclusive practice. These include:
1. Inclusion is a process: it has to be seen as a never-ending search to find better ways of
responding to diversity. It is about learning how to live with difference and learning how to learn
from difference. Differences come to be seen more positively as a stimulus for fostering learning
amongst children and adults.
2. Inclusion is concerned with the identification and removal of barriers that hinders the
development of persons with disabilities. It involves collecting, collating and evaluating
information from a wide variety of sources in order to plan for improvements in policy and
practice. It is about using evidence of various kinds to stimulate creativity and problem - solving.
3. Inclusion is about the presence, participation and achievement of all persons. Presence is
concerned with where persons are provided and how reliably and punctually, they attend;
participation ‘relates’ to the quality of their experiences and must incorporate the views of
learners/and or workers and achievement is about the outcomes of learning across the
curriculum, not just test and exam results.
4. Inclusion invokes a particular emphasis on those who may be at risk of marginalization,
exclusion or underachievement. This indicates the moral responsibility to ensure that those at
risk are carefully monitored, and that steps are taken to ensure their presence, participation and
achievement.

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 2.3. Rationale for Inclusion
Implementation of inclusion has number of rationales. These are: educational, social, legal, economic and
inclusive society building foundations
Rationales for Inclusion and their Respective Descriptions
1. Educational Foundations
o Children do better academically, psychologically and socially in inclusive settings.
o A more efficient use of education resources.
o Decreases dropouts and repetitions
o Teachers’ competency (knowledge, skills, collaboration, satisfaction
2. Social Foundation
o Segregation teaches individuals to be fearful, ignorant and breeds prejudice.
o All individuals need an education that will help them develop relationships and prepare
them for life in the wider community.
o Only inclusion has the potential to reduce fear and to build friendship, respect and
understanding.
3. Legal Foundations
o All individuals have the right to learn and live together.
o Human being shouldn’t be devalued or discriminated against by being excluded or sent
away because of their disability.
o There are no legitimate reasons to separate children for their education
4. Economic Foundation
o Inclusive education has economic benefit, both for individual and for society.
o Inclusive education is more cost-effective than the creation of special schools across the
country.
o Children with disabilities go to local schools
o Reduce wastage of repetition and dropout
o Children with disabilities live with their family use community infrastructure
o Better employment and job creation opportunities for people with disabilities
5. Foundations for Building Inclusive Society
o Formation of mutual understanding and appreciation of diversity
o Building up empathy, tolerance and cooperation
o Promotion of sustainable development

2.4. Factors that Influenced the Development of Inclusion

Inclusion originated from three major ideas. Inclusive education is a basic human right; quality education
results from inclusion of students with diverse needs and ability differences, and there is no clear
demarcation between the characteristics of students with and without disabilities and vulnerabilities.
Therefore, separate provisions for such students cannot be justified. Moreover, inclusion has got the
world’s attention because it is supposed to solve the world’s major problems occurring in social,
economic, religious, educational and other areas of the world. For instance, it is supposed to: counteract-
social, political, economic and educational challenges that happen due to globalization impact; enhance

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psychosocial, academic and other benefits to students with and without special needs education; help all
citizens exercise educational and human rights; enhance quality education for all in regular class rooms
through inclusion; create sustainable environmental development that is suitable for all human beings;
create democratic and productive society that promote sustainable development; build an attitude of
respecting and valuing of differences in human beings; and ultimately build an inclusive society.
Inclusive education is facilitated by many influencing actors. Some of the major drivers include:
1. Communities: pre-colonial and indigenous approaches to education and community-based
programs movement that favor inclusion of their community members.
2. Activists and advocates: the combined voices of primary stakeholders’ representatives of groups
of learners often excluded and marginalized from education (e.g., disabled activists; parents
advocating for their children; child rights advocates; and those advocating for women/girls and
minority ethnic groups).
3. The quality education and school improvement movement: in both North and South, the issues
of quality, access and inclusion are strongly linked, and contribute to the understanding and practice
of inclusive education as being the responsibility of education systems and schools.
4. Special educational needs movement: the new thinking ‘of the special needs education movement
as demonstrated in the Salamanca Statement has been a positive influence on inclusive education,
enabling schools and systems to really respond to a wide range of diversity.
5. Involvement of International agencies: the UN is a major influence on the development of
inclusive education policy and practice. Major donors have formed a partnership the Fast-Track
Initiative to speed progress towards the EFA goals. E.g. UNESCO, etc.
6. Involvement of NGOs movements, networks and campaigns: a wide range of civil society
initiatives, such as the Global Campaign for Education, seek to bring policy and practice together
and involve all stakeholders based on different situations
7. Other factors: the current world situation and practical experiences in education. The current
world situation presents challenges such as the spread of HIV/AIDS, political instability, trends in
resource distribution, diversity of population, and social inclusion. This necessitates
implementation of inclusion to solve the problems. On the other hand, practical experiences in
education offers lessons learned from failure and success in mainstream, special and inclusive
education. Moreover, practical demonstrations of successful inclusive education in different
cultures and contexts are a strong influence on its development

