The majority of children with disabilities are enrolled in mainstream education in Croatia, while children with extensive, multiple disabilities are enrolled in special education institutions. The goal is to provide every child with the opportunity of learning in the natural environment and therefore there is a tendency of placing and supporting the children in mainstream education.

Educational inclusion is implemented according to two models of education, full and partial inclusion. Full inclusion implies the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream class in which they master the regular curriculum customized to individualized ways of learning or curricula adjusted to their capabilities. . Partial inclusion means that pupils with disabilities (mostly mild intellectual disability) part of education (math, language, science) acquire in a separate class with special education teacher, and the other part (arts and PE) in the mainstream class with regular teacher. Children with disabilities, their teachers and parents have professional support from special education needs consultant (SENCo).

Croatia followed international trends and made provisions in its national educational plans, strategies and legislation for the teacher assistant. The teacher assistant and mobile expert team support for children with disabilities, implemented in Croatia from 2007, is one of the models of support aimed at improving access to mainstream education.

In the past 35 years, the inclusive education of children with disabilities has been faced with many challenges, such as: negative attitudes of teachers, inadequate training for teachers, insufficient educational support to children, architectural barriers (Žic Ralić, 2012). Precisely the elimination of these barriers represents noticeable positive changes, but these changes are not equally implemented in all schools in Croatia.

Olá Isabel Cristina Martins

aqui no Brasil o que podemos dizer é que é preciso muito estudo ainda por parte dos docentes. Eles não estão preparados para trabalhar com a inclusão nas salas de aulas.

I believe their are different pedagogical approaches to he same curriculum. The aim of each educational institute is to achieve the aims of the curriculum, hence the approach does not necessarily matter.

Well, we do have special schools but mostly for the more severe special needs, but we encourage and mainstreaming whenever possible, so SEN students are not segregated.

Best regards,

Debra

Thank you.

when saying "more severe special needs" you mean multiple disability???

And yes, I also think that we must go on investing on teachers' formation but it must be also something they feel they need in order to be more fruitful.

Segregation of special needs students rather exaggerate the gap between them and regular students which is not healthy for their academic and personal development. They need to fill their void socially, which is efficiently catered for by inclusive education models, though with some challenges. However, for very extreme cases, special schools may just be the only option to educate them. Its very unfortunate. Best regards

Dickson

In the Netherlands the law of Befitting Education (Dutch policy since August 2014) obligates schools to accept students with more severe special educational needs, instead of referring these students to special schools. The rule of thumb is: Regular when possible, special when required.

Via partnerships between multiple special schools and regular schools, students with special educational needs are supported to stay as long as possible in the regular system.

Thank you Renske. I was in Netherlands in 2011 and 2012 and I visited some Special education schools. it was before the law. Thanks for that good information. :-)

In Italy the school system are for all students, including students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities. We have a special and specific curriculum for teachers for students with disability. Students stay in the classroom much more than in the "special setting" and we are get used to include every students in the regular class using differentiation and specific approach to help them to overcome their difficulties. If you need other infos, feel free to contact me. Thanks for this discussion and to everybody to share infos

Inclusiveness is very important for both academic and social purposes. There are challenges, especially for the deaf-or hearing impaired- if teachers cannot communicate to the students through sign language, then they sit in class very frustrated. A knowledge of sign language is essential and some learners have no specific training in sign language from home. Teachers have to train them, and in mixed schools the sign language they learn may be difficult to be understood by family members at home. Skilled teachers can work well with all students but they need support and training. Still research needs to address a 'universal' versus a 'local' sign language approach and resolve this issue.

Well, the different school systems in Europe have invested a hugh quantity of money to face the inclusive education, but it is a very difficult issue. Specially because we can not check its application and compare. I have some papers about the inclusion in the schools and the initial training teacher in inclusive education. Maybe they could be useful for you.

Mr Vicente J LlOrent: I would appreciate reading the mentioned papers for some work we are doing

May be this can help too

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308711533_TALKING_TO_PEERS_ABOUT_CHILDREN_WITH_SPECIAL_NEEDS

in France, according to the specific educational needs of the pupil and according to his severity, the child can be directed towards the specialized environment or a particular class in a regular school or directly in an ordinary class with possibly adaptations and support an assistant teacher. Since the law of February 11, 2005, the inclusion in ordinary class is the privileged inclusive form. Thus the number of students with disabilities totally included has significantly increased.

Those are good news. Do they attend Psychology and therapeutic treatments in their regular schools or in institutions/clinics outside?

The majority of children with disabilities are enrolled in mainstream education in Croatia, while children with extensive, multiple disabilities are enrolled in special education institutions. The goal is to provide every child with the opportunity of learning in the natural environment and therefore there is a tendency of placing and supporting the children in mainstream education.

Educational inclusion is implemented according to two models of education, full and partial inclusion. Full inclusion implies the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream class in which they master the regular curriculum customized to individualized ways of learning or curricula adjusted to their capabilities. . Partial inclusion means that pupils with disabilities (mostly mild intellectual disability) part of education (math, language, science) acquire in a separate class with special education teacher, and the other part (arts and PE) in the mainstream class with regular teacher. Children with disabilities, their teachers and parents have professional support from special education needs consultant (SENCo).

Croatia followed international trends and made provisions in its national educational plans, strategies and legislation for the teacher assistant. The teacher assistant and mobile expert team support for children with disabilities, implemented in Croatia from 2007, is one of the models of support aimed at improving access to mainstream education.

In the past 35 years, the inclusive education of children with disabilities has been faced with many challenges, such as: negative attitudes of teachers, inadequate training for teachers, insufficient educational support to children, architectural barriers (Žic Ralić, 2012). Precisely the elimination of these barriers represents noticeable positive changes, but these changes are not equally implemented in all schools in Croatia.

Thank you, Anamarija, for your detailed explanation. My experience is that elimination of physical barriers is easier than the mind ones.

Thanks.

c

Thank you, Martin.

Is there formation for teachers (in initial formation) on SEN? who "teaches" them?

It is not the same in all European countries. There different policies and practices.