Going to school for the first time: inclusion committee members increasing the number of students with disabilities in primary schools in Kenya

Abstract

This paper is an extension of a prior research project where Kenyan primary school teachers began using inclusive education strategies that proved beneficial for meeting the needs of diverse primary school students. Specifically, this paper highlights a project where these inclusive practices were expanded to a second region of western Kenya. This expansion of teacher training on inclusive education and critical disability studies promoted sustained schooland community-based discussions on inclusive education and sensitisation on issues related to disability. These practices also led to the development of inclusion committees, co-teaching practices, and stimulated the partial dissolution of the physical boundaries and categorical distinctions between 'primary' and 'special' schools. In conjunction, all of these factors ultimately led to an increase in the number of students with disabilities accessing any form of education for the first time. Furthermore, such approaches to the development and small-scale expansion of a sustainable inclusive education system led to the Kenyan government's consideration of the replication of such practices on a national scale. As a result of this work in conjunction with a growing inclusive network of governmental and non-governmental organisations, a national review on special education policy is underway. ARTICLE HISTORY

The Implementation of Inclusive Educational Policies in Elementary School

“…The implementers of the inclusive education policy consisting of school principals, classroom teachers, subject teachers, special companion teachers, and other education staff in schools that provide inclusive education. The majority of research findings around the world stated that there were still many teachers who do not understand and adapt to students with special needs (Elder & Kuja, 2019;Schwab, Sharma, & Hoffmann, 2019). A similar thing was also happening in the implementation of inclusive education in Elementary Schools in Surakarta, although overall the implementation of inclusive education could be categorized as good.…”

Pendidikan inklusi: Tantangan dan strategi implementasinya

“…Pada dasarnya berhasil tidaknya implementasi kebijakan pendidikan inklusi di sekolah dipengaruhi oleh seberapa baik pemahaman inklusi pelaksana/pengelola dalam hal ini baik kepala sekolah, guru kelas, guru mata pelajaran, guru pendamping khusus, dan tenaga kependidikan lainnya dan ketersediaan sumber daya yang memadai baik yang terkait dengan dukungan masyarakat, keuangan dan infrastruktur di sekolah penyelenggara pendidikan inklusi (Besic et al, 2020). Hal ini didukung oleh mayoritas temuan penelitian di seluruh dunia yang menyatakan bahwa masih banyak guru yang belum memahami dan beradaptasi dengan siswa berkebutuhan khusus (Elder & Kuja, 2019;Schwab et al, 2019). Meskipun implementasi kebijakan pendidikan inklusif berdampak positif baik bagi siswa maupun lingkungan, di sisi lain masih terdapat kendala dalam pelaksanaannya seperti kurangnya kemampuan dari guru berlatar belakang pendidikan non-kekhususan, masalah kurikulum, dan kurangnya sarana prasarana untuk menunjang proses pembelajaran kepada siswa berkebutuhan khusus (Zakiah et al, 2021).…”

To what extent is the schooling system willing to change to include disabled children?

“…Using the DSE approach, the motivation for providing inclusive education to disabled learners does not stand or fall on the capacity of the disabled learners, but on the school's ability to remove structural barriers to inclusion. The work by Elder in Kenya offers a good example of how inclusion committees at the school can successfully enhance the inclusion of disabled learners in schools through identifying and removing barriers (Elder 2015;Elder, Damiani, and Okongo 2016;Elder and Kuja 2019). Elder (2015, 25) observes that, 'Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and government officials need to collaborate together within their local communities and identify the strengths and barriers of their local educational systems.…”