2.5. Benefits of Inclusion

It is now understood that inclusion benefits communities, families, teachers, and students by ensuring
that children with disabilities attend school with their peers and providing them with adequate support to
succeed both academically and socially.

Benefits for Students with Disabilities/ Special Needs

In inclusive settings people will develop:
• Appropriate models of behavior. They can observe and imitate socially acceptable behaviors of
the students without special needs
• Improved friendships with the social environment
• Increased social initiations, interactions, relationships and networks
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 • Gain peer role models for academic, social and behavior skills
• Increased achievement of individualized educational program (IEP) goals
• Greater access to general curriculum
• Enhanced skill acquisition and generalization in their learning
• improved academic achievement which leads to quality education service s
• Attending inclusive schools increases the probability that students with SEN will continue to
participate in a variety of integrated settings throughout their lives (increased inclusion in future
environments that contribute building of inclusive society).
• Improved school staff collaboration to meet these students’ needs and ability differences
• Increased parental participation to meet these students’ needs and ability differences
• Enhanced family’s integration into the community

Benefits for persons without Disabilities/ Special Needs

Students without special educational needs (SEN) will:
• Have a variety of opportunities for interacting with their age peers who experience SEN in
inclusive school settings.
• serve as peer tutors during instructional activities
• Gain knowledge of a good deal about tolerance, individual difference, and human exceptionality.
• Learn that students with SEN have many positive characteristics and abilities.
• Have chance to learn about many of the human service profession such as special education,
speech therapy, physical therapy, recreation therapy, and vocational rehabilitation. For some,
exposure to these areas may lead to career choices.
• Have increased appreciation, acceptance and respect of individual differences among human
beings that leads to increased understanding and acceptance of diversity
• Get greater opportunities to master activities by practicing and teaching others
• Have increased academic outcomes
• have opportunity to learn to communicate, and deal effectively with a wide range of individuals;
this prepares them to fully participate in society when they are adults that make them build an
inclusive society

Benefits for Teachers and Parents/Family

Inclusive education has benefit to teachers. The benefit includes: developing their knowledge and skills
that meet diverse students ‘needs and ability differences to enhancing their skills to work with their
stakeholders; and gaining satisfaction in their profession and other aspects.
Similarly, parents/family benefit from inclusive education. For example, parents benefit from
implementation of inclusive education in developing their positive attitude towards their children’s
education, positive feeling toward their participation, and appreciation to differences among humankinds
and so on. For detailed information, see the table below. when they participate in inclusive education of
their children.

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 Benefits of inclusion for Teachers and Parents/Family:

Benefits for Teachers Benefits for Parents/Family

They strengths and are contributing members of
o have more opportunities to learn new ways to teach the school community as well as the society
different kinds of students. They:
o gain new knowledge, such as the different ways • Learn more about how their children are
children learn and can be taught. being educated in schools with their peers
o develop more positive attitudes and approaches towards in an inclusive environment.
different people with diverse needs. • Become personally involved and feel a
o have greater opportunities to explore new ideas by greater sense of accomplishment in helping
communicating more often with others from within and their children to learn.
outside their school, such as in school clusters or • Feel valued and consider themselves as
teacher networks, or with parents and community equal partners in providing quality learning
members. opportunities for children.
o can encourage their students to be more interested, more • Learn how to deal better with their children
creative and more attentive at home by using techniques that the
o can experience greater job satisfaction and a higher teachers use in school.
sense of accomplishment when all children are • Find out ways to interact with others in the
succeeding in school to the best of their abilities. community, as well as to understand and
o get opportunities to exchange information about help solve each other’s problems.
instructional activities and teaching Strategies, thus • Know that their children and all children
expanding the skills of both general and special are receiving a quality education.
educators • Experience positive attitude about
o benefit from develop Developing teamwork and themselves and their children by seeing
collaborative problem-solving skills to creatively their children accepted by others,
address challenges regarding student learning successful in the inclusive setting, and
o Develop positive attitude that help them promoting the belonging to the community where they
live
recognition and appreciation that all students have

