Memorandum submitted by the Alliance for
Inclusive Education
Alliance for Inclusive Education is national
information sharing and campaigning network, led by disabled people
with parents, teachers and educationalists as allies. We are the
only organisation, controlled by disabled people, that focuses
on campaigning and policy development work on education issues.
We see our role as bringing together all the "stakeholders"
under the leadership of disabled people, to challenge, inform,
and campaign for "social justice" and equality for all
these disadvantaged and marginalised children and young people.
Since 1990 the Alliance has campaigned for the
right of all disabled learners to be included in mainstream education.
The Alliance was part of the lobby that campaigned for SEN legislation
that removed many of the barriers to inclusion and it is through
the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 that the
vast majority of disabled learners are now being educated in their
local mainstream education setting alongside their friends and
peers.
We approach all our work from the social model
of disability. The social model of disability is a fundamental
principle of the duty to promote disability equality.
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
IS A
HUMAN RIGHTS
ISSUE
ALLFIE's core principle is that inclusive education
like health and social care, freedom of liberty amongst others
are all equally human rights which must be upheld and protected
by Government.
Inclusive Education is the cornerstone for developing
an inclusive community where disabled and non disabled people
play, learn, work and grow up together. An inclusive community
fosters mutual respect and upholding of each other's dignity and
humanity as these young people articulate:
"Inclusion for me is about a society, which
respects the humanity of its people." (Disabled young person,
Nottinghamshire)
"I don't think there should be special schools
because all children must be together, and if we are separated,
we can't possibly know what different people in society are like.
I feel no one can live isolated from others. This is terribly
painful and extremely unfair. Most of the people are different
and have some problem. If they could be classified and separated,
they would be assigned to different places. What kind of society
would this be?" Juan Cobeñas, 2 August 2006
The Government has already demonstrated it's
commitment to the equality of disabled people in its 2005 "Improving
the Life Chances of Disabled People" report. The report sets
outs an ambitious target of securing equality for disabled people
by 2025. Setting an end date demonstrates the Government's understanding
that a great deal of work need to be done with regard to the removal
of existing barriers to disabled people's equality. It also indicates
the understanding that there is a need to work towards the progressive
realisation of disabled people's human rights and a move towards
an inclusive society where inequalities between disabled and non
disabled people will be eradicated.
This commitment was demonstrated further by
the UK Government being one of the first to sign the new UN Convention
for Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in March 2007.
ALLFIE is deeply disappointed, therefore, that
the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) remains
unmoved in its plan to place a reservation and interpretative
declaration against Article 24. It is our view that taking such
a decision is clearly out of step with the views and aspirations
by society for disabled learners.
Tara Flood, ALLFIE's Director attended the UN
Adhoc Committee meetings in New York, so is acutely aware of the
positive impact, globally, of a human rights treaty that recognising
the particular experience of the 600 million disabled people across
the world.
UK GOVERNMENT AND
ARTICLE 24
ALLFIE is fully aware that it would be unrealistic
to expect an education system that would be inclusive and welcoming
of ALL learners immediately, but given that over forty countries
have now ratified the UNCRPD without placing reservations or interpretative
declarations against Article 24, ALLFIE can rightfully assume
that those countries also believe that an inclusive education
system can be achieved over a period of time. Those states parties
who have ratified the UNCRPD have clearly taken into account that
it will take time to redesign education related legislation, policies,
and services to ensure that inclusive education is both achievable
and sustainable for ALL disabled learners.
That is why the UNCRPD has to be aspirational
in nature because its aim is to create a "paradigm shift"
in the way the world views disabled people. This is particularly
relevant to social economic and cultural rights, which includes
education. Article 4 (General Obligations) Clause (2) allows time
for states parties to plan and implement economic social and cultural
rights (including inclusive education rights) over a given period
of time so that the states party can work towards full compliance
with the UNCRD.
