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Beyond the Dilemma of Difference: The Capability Approach to Disability and Special Educational Needs
Abstract
In her recent pamphlet Special Educational Needs: a new look (2005) Mary Warnock has called for a radical review of special needs education and a substantial reconsideration of the assumptions upon which the current educational framework is based. The latter, she maintains, is hindered by a contradiction between the intention to treat all learners as the same and that of responding adequately to the needs arising from their individual differences. The tension highlighted by Warnock, which is central to the debate in special and inclusive education, is also referred to as the ‘dilemma of difference’. This consists in the seemingly unavoidable choice between, on the one hand, identifying children's differences in order to provide for them differentially, with the risk of labelling and dividing, and, on the other, accentuating the ‘sameness’ and offering common provision, with the risk of not making available what is relevant to, and needed by, individual children. In this paper, I argue that the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen provides an innovative and important perspective for re-examining the dilemma of difference in significant ways. In particular, I maintain that reconceptualising disability and special needs through the capability approach makes possible the overcoming of the tension at the core of the dilemma of difference, whilst at the same time inscribing the debate within an ethical, normative framework based upon justice and equality.
... Young people with disabilities, for example, often experience actual difficulties, and their preference to be among others whom they perceive as similar can be related to these difficulties. This preference can be an expression of individual choice, and it has been argued, drawing on Sen's capability theory, that promoting young people's autonomy, namely the freedom and capacity to choose the lives they value, is a matter of justice (Terzi, 2005). The question that is raised here is whether individual preferences can be respected when they come into tension with a broader social good, such as inclusion. ...
... This tension is experienced because people do not necessarily share the same understanding about what it means to show respect. For some, showing respect is translated into a demand for full participation (Tremain, 2005), while others acknowledge that not all young people have the same wishes (Terzi, 2005) and so individual differences can also be an expression of respect for the other. This analysis gave rise to several questions: ...
... This questions Terzi's suggestions that "capability equality may help go beyond tensions of difference and commonality" (2014, p. 489). This position repeats an earlier argument when Terzi (2005) advocated the capability approach as an approach that goes beyond and helps resolve the dilemmas of differences (as discussed above). ...
... This paper used a conceptual framework based on the capabilities approach (Terzi, 2005a(Terzi, , 2005b. For several years, the social model of disability has been the dominant paradigm in the disability studies literature and the medical or rehabilitation models have been the dominant paradigms in special education in the US and in East African countries (Peters, 1993;Stone-MacDonald & Butera, 2012). ...
... The capabilities approach (Nussbaum, 2006;Sen, 1999) views disability as just one of many factors that contribute to the holistic person and promotes fair treatment in society, so that everyone, with and without a disability are treated as equal members of the society. The capabilities approach extends the social model by arguing for the just treatment of individuals with disabilities consistent with a rights model focus on substantive equality and real equality of opportunity (Terzi, 2005a(Terzi, , 2005b. ...
... The capabilities approach (Nussbaum, 2006;Sen, 1999) views disability as just one of many factors that contribute to the holistic person and promotes fair treatment in society, so that everyone, with and without a disability are treated as equal members of the society. The capabilities approach extends the social model by arguing for the just treatment of individuals with disabilities consistent with a rights model focused on substantive equality and real equality of opportunity (Terzi, 2005a(Terzi, , 2005b. A culture can support or deny the rights of individuals with disabilities, but shifts in approaches and access to rights are possible through individual and collective action. ...
A sample of 42 transition-age, young adults with Level 1 ASD completed a scenario-based instrument designed to measure Social Evaluative Reasoning Ability (SER) in the workplace. For the purposes of this analysis, SER was modeled as a unidimensional construct. A Rasch, Partial Credit Model was utilized to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument. The mathematics underpinning the Rasch model are discussed and visual and statistical indicators of fit at the instrument and item levels are presented and considered. Next, an argument for the validity of the instrument is presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations and potential educational implications of the SER instrument.