Benefits for Society

Inclusion goes beyond education and should involve consideration of employment, recreation, health and
living conditions. It should therefore involve transformations across all government and other agencies at all
levels of society. When students with special needs and without special needs are educated through quality
inclusive education, it not only benefits students, teachers and parents it also benefits the society. Some of the
major benefits may include:

Introduction of students with disabilities and vulnerabilities into mainstream schools bring in the students into
local communities and neighborhoods and helps break down barriers and prejudice that prevail in the society
towards persons with disability. Communities become more accepting of difference, and everyone benefits
from a friendlier, open environment that values and appreciates differences in human beings.

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Meaningful participation in the economic, social, political and cultural life of communities own cost effective
non-segregated schooling system that services both students with and without special needs education.

Ultimate goal of inclusion

The goal of inclusive education is to create schools where everyone belongs. By creating inclusive schools,
we ensure that there’s a welcoming place in the community for everyone after their school year’s end.
Students educated together have a greater understanding of difference and diversity. Students educated
together have fewer fears about difference and disability. An inclusive school culture creates better long-term
outcomes for all students. Typical students who are educated alongside peers with developmental disabilities
understand more about the ways that they’re all alike. These are the students who will be our children’s peer
group and friends. These students hold the promise of creating inclusive communities in the future for all our
children. These students will be the teachers, principals, doctors, lawyers, and parents who build communities
where everyone belongs.

Inclusive society is a necessary precondition for inclusive growth is a society which does not exclude or
discriminate against its citizens on the basis of disability, caste, race, gender, family or community, a society
which levels the playing field for investment and leaves no one behind. Thus, Inclusive growth which is
equitable that offers equality of opportunity to all as well as protection in market and employment transitions
results from inclusive society.

2.6. Features of Inclusive Environment

An inclusive environment is one in which members feel respected by and connected to one another. An
inclusive environment is an environment that welcomes all people, regardless of their disability and other
vulnerabilities. It recognizes and uses their skills and strengthens their abilities. An inclusive service
environment is respectful, supportive, and equalizing. An inclusive environment reaches out to and includes
individuals with disabilities and vulnerabilities at all levels from first time participants to board members.
It has the following major characteristics:
o it ensures the respect and dignity of individuals with disabilities
o it meets current accessibility standards to the greatest extent possible to all people with special needs
o provides accommodations willingly and proactively
o Persons with disabilities are welcomed and are valued for their contributions as individuals.
Inclusive Environments:
An inclusive environment is a place that is adjusted to individuals ‘needs and not vice versa that individuals
are adjusted to the environmental needs. It acknowledges that individual differences among individuals are a
source of richness and diversity, and not a problem, and that various needs and the individual pace of learning
and development can be met successfully with a wide range of flexible approaches. Besides, the environment
should involve continuous process of changes directed towards strengthening and encouraging different ways
of participation of all members of the community.
An inclusive environment is also directed towards developing culture, policy and practice which meet pupils’
diversities, towards identifying and removing obstacles in learning and participating, towards developing a
suitable provision and supporting individuals. Therefore, successful environment has the following
characteristics:

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 • It develops whole-school/environment processes that promote inclusiveness and quality provisions
and practice that are responsive to the individual needs and diversities

• It recognizes and responds to the diverse needs of their individuals and ensuring quality provisions
for all through appropriate accommodations, organizational arrangements, resource use and
partnerships with their community.

• It is committed to serve all individuals together regardless of differences. It is also deeply

committed to the belief that all persons can learn, work and be productive.

• It involves restructuring environment, culture, policy, and practice.