ALLFIE recognises, in particular the importance
of Article 24 (Education) in the UNCRPD and in particular the
impact that such forward thinking text will have on the access
to education for disabled learners. Currently this is a right
that is seldom respected—less than 2% of disabled children
in the majority world have access to education.
As we have already highlighted, the UK Government
has experience of working in this way. Other examples where the
UK Government has worked toward rights for disabled people over
a period of time is the 1995 and 2005 Disability Discrimination
Act and 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act. the
Government's "Building Schools and Colleges for the Future"
programme is support schools and colleges to improve the physical
environment which, in theory, will increase access for disabled
learners and ultimately play a part in reducing existing educational
inequality. The 2005 DDA has, over a period of time, created new
obligations on education settings (schools, FE and HE institutions)
to promote disability equality through the production of Disability
Equality Schemes.
Article 24, of the UNCRPD, will create a positive
benchmark for guiding the direction of future education policy
and legislation which will affect disabled and non disabled students
alike and ALLFIE believes that this is something that the UK Government
should embrace as an opportunity to progress their commitment
to delivering equality by 2025. As increasingly numbers of students
are or would like to access Further and Higher Education and other
informal education courses we would like such education providers
embrace the commitment of including disabled students in their
local provision.
ALLFIE also recognises the extraordinary journey
that member Government representatives and NGO representatives
took during the debates around Article 24. The legitimate concerns
raised about the practical implications for delivering an inclusive
education system did not go unheard. However such protracted debates
resulted in a consensus that inclusive education was the best
way in which disabled people could achieve equality, citizenship
and be fully recognised as valued human beings.
ALLFIE's publications "Snapshots of Possibilities"
and "Where Are They Are Now" both contain many practical
illustrations of how disabled young people can be included in
mainstream education.
OFSTED in their 2006 "Inclusion—Does
It Matter Where Pupils Are Taught?" report highlighted that
more good and outstanding provision was found in resourced mainstream
schools than anywhere else. Newham and Nottingham have been working
towards providing supported mainstream education across all its
educational provision. OFSTED also concluded that effectively
supporting disabled people's learning is not dependent on specialist
provision rather ethos of the school.
Also in 2006 the DCSF published a ground breaking
resource for schools to assist with finding solutions to including
disabled learners. The "Implementing the DDA in Schools and
Early Years Setting" pack was based on interviews with 40
mainstream schools and a number of key factors for successful
inclusion included:
— Vision and values based on an inclusive
ethos.
— A "can do" attitude from
all staff.
— A Pro-active approach to identifying
barriers and finding practical solutions.
— A strong collaborative relationships
with parents and pupils.
— A meaningful voice for disabled pupils.
— A positive approach to managing behaviour.
— Strong Leadership by senior management
and governors.
— Effective staff training and development.
ALLFIE believes that all disabled learners will
benefit from such positive and profound experience that comes
with learning alongside their nondisabled peers. ALLFIE is convinced
that Article 24 is key to supporting this realization.
"Inclusive education is a much more profound
and deeper challenge to our schooling system and the way we think
about learning. The starting principle is that each and every
learner, irrespective of the nature or degree of their impairment
should have the right to belong to their local school and their
local community, with meaningful and appropriate support, enabling
each learner to participate and contribute to such a learning
community." (Inclusion campaigner and ally, Bolton)
ALLFIE is a member of the UN Convention Campaign
Coalition which is currently advising the Joint Committee on Human
Rights that the UN Convention should be ratified without any reservations
and interpretative directives and ALLFIE would support this position.
The Government will not be upholding the spirit of the Convention
if ratification of the whole Convention does not happen as soon
as possible.
ALLFIE have written to Ed Balls (Secretary of
State for DSCF) in September asking for a meeting to discuss the
ratification of UN Convention for People with Disabilities without
any reservations to Article 24. We hope that the Joint Committee
on Human Rights will advice on the ratification of the whole convention
which will ensure disabled peoples human rights are universally
protected regardless where they live.
31 October 2008
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