... The capability approach, pioneered by Amartya Sen and further developed by Martha Nussbaum, has been extensively used to understand inequality and has been previously applied to the field of special education (Mitra, 2006;Norwich, 2014;Nussbaum, 2009;Terzi, 2005). The capability approach places agency at its core and considers 'vulnerability as a multidimensional and dynamic phenomenon' (Trani et al., 2011, p. 144). ...
... Two concepts rest at the core of this approach: capability and functioning. Capability is understood as possibilities and freedoms that enable functionings, practical opportunities, or potential functionings (Terzi, 2005). Functionings represent the 'being and doing', or the actual manifestations of capabilities as a result of the opportunity to make choices and exercise agency (Mitra, 2006). ...
... At the same time, the capability approach avoids the 'dilemma of difference' (Terzi, 2005) and allows for observing inequality and discussing how environmental factors may alleviate inequality (Norwich, 1993), while acknowledging the role of agency. Academic and socio-emotional outcomes -viewed as capabilities -may enable or hinder young people from pursuing potential functionings. ...
Using data from Ireland's national longitudinal study of children, this paper employs a capabilities approach to disability to understand how individual characteristics as well as home and school environmental factors at age 9 relate to academic and socio-emotional outcomes of students with special educational needs (SEN) at age 17. Results suggest that young people with SEN register both lower average scores and make less academic progress between the age of 9 and their national lower secondary examination, with the exception of young people with a physical SEN. Both home and school environmental factors at 9 years have long-term associations with the academic outcomes of young people with SEN, after controlling for individual characteristics and prior academic achievement. Home and school environmental factors had less consistent associations with the socio-emotional outcomes of young people with SEN. By using rigorous nationally representative longitudinal data, this paper offers a more holistic understanding of the development of young people with SEN. The paper also provides important evidence that a more inclusive approach for supporting students with additional needs, their parents , and their schools is needed.
... In terms of inequality of opportunity, the disability of an individual can also be considered as an important factor (Robeyns, 2006;Terzi, 2005;Toboso, 2011). Bilgin and Erbuğ (2021) drew attention to the access of individuals with disabilities and special needs to qualified education, the change in the perception of the disabled in society, and the preparation of the necessary infrastructure for them, within the scope of every citizen's right to receive education. ...
... Bilgin and Erbuğ (2021) drew attention to the access of individuals with disabilities and special needs to qualified education, the change in the perception of the disabled in society, and the preparation of the necessary infrastructure for them, within the scope of every citizen's right to receive education. Terzi (2005) explained that the Warnock Report (DES, 1978) on the education of children and young people with disabilities emphasized the importance of common educational goals for all individuals regardless of their abilities and disabilities and introduced the concept of 'special educational needs' to identify students who face difficulties. Çelik (2017) draws attention to the issue of being able to benefit equally from the opportunities of society without being subjected to any discrimination based on gender, physical disability or any other reason within the scope of existing as equal members of society. ...
Equality of opportunity in education refers to the right of students to access compulsory education and to have equal opportunities in the process of education. In addition to offering many solutions to ensure equality of opportunity in education, there are also many obstacles. As a matter of fact, educational technologies are considered as an option in terms of having an effect on individuals having equal opportunities in the education process. Educational technologies can be seen as a solution to existing inequalities in order to provide equality of opportunity in education. From this point of view, in this study, it is aimed to determine the thoughts on the use of educational technologies in the education-teaching process in the context of social inequalities. In the study, the qualitative research design of phenomenology was used and ten teachers working in different branches in private and public schools were interviewed. Semi-structured interview technique was used as the data collection method and the interviews were conducted online with the teachers. Deductive analysis method was used to analyze the data. In the study, first of all, literature review was made in the context of social inequalities and themes were determined within the framework of the literature. The themes revealed were discussed as gender, socioeconomic level, parental education level, technology use proficiency of teachers and students with special needs. Within the scope of the themes obtained, teachers’ opinions and suggestions regarding the impact of educational technologies within the framework of the concept of equality of opportunity in education were included.
... In the philosophical setting, the capabilities approach is best known through Martha Nussbaum [25,26,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Her formulation has prompted the development of new perspectives surrounding fundamental entitlements and distributive justice, and though philosophical uptake to the CA is becoming more common in disability studies [5,9,27,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], the CA has been less employed in relation to the sexual citizenship of disabled persons (with notable exceptions [5,6,9,10,38,40]); a lacuna exists on the matter of public policy and disability [36]. ...
