Levels of Inclusive School Development – findings from Spain and Canada and their implications for the German school system

Author(s):

Andreas Köpfer(presenting / submitting)Lea Schäfer(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 02 A, Enquiring about National Systems of Inclusive Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-02

15:15-16:45

Room:

B013 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Helga Fasching

Contribution

By postulating an „inclusive school system at all levels“ (Art. 24) the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations 2006) sets the legal frame for an international development towards inclusive education. The transformation process, however, varies from country to country as it depends on cultural, political, economic and social factors. Nonetheless, the research-based international discourse on inclusive education implies gainful impulses, as each country offers innovative strategies and ideas.

This contribution starts off with a compilation of international key challenges regarding inclusive education, basing on the results of a junior research workshop in Berlin (2014).

Focusing on inclusive school development, two countries are discussed, that can be taken as advanced examples for Inclusive Education: Spain and Canada. Referring to qualitative research data (cf. Schäfer 2014; Köpfer 2013), it can be pointed out that each country has different focal points of inclusive school development – governing principles on the one hand, school organization processes on the other.

After many years of dictatorship in Spain the transformation to a democratic state also changed the education system – beginning with the Education Act in 1985 (Fundación ECOEM 2007) which declared special education as part of the regular school system. Since then policies to implement an inclusive education system have developed into an example of governance for other countries – especially if we look at the statistics concerning schooling in special schools or classes, which are very low (0,4%; Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte 2012). The challenges of inclusive school development on the administration level in Andalusian Secondary Schools are how to deal with diversity in order to include all pupils regardless of their peculiarities till the end of compulsory school attendance.

Canada’s reputation as one of the most advanced countries regarding Inclusive Education can be traced back to the 1980s, when the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was introduced (cf. Department of Justice 1982). This Charter bases on the premise of anti-discrimination against minorities (including race, national or ethnic origin, disability, religion, etc.) and led to inclusive school systems – mainly in eastern provinces such as New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island or Ontario. At first, school development mainly took place as a desegregation process that decreased the number of special schools and increased the number of students with special needs in regular schools. In the course of time Canadian schools developed inclusive structures with a predominant focus on an internal school support system, containing the protagonist role of a methods & resource team to assist, support and coordinate school organization processes (cf. Köpfer 2013; Porter & Stone 1998; DuFour & Eaker 1998).

Both the Spanish and the Canadian perspective offer insights into transformation processes of education systems with focus on Inclusive Education – at the level of governance, administration as well as school organization which is at the same time important for inclusive School Development in Germany. The theoretical basis for a conflation of the results of both perspectives lays in references to systemic, sociological and school theories (e.g. Bourdieu’s capital theory, Fend’s school theory and Goffman’s role theory). Educational Governance is used as an overall framework for the joint examination.

Concluding that inclusive school development has to take place at all levels of the educational system, keystones and levels towards a holistic approach of inclusive school development in Germany are outlined.

Method

Both qualitative studies contain an ethnographic approach to the research question, which means that the collection of data has taken place within the field for a longer period of time. The study in Spain (cf. Schäfer 2014) uses interviews with experts at different school levels of Andalusian Secondary Schools, e. g. teachers, teachers for special education, school administration and coordinators for the special support who are part of the special support team. The data collection of the Canadian study by Köpfer (cf. 2013) contains interviews with diverse stakeholders of schools and school practice, observations of various lessons and team meetings and a log book. Methodologically the studies base on the Grounded Theory Methodology (cf. Glaser & Strauss 1967) and the reconstructive social research (cf. Bohnsack 1991), which offer a range of methodological instruments to collect and analyse data inductively. The data analysis and interpretation of both studies refer to the German school system and formulate impulses to develop and improve the approaches to inclusive education within the country.

Expected Outcomes

Although the focal point of both studies aims at the German school system, there has not been a systematic comparison of the two ethnographical perspectives. A first conflation of the Spanish and Canadian approaches on Inclusive Education can be subsumed as follows. For the German school system, it shows that • a legal foundation for Inclusive Education is of tremendous importance • holistic support structures at all levels have to be established • systemic financing for education and special support has to be disconnected from individual diagnostics on special educational needs • individualization (including different learning objectives) has to be realized – containing non-categorical & systemic support for all students

References

Department of Justice (1982): Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ottawa: Government of Canada. Online verfügbar unter http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter [17.01.2014]. Bohnsack, Ralf (1991). Rekonstruktive Sozialforschung. Einführung in Methodologie und Praxis qualitativer Sozialforschung. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. DuFour, Richard & Eaker, Rebecca (1998): Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievements. Bloomington: Solution Tree. Fundación ECOEM (2007): Leyes Educativas Vigentes (LODE y LOE), Sevilla. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (MECD) (2012): Sistema estatal de indicatores de la educación, Edición 2012. URL: http://www.mecd.gob.es/dctm/inee/indicadores educativos/seie2012.pdf?documentId=0901e72b81477552 [17.1.2014] Glaser, Barney & Strauss, Anselm (1967): The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine. Köpfer, Andreas (2013): Inclusion in Canada – Analyse inclusiver Unterrichtsprozesse, Unterstützungsstrukturen und Rollen am Beispiel kanadischer Schulen in den Provinzen New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island und Québec. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Köpfer, Andreas (2013a): Unterstützung / Support. In: Ziemen, K. et al. (Hrsg.): Inklusion- Lexikon. Online verfügbar unter: http://www.inklusion-lexikon.de/UnterstuetzungSupport_Koepfer.pdf [17.01.2014] Köpfer, Andreas (2012): Das Methods & Resource Team als Koordinationsstelle einer inklusiven Schule. In: mittendrin e.V. (Hrsg.): Eine Schule für alle. Inklusion umsetzen in der Sekundarstufe. Mülheim an der Ruhr: Verlag an der Ruhr, S. 322-325. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (2012): Datos y Cifras Curso Escolar 2012/2013, Educación. Porter, Gordon & Stone, Julie (1998): An Inclusive School Model: A Framework and Key Strategies for Success. In: J. Putnam (Hrsg.): Cooperative Learning and Strategies for Inclusion. Second Edition. Baltimore: Paul Brookes Publishing, S. 229‐248. Schäfer, Lea (2014): Die Umsetzung von Chancengleichheit und Diversität im spanischen Schulsystem – Diskussion eines Forschungsdesigns. In: Bernhardt, Nora; Hauser, Mandy; Poppe, Frederik; Schuppender, Saskia (Hrsg.) (2014): Inklusion und Chancengleichheit. Klinkhardt, S. 162 – 167. Schäfer, Lea (2011): Inklusion international. Die Umsetzung der UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention in Spanien. In: Flieger, Petra/Schönwiese, Volker (Hrsg.): Menschenrechte, Integration, Inklusion. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn, S. 125-130. Schäfer, Lea (2011): Schulische Inklusion in Spanien. Was können wir von anderen Ländern lernen? In: Lütje-Klose, Birgit (Hrsg.): Inklusion in Bildungsinstitutionen. Eine Herausforderung für die Heil- und Sonderpädagogik. Klinkhardt, Bad Heilbrunn. S. 193 – 197. United Nations (2006): UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Online verfügbar unter http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml [17.01.2014].

Author Information

Andreas Köpfer (presenting / submitting)

FHNW

Institut Spezielle Pädagogik und Psychologie

Basel

Lea Schäfer (presenting)

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

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