Promoting inclusive education for diverse societies

Abstract

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The social and economic rationale of inclusive education

“…While many OECD countries are making efforts to enrol newly arrived children in education, challenges still persist especially for children from pre-primary and upper secondary ages, who often fall out of national compulsory education systems (UNICEF, 2018 [148]; Cerna, 2019 [149]). In low-income countries, instead, fewer than half of refugee children hosted by low-income countries access primary education, and only 9% refugee adolescents access secondary education in these countries (2017 [147]).…”

Policy approaches and initiatives for the inclusion of gifted students in OECD countries

“…The use of different forms of identification methods has been particularly important for scholars concerned with the exclusion and/or underrepresentation of certain students from gifted programmes. There is particular concern about outdated identification methods for the under-representation of certain groups, such as those from ethnic minority groups and low socio-economic backgrounds, in enrichment and acceleration programmes (Casey, Portman Smith and Koshy, 2011 [51]; Pfeiffer, 2012 [52]; Worrell et al, 2019[4]; Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2019 [53]).…”

“…the difference between their potential and performance, is challenging. Evidence shows that the percentage of significantly underachieving gifted students might range from at least 10% to approximately 40%, with some studies suggesting that it could be even higher (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2019 [53]). This suggests that a significant number of gifted students do not reach their full potential and can end up failing school, with some groups being more vulnerable than others to underachievement (see section 1.6 ).…”

“…As such, teacher preparation is crucial in gifted education policy. Evidence shows that gifted education programmes, from identification and assessment to differentiation and other pedagogical strategies, are significantly more efficiently implemented by teachers who undertook specialist studies in gifted education (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2019 [53]). Various countries have developed policies and initiatives aimed at enhancing teachers' preparation to respond to the needs of gifted students.…”

“…The authors nonetheless noted an increase in training opportunities since 2015, when three states required at least one of these groups to take coursework on gifted learners. In Australia, in spite of an apparent focus on gifted education in several provinces, study in gifted or high-ability education is not a mandated part of pre-service education, and very few Australian university schools of education require it as a mandatory degree component (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, 2019, p. 19 [53]). Similar issues have been identified across Europe (Tourón and Freeman, 2017 [43]) and Latin America where the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) (2004 [41]) noted significant gaps in ITE and continuous professional learning for educational staff.…”