... In the philosophical setting, the capabilities approach is best known through Martha Nussbaum [25,26,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Her formulation has prompted the development of new perspectives surrounding fundamental entitlements and distributive justice, and though philosophical uptake to the CA is becoming more common in disability studies [5,9,27,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], the CA has been less employed in relation to the sexual citizenship of disabled persons (with notable exceptions [5,6,9,10,38,40]); a lacuna exists on the matter of public policy and disability [36]. If there is an underuse of the CA in applied philosophy, it may be because of measurement and evaluation difficulties, definitional imprecision, a lack of a definitive list of capabilities, and internal difficulties within the framework. ...
The Human Condition is neither a well-defined nor well-described concept-nevertheless , it is generally agreed that human sexuality is a fundamental and constituent part of it. For most able-bodied persons, accessing and expressing one's sexuality is a (relatively) trouble-free process. However, many disabled persons experience difficulty in accessing their sexuality, while others experience such significant barriers that they are often precluded from sexual citizenship altogether. Recognising the barriers to the sexual citizenship of disabled persons, the concept of a Welfare-Funded Sex Doula Program has been advanced-a program specifically aimed at meeting the various (and often complex) sexual needs of disabled people. Below we show how that program can be justified within at least two different moral frameworks , the capabilities approach and liberal utilitarianism, and consider and repudiate arguments against it.
... Prethodna istraživanja odnosa roditelj-dijete su najprije usmjerena na proučavanje uticaja majke na dijete, dok je uloga oca bila zanemarena da bi se istraživači zasebno od pojma "majčinstva" usmjerili na pojam "očinstvo" i to najprije kao na potporu majčinstvu, a u novije vrijeme kao bitan samostalni odgojni utjecaj neovisan od uticaja majke 32 . Prethodna istraživanja pokazuju da majke teže podnose uticaj koji imaju teškoće djeteta jer se fokusiraju na djetetove teškoće dok svoje potrebe ostavljaju po strani 33,34 . Očevi djece sa teškoćama uglavnom osjećaju veću odgovornost vezanu za obezbjeđivanje finansijskih sredstava porodici i izazove u komunikaciji sa partnerom, dok se majke suočavaju sa problemima usljed nedostatka partnerove uključenosti u roditeljstvo 35 . ...
... Međutim, bez obzira što individualizirana podrška ima utemeljenje u zakonodavstvu odgojno-obrazovnoga sustava, neka istraživanja potvrđuju da je inkluziju teško provoditi, jer učitelji još uvijek nedovoljno primjenjuju didaktičko-metodičke postupke prema inkluzivnim načelima. 31,32,33 H2 hipotezom pretpostavljene su razlike između učitelja koji rade u razrednoj, predmetnoj ili koji rade i u razrednoj i predmetnoj nastavi, u procjeni prevalencije provedbe metoda prilagodbe i individualiziranih postupaka u radu s učenicima s teškoćama. S obzirom na diferencijalni nacrt istraživanja konstruirana je sumativna varijabla prevalencije metoda prilagodbe i individualiziranih postupaka u radu s učenicima s teškoćama. ...
The development of a child is largely determined by the environment in which he grows up where the family has the most
important place. Children with low birth weight are the most risky group for deviations in psychomotor development. The
research was conducted with the aim of examining the connection between the psychosocial risk factors and the
psychomotor development of children with low birth weight based on the influence of parental risks, stress, abusive
abilities, parental abilities in performing parental tasks and socio-demographic status of families. The survey included
129 children, both genders born in 2010 at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University Clinical Center in
Tuzla with a birth weight of less than 2,500 grams divided into two groups: a control group of 91 children (70.5%) with
neat psychomotor development and a survey group consisting of 38 children (29.5%) with deviations in psychomotor
development. Data on psychosocial risk factors have been collected through UNICEF's questionnaires for assessing
child's needs, parental abilities, family factors and environmental factors. The results indicate that parents of children with
developmental disorders are statistically significantly more exposed to stress, the higher the influence of children with
deviations on finances, marriage, social life, expressions of positive and negative feelings, as well as the total number of
risks, while there are no differences on the scale of parental forces, affecting brothers and sisters, and the risk of abuse.
