Special education centers, support for inclusion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32093/ambits.vi53.1983Keywords:
Special education, Special schools, Inclusive education, Educational change, Inclusion resource center, Teacher trainingAbstract
Policies in favor of inclusive education require a reconsideration of the role and structures of special schools. This article first looks at the situation from an international perspective. There is an agreement on the need to overcome the historical gap between special and ordinary education, and to propose new roles, new approaches and perspectives to achieve a unique education system that is sensitive to the diversity of students' needs. Although the position is not unanimous, most countries are inclined to consider special schools as centers of excellence in the care and education of students with more extensive support needs and at the same time in organizations that support and promote inclusive education in the community where they are located.
Secondly, the project of transformation of special schools that DINCAT led and promoted in Catalonia in the beginning of 2016 is presented. The objectives of the project were, on the one hand, to promote a change in the understanding of special schools staff that would translate into a change in practices, through reflection, training and accompaniment; on the other hand, helping the schools to become part of an inclusive system in the community in which they are (neighborhood, town, county); in short, to become resource centers for inclusion.
Finally, the CEEPSIR ESPIGA-EAP program, promoted by the EAP of the Alt Penedès and the Delta-Espiga School, is presented. This program was born with the purpose to move to an inclusive school under conditions of equality and equality of opportunities. The main objective of this program is to accompany schools with a protocol of good educational practices to respond to students with more support needs.
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