• It promoting pro-social activities

• It makes provides services and facilities equally accessible to all people

• It involves mobilizing resources within the community

• It is alert to and uses a range of multi-skilled personnel to assist people in their learning and working
environment.

• It strives to create strong links with, clinicians, caregivers, and staff in local schools, work place,
disability services providers and relevant support agencies within the wider community.

• It develops social relationships as an equal member of the class. It is also the classroom responsive
to the diversity of individuals’ academic, social and personal learning needs.

2.7. Barriers to Inclusion

Though many countries seem committed to inclusion their rhetoric, and even in their legislation and policies,
practices often fall short. Reasons for the policy-practice gap in inclusion are diverse. The major barriers
include:
• Problems related with societal values and beliefs- particularly the community and policy makers’
negative attitude towards students with disability and vulnerabilities. Inclusion cannot flourish in a
society that has prejudice and negative attitude towards persons with disability.
• Economic factors- this is mainly related with poverty of family, community and society at large
• Lack of taking measures to ensure conformity of implementation of inclusion practice with policies
• Lack of stakeholders taking responsibility in their cooperation as well as collaboration for inclusion
• Conservative traditions among the community members about inclusion
• Lack of knowledge and skills among teachers regarding inclusive education
• Rigid curricula, teaching method and examination systems that do not consider students with dives needs
and ability differences.
• Fragile democratic institutions that could not promote inclusion
• Inadequate resources and inaccessibility of social and physical environments
• Large class sizes that make teachers and stakeholders meet students’ diverse needs
• Globalization and free market policy that make students engage in fierce completion, individualism and
individuals’ excellence rather than teaching through cooperation, collaboration and group excellence.
• Using inclusive models that may be imported from other countries

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 2.8. Promoting Inclusive Culture
As mentioned in previous section inclusion is a sense of belonging, connection and community at work. And
inclusive organizations help people feel welcomed, known, valued and encouraged to bring their whole,
unique selves to work.
Culture: is the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. An organization’s culture
is the culmination of the priorities, values and behaviors, which support their employees in how they work
singularly, in teams and with clients. Culture plays a huge role in shifting the diversity needle and forming
truly inclusive environments. Hence, inclusive culture: involves the full and successful integration of diverse
people into a workplace or industry. Additionally, inclusive culture extends beyond basic or token presence of
workers who have disabilities. They encompass both formal and informal policies and practices, and involve
several core values:
•Representation: The presence of people with disabilities across a range of employee roles and
leadership positions
•Receptivity: Respect for differences in working styles and flexibility in tailoring positions to the
strengths and abilities of employees and
• Fairness: Equitable access to all resources, opportunities, networks and decision-making processes.
Dimensions of Inclusive culture
There are three dimensions/elements of an inclusive culture:
1. Universal design
2. Recruitment, training and advancement opportunities
3. Workplace accommodations and accessibility (Policy & Practice)
Universal Design
One of the most heralded concepts in disability advocacy and cultures in the last decade is the concept of
“universal design”. Universal design refers to the construction of structures, spaces, services,
communications and resources that are organically accessible to a range of people with and without
disabilities, without further need for modification or accommodation. While accommodations procedures
remain a needed function of most contemporary institutions and industries, forward-thinking approaches to
disability inclusion will frequently involve developing sites and resources that require no accommodation to
be fully usable and receptive to people with disabilities.
A few examples for the universal design practices may apply in the workplace include:
•Routinely providing manuals, materials and forms to all employees in a variety of digital formats that are
as readily accessible to people who use adaptive computer technologies as to other employees,
•building workspaces accessible to people who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices, as well as to all
other employees and
•providing employees with a variety of flexible schedule and work options. This allows employees who
have energy or functionality limitations to organize their time and strengths, and all employees are better
able to manage time and life/work balance.
Recruitment, Training, and Advancement Opportunities
Recruitment: effective recruitment of people with disabilities involves two components:
1. Accessible outreach and hiring practices and