It is possible to conclude that children with developmental disabilities have a significant impact on family life.
... Special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) and class teachers are expected to demonstrate the impact of their teaching interventions and so it is understandable that the question of effectiveness looms large in their thinking. The 'what works' discourse has, maybe unintentionally, contributed to the undermining of professional confidence and intuitive responses that foreground thriving (Terzi, 2005) as school leaders have been urged to adopt scripted interventions that promise results. Some authors (Knight, 2018) also continue to argue that evidence-based teacher training, which informs teachers of the up-to-date research on the biological, cognitive and behavioural aspects of dyslexia, is essential to combat misconceptions and ensures that teachers have a more nuanced and informed understanding of dyslexia. ...
... In this article I have used the recommendations from the EEF guidance report to outline what has already been achieved and what will still need to happen to ensure the action-research school will become dyslexia friendly with a deeper understanding of what dyslexia is and how to design and deliver appropriate early identification processes and evidence-based interventions. More importantly though, I have demonstrated how the key EEF guidance recommendations can support the thriving of individuals (Terzi, 2005), rather than relying on outdated diagnosis-led support. The EEF recommendations can support practitioners to embed inclusive practices that take individual needs seriously but reject deficit models of disability. ...
This article reports on an action‐research improvement project undertaken in a primary school setting in London in collaboration with local authority advisors and a reference school. It describes the journey towards the goal of becoming a dyslexia‐friendly school framed by the five key recommendations of the Education Endowment Fund recently published guidance report Special Educational Needs in Mainstream School. I argue that this framing supports the thriving of individuals, rather than perpetuating a reliance on outdated diagnosis‐led support. I conclude that the EEF recommendations can support practitioners to embed inclusive practices that take individual needs seriously but reject deficit models of disability.
... Special educational needs are seen in the context of the socio-ecological model of disability. The concept was introduced to identify learners who have difficulties at any time during their schooling (Terzi, 2005). According to the socio-ecological model, the difficulties are related to the limitations of the schooling systems and considered as socially constructed (Terzi, 2005). ...
... The concept was introduced to identify learners who have difficulties at any time during their schooling (Terzi, 2005). According to the socio-ecological model, the difficulties are related to the limitations of the schooling systems and considered as socially constructed (Terzi, 2005). In other words, it is the responsibility of educational institutions to deal with disabling barriers and with exclusionary and oppressive educational processes. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the everyday life of people, including children with SEND and their parents. Like many other countries, in Georgia, the government announced a state of emergency that was followed by the introduction of strict restrictions such as lockdown, curfew, limitation of gathering, etc. Schools, as well as offices, were closed and children (with SEND) and their parents stayed together at home all day. The study aimed to explore the experiences and needs of support of Georgian parents of children with SEND during the COVID-19 pandemic. In-depth interviews conducted with 17 participants (16 mothers and 1 father), showed that the pandemic was related not only to challenges but also to some benefits. Also, the crisis encouraged the parents to think more and form some (re)explorations and expectations. The parents reported having concerns about the upcoming second wave of the pandemic, and, therefore see the need for support from the community and the government. Based on the result recommendations will be presented at the end of the paper.
... Key messages from young people centred upon the importance of barrier-free schools and combating stereotypes to support their longer-term social inclusion and ensure they are able to become full citizens in their local communities [41]. On top of this, learners themselves challenged the concept of normality, which is tied to the long-lasting 'dilemma of difference' (Artiles, 1998;Minow, 1990;Terzi, 2005) [42][43][44]: 'Do we treat all students the same (similar treatment), or do we make special accommodations for certain groups (preferential treatment)? This brings into the surface the dilemma that still exists for national priorities as to whether focusing strategies and innovations on special education or on diversity in the mainstream school [45]. ...
