Disability and Inclusive Education Program

ISSA will be offering an opportunity this winter for country teams to engage in professional development to deepen their knowledge and skills in teaching children with disabilities in inclusive community schools. This trainer of trainers approach will offer a team of special educators and general educators learning strategies to gain new content and methodology for collaborative co-teaching. These advanced training modules will include topics such as disability specific teaching strategies, curriculum based assessments, progress monitoring, standards based individual education plans, positive behavioral supports, and response to intervention. Each team will receive a training toolkit including Power Point presentations, handouts and reading materials for the trainers and the participants. More information on dates and locations for these training will be sent to county teams in the near future.

Second Seminar on Inclusive Education, “Educational Policy toward Inclusion: Collaboration with Special Educators”, Vilnius, 29-30 November 2007

Background:

In 2006, the Ukrainian Step by Step Foundation (Kyiv, Ukraine), in partnership with the Center for Innovative Education (Vilnius, Lithuania), initiated the project “Educational policy regarding inclusive education: international experience and Ukrainian reality” with support from the East-East Program of the Open Society Institute. The project was an integral part of the project “Rights of the disabled children for equal access to quality education,” which was initiated and implemented by the International Renaissance Foundation (Kyiv, Ukraine) during 2005-2006.

The goal of the project was to promote changes in educational policies regarding inclusive education in countries of the former Soviet Union through development of a forum and coordination of actions of state and public organizations, including parents’ organizations from the countries.

In April 2006 the first international conference for regional stakeholders took place in Kyiv, Ukraine. During the conference, USSF presented a study on the current situation regarding rights of the children with disabilities for equal access to quality education in the countries participating in the project. Participants discussed recommendations regarding changes in inclusive education policies in Ukraine. As a result of the conference, an international working group was established to combine efforts and coordinate actions in the participating countries.

The goal of the Second Seminar on Inclusive Education is to discuss best practices in the collaboration between regular and special educators and the levers to bring these practices to the policy level.

Objectives of the Seminar:

Exchange information on the current situation of providing special support to students with disabilities within inclusive schools
Discuss best practices for the involvement of specialists and other resources into the process of inclusion of students with disabilities into mainstream schools
Discuss existing policies to provide special support to children with disabilities within regular inclusive settings;
Develop a plan for future cooperation and combining the efforts of the countries/participants

Expected Outputs:

Commitments of national and international organizations
Draft country reports on students with special educational needs and the mechanisms of support for specialists within the inclusive schools
National plans for cooperation with specialists and for provision of other resources to students with disabilities within mainstream education

Participants:

National representatives of Ministries of Education
National NGOs active in the field of inclusive education
Specialists (representatives of the national agencies providing special support to the children with disabilities)
Representatives of international organizations

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