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 2. Targeted recruitment of workers with disabilities.
- Accessible outreach and hiring practices essentially entail making sure that outreach materials,
networking and recruitment sites, communications, and application processes all include a range of
accessible options, or are free of barriers that might inhibit people with disabilities from participating.
Wherever possible, outreach and hiring resources generally should be equally accessible to workers with
and without disabilities. For example, making recruitment literature and job applications readily
available in digital and large-print formats, or holding outreach events in spaces without stairs or other
barriers and with accessible communications technology, helps to ensure that people with disabilities will
be included in recruitment practices.
- Targeted recruitment: involves specific outreach to people with disabilities. Although making general
recruitment practices more accessible goes a long way towards building an inclusive hiring structure,
individual employers are not always able to overcome existing barriers for instance, when recruiting via
externally sponsored job fairs that are not accessible. Therefore, targeted recruitment enables employers to
reach and interview qualified people with disabilities. In turn, having accessible recruitment practices
relative to hiring, materials and communications helps to ensure that targeted recruitment will be
successful not just in identifying qualified candidates, but by making sure there are no barriers to effective
outreach and eventual employment.

Training: Training plays a dual role in the creation of inclusive workplace culture. The first consideration
involves the degree to which people with disabilities have equitable access to training sites, events, and
materials. The second concern relates to the training of managers, particularly middle management, and human
resources staff, to work effectively with all people, including those with disabilities. The consequences of
inadequate training are substantial, in reducing job satisfaction, with corresponding negative consequences for
productivity and retention. In turn, companies favored by employees with disabilities make a concerted effort
to create equitable and accessible training resources.
Advancement: Research demonstrates that in order to have equitable opportunities for promotion and
professional development, like most employees, workers with disabilities typically require access to
mentoring. As with recruitment, mentoring and coaching involves a dual dynamic in which:
- Existing mentoring programs are advertised, implemented and maintained with attention to inclusion of
workers with disabilities, and
- targeted mentoring and coaching programs specifically assist employees with disabilities. These may
include the creation of explicit disability affirmative action policies related to promotion, targeted
professional networking opportunities, and the establishment of disability affinity networks and related
supports to encourage full integration into the workplace culture.
Workplace Accommodations and Accessibility: Policy & Practice
Policy plays a critical role in generating meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities workplace
accommodations and accessibility. In addition to recruitment, training and advancement, workplace policies
need to carefully plan for the provision of reasonable accommodations.
When assessing the effectiveness of existing accommodations policies, employee experiences can be
described based on two measures of equity.
o The first indicator of an inclusive workplace culture involves the perception of procedural justice,
meaning that employees with disabilities perceive the accommodations policy as fair, accessible and
functional.
o The practice of negotiating and providing accommodations constitutes an additional opportunity for
generating an experience of interactional justice. Interactional justice refers to the experience of
feeling that the managers or colleagues with whom one is interacting are behaving fairly, reasonably
and respectfully.

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Experiential and Bottom-Line Outcomes: the benefits of Inclusive cultures are specifically beneficial for
employees with disabilities, but also have positive results for all employees, as they include a number of
elements of a healthy work environment.
Specific positive outcomes include:
 Reduced expenses corresponding to reduced employee turn-over
 Increases worker commitment to and identification with organizational success
 Improves employee health and well-being
 Improves productivity
 Increases employee investment in work performance
 Reduces perception of discrimination and inequity
 Improves cooperation and collaboration among co-workers, employees and management
Creating an inclusive organizational culture is challenging but extremely advantageous. Here's why and how,
however, the business benefits and the outcomes of an inclusive organization fairness and respect, value and
belonging, safe and open, and empowerment and growth should be compelling enough to push forward. Some
of the benefits of an Inclusive organization that needs to be considered are
 Higher Job Satisfaction
 Lower Turnover.
 Higher Productivity
 Higher Employee Morale
 Improved Creativity and Innovation
 Improved Problem-Solving
 Increased Organizational Flexibility.
Inclusive education, when practiced well, is very important because all children are able to be part of their
community and develop a sense of belonging and become better prepared for life in the community as
children and adults. It provides all children with opportunities to develop friendships with one another.

In general, inclusive values are appreciating diversity, equality and equity, cooperativeness, participation,
community, and sustainability are examples of inclusive values that are fundamental for successful inclusive
education. Appreciating diversity, equality and equity, cooperativeness, participation, community, and
sustainability are examples of inclusive values that are fundamental for successful inclusive education.

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