Implementing Inclusive Education Abroad (On the Example of the Scandinavian Countries)

Abstract

The article deals with the implementation of inclusive education in Ukraine in the context of its integration into the European educational space. The list of legislative and normative bases (international and national levels), which regulate this process, is given. The relevance of studying foreign experience on the research problem, primarily countries that are exemplary in the context of the realization of inclusion to the educational field, is substantiated. The article aims at revealing the peculiarities of the implementation of inclusive education in the Scandinavian countries (on the example of Finland, Sweden and Norway). Theoretical analysis of the problem of implementation of inclusive education in the Scandinavian countries is presented. In particular, the stages of origin and development of inclusion and inclusive education. The features of its implementation in today’s conditions are described. The general trends that characterize education systems in Finland, Norway and Sweden in the context of their inclusiveness are revealed: a) understanding the concept of “inclusion” in the broad sense, which takes into account various characteristics (gender, age, disability, place of residence, ethnic and social origin, etc.); b) partial or total deinstitutionalization of special education institutions and integration of all children into general educational institutions; c) a team approach to the realization of inclusive education, etc.Prospects for further scientific research, which relate to the study of foreign experience of the preparation of future teachers for working in the inclusive environment, are outlined.
 Keywords: inclusion; integration, inclusive education; democratization; educational institutions; children with special educational needs; foreign experience; Scandinavian countries.