... Key messages from young people centred upon the importance of barrier-free schools and combating stereotypes to support their longer-term social inclusion and ensure they are able to become full citizens in their local communities [41]. On top of this, learners themselves challenged the concept of normality, which is tied to the long-lasting 'dilemma of difference' (Artiles, 1998;Minow, 1990;Terzi, 2005) [42][43][44]: 'Do we treat all students the same (similar treatment), or do we make special accommodations for certain groups (preferential treatment)? This brings into the surface the dilemma that still exists for national priorities as to whether focusing strategies and innovations on special education or on diversity in the mainstream school [45]. ...
Although the idea of including learners in policy-making is gaining ground, their voices still seem to be marginalised. This article focuses on the issue of learners’ voices in inclusive education policy debates. It begins by discussing main policy developments, arguments and key issues around learner voice and participation. It then draws on different aspects of work by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (the Agency) that has directly involved young people in exchanges with policy-makers and decision-makers responsible for developing and implementing policy for inclusive education. This includes four European “Hearings” (in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015), involving over 300 young people. It also includes workshops with learners in Cyprus and Poland as part of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support Programme activities. In the Agency’s work, learners with a range of learning needs from across Europe shared their views on their right to education (access), their rights in education (learning and participation) and their rights in wider society (achievement). Key messages from learners included the importance of barrier-free schools, raising awareness, changing attitudes and combating stereotypes to support their longer-term social inclusion and ensure they are able to become full citizens in their local communities. Building on these messages, the article concludes with some important considerations for future work and recommends positioning learners as key agents in policy debates for inclusive education.
... Much research has been dedicated to how special needs and learning difficulties are defined. There are a number of different theoretical approaches to SEN; however, classification of children's difficulties in learning into categories has played a key role in the history of special education (Terzi, 2005). One important question surrounds whether or not to identify children's differences, and if so, which differences are relevant to special education. ...
... From one point of view, disabilities and special needs can be seen as being caused by an individual's limitations and deficits (e.g., Terzi, 2005). Others believe that special needs are caused by the limitations of the schooling system (Norwich, 2006). ...
This longitudinal study investigates the differences in cognitive and socio-emotional development and academic achievement between children educated in special education classes (N = 37) and regular classes (N = 37). The study is retrospective. The first measurement point was while children were attending play-oriented kindergarten and no decision about their education had yet been made. The second measurement point followed after 2 years of schooling. Comparing carefully matched groups, no differences in executive functions (EFs) were found before beginning school. Children assigned to special education had poorer language, fine motor skills and a lower pre-academic
self-concept, self-regulatory skills and social integration. Notably, every fourth child in special education was an immigrant, 9% of whom later attended regular classes. After 2 years of schooling in either setting, the groups differed significantly in academic achievement, EFs, fine motor skills and cognitive self-regulatory skills. However, it was not – as school officials had intended – that children in special education classes had caught
up, except in regard to their academic self-concept and social integration.
... The capability approach intends to maximise human agency (Sen, 1992); it acknowledges human diversity as fundamental and emphasises the interdependence between intrinsic and social factors for learning (Reindal, 2009;Terzi, 2008). This approach includes two core concepts of importance, 'capabilities' and 'functionings'. ...
... The other two themes, persistence and vision, are largely personal factors, though dependent on environmental support and encouragement. The four themes, containing both intrinsic and social factors for learning, seem beneficial for the students' continued reading and writing development and seem to be in agreement with the capability approach's aspiration of maximising human agency (Reindal, 2009;Sen, 1992;Terzi, 2008). Continuous environmental support of the students' capabilities, especially from the long-term relationships with significant others, may have made it possible for the students to develop their valued 'literacy functionings', according to the capability approach (Nussbaum, 2006;Sen, 1999). ...
Earlier research shows an arrest in reading and writing development among 9-12-year-old students with severe speech and physical impairment, SSPI. This article explores what five students with SSPI who have reached beyond beginner's phase without arrest in their literacy development have experienced as significant for their reading and writing development. The research design was explorative and case based. It contained researcher-participant longitudinal dialogues focusing on the students' experiences of literacy learning. Computer assisted email interviews were used. A semi-structured interview manual guided each dialogue. With the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems and assistive technology devices, the participants could read and write (with alphabetical print in Swedish) independently. The analysis revealed four themes of great importance for the students' development of alphabetical print literacy skills: assistive technology use in writing and reading, continuity in long-term pedagogical relationships, mutual persistence in communication, and visions of nearer goals and future work life. The results are discussed in relation to the theoretical frameworks of self-efficacy and the capability approach.
... Feeling valued may be violated by teachers as well, when praise or recognition is withheld from students, or if core values that are communicated within educational spaces are incongruent or unattainable for certain student groups. For example, when teachers engage in or communicate a deficit understanding of disability (Terzi, 2005), where a disabled student is framed as someone who is in need of accommodations or as unable to participate by the behaviors of teachers, they may indirectly (or directly) reduce beliefs of having characteristics of value. These concepts, though, have gone relatively unexplored in our area of inquiry, and are therefore central to this study. ...
This study explored visually impaired youths' perspectives toward feeling valued in integrated physical education. Situated in an experiential qualitative approach, this study utilized inclusion understood as an intersub-jective experience broadly, and feeling valued specifically, as a conceptual lens to guide and inform methodological and data interpretation decisions. Eighteen visually impaired youth completed two interviews each using video conference technology or phone call, and audio recorded, transcribed, and subjected to reflexive thematic analysis. Three interrelated themes were constructed, depicting the participants experiences and perspectives of what it means to be valued, and if they felt valued, within integrated physical education: (a) feeling valued is contingent on others, (b) value is unavailable without accessibility, and (c) being valued for possessing (non-athletic) characteristics. Participants described feeling valued or unvalued based on accommodative (e.g. peers acknowledging their impairment) or un-accommodative (e.g. teachers forgetting their impairment and needs) experiences with others within the PE context.
... After that, the parents may or may not inform the school about the result, depending on their wishes. This is where parents have to deal with 'the dilemma of difference' (Terzi, 2005), where they either divulge the diagnosis at school and risk incurring stigmatization, or do not disclose it, thus depriving their child of necessary support services. If they do inform the school, then either a specially adapted program should be designed for the child, and/or the child will attend the school speech therapist and a psychologist, provided there are such specialists present in the school, of course (some schools may not have these specialists on payroll). ...
As schools in Russia become more inclusive for students with special educational needs (SEN), there is a scarcity of research on stakeholders' perspectives. Parents are one of the main actors in education, who possess valuable knowledge about their children and can represent their children's needs in a vicarious manner. This study gives voice to the parents of children with SEN and offers parents' perspectives on the liaison between families and schools. The article focuses on the experience of two families with children with special educational needs (namely, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and intellectual disability). Data was collected through semi‐structured interviews and questionnaires and analysed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The main findings demonstrate that parents' expertise is sometimes neglected and marginalized for different reasons and the school system in Russia is rigid and not able to adjust its approaches to different learners as well as address and allay parents' concerns. Lack of direct interaction blocks the pathway for compromises and mutual understanding. In the parents' view, teachers act on their own assumptions which are oftentimes emotionally loaded and not clearly articulated for the parents. However, parents believe that all the actors of the educational process, that is, teachers, learners and parents, would benefit if teacher‐parent relationships involved a more sensitive and attentive attitude towards each other's requirements and wishes, providing opportunities for negotiating and discussing arguable issues. The paper demonstrates two cases of misunderstanding between teachers and parents and offers implications for practice in teacher education, policy‐making and social work.
... According to Fernagu [46], internal resources are those that are developed over time and can be considered as an individual's competencies, experiences, or abilities, while external resources are those that are made available like financial resources, materials, and tools. However, usefulness and relevance of resources can only be determined through the various conversion factors (i.e., personal, social, and environmental factors), which help transform resources (i.e., internal and external) into valued capabilities and functionings [47]. Conversion factors are important to analyze since no two individuals, having the same resources, will necessarily be able to achieve the goal(s) they set out to achieve. ...
Although recent studies have highlighted young people with intellectual disabilities’ (ID) difficulties with reading and writing, it is not well-know how these skills are used in their daily life and, even less, regarding their digital literacy. Consequently, the aim of this study was to describe the daily use of digital literacy among adolescents, aged 15–21 years, with ID. An additional aim was to identify the factors that facilitated or hindered the various reading and writing practices beyond the classroom context, including home and other familiar spaces like the grocery store. To do so, the digital literacy practices of two adolescents were identified through an ethnographic multi-case study by using creative methods to generate qualitative data. Through Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability frameworks, it was found that these two young people employed digital literacy through applications on mobile phones and electronic tablets. They developed different capabilities and functionings, particularly “affiliation” and “senses, imagination, and thoughts”. The discussion section of this study focuses on how daily- and school-based digital literacy usages can be bridged to support young people with IDs’ learning and engagement at school.
... The goal of the study is to provide universal accommodations that enhance the skills and opportunities of all students while simultaneously address some academic needs of students with reported academic disabilities. Terzi (2005) describes the risk of labeling students as 'disabled' and refers to learning disabilities as 'special needs' as part of an innovative strategy to provide academic provisions. In accordance, this study explores a similar philosophy of education that reconceptualizes 'disability' in effort to overcome tension at the core of the dilemma of difference in the classroom (Dyson, 2001). ...
El Acta para los Estadounidenses con Discapacidades de 1990 requiere que los estudiantes con necesidades especiales reciban ‘acondicionamientos académicos, modificaciones razonables, y ayuda y servicios auxiliares’. Este trabajo apoya la idea de acondicionamientos universales, que involucra técnicas de enseñanza que fomentan el aprendizaje sin disminuir la calidad académica. Se consideran distintos métodos de asistencia tecnológica multimedia (MAT) como las notas compartidas, clases en audio y transcripciones escritas. Utilizar estas herramientas mediante un soporte en línea ayuda a que los estudiantes se adapten a los contenidos, comprendan las ideas de manera efectiva y sean responsables de su propio aprendizaje. La implementación de estos recursos también permite reducir los estigmas de participación que se derivan de la aplicación de políticas para la discapacidad, al tiempo que crea oportunidades en la clase para todos los estudiantes. La muestra analizada permite concluir que dichos acondicionamientos MAT son empleados de manera voluntaria y resultan significativamente útiles.
... Bu nedenle, Underwood ve arkadaşları tüm farklılıkları dikkate alan kapsayıcı bir eğitimin önemine vurgu yapmakta ve böyle bir eğitimin kapasite yaklaşımı ile mümkün olduğunun altınızı çizmektedir. Benzer şekilde, Terzi (2005) herhangi bir engelin sadece bir çeşitlilikten ibaret olduğunu ifade etmektedir. Örneğin, disleksinin aslında bir dezavantaj olmadığını, disleksi olan bir çocuğun dezavantajlı duruma düşüp düşmeyeceğinin eğitim sisteminin tasarlanması ile yakından bağlantılı olduğunu belirtmektedir. ...
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Amartya Sen tarafından geliştirilen kapasite yaklaşımını alanyazın taramasına dayalı olarak inceleyerek bu yaklaşımın eğitime bakışını ele almaktır. Bu doğrultuda, bu çalışmada araştırma yöntemi olarak geleneksel alanyazın taraması benimsenmiştir. Amartya Sen tarafından geliştirilen kapasite yaklaşımı son yıllarda gerek ilgili alanlarda çalışmalar yürüten bilim insanlarının gerekse politika yapıcıların dikkatini çekmektedir. Ekonominin vicdanı olarak anılan Sen, bu yaklaşımın çerçevesini çizerken özellikle refah, eşitlik ve adalet gibi kavramlar üzerinde durmaktadır. Amartya Sen’in ilk olarak ekonomi alanında kavramsallaştırdığı kapasite yaklaşımı yaklaşımının temelinde refah ekonomisi anlayışına yönelik bir eleştiri bulunmaktadır. Kapasite yaklaşımına göre kişinin, milletlerin ve ülkelerin refah düzeyi özgürlükler ve kapasiteler yoluyla tanımlanmaktadır. Bu nedenle, kapasite yaklaşımı ilk olarak ekonomi alanında geliştirilmiş bir yaklaşım olsa insan hayatının pek çok alanında etkili olan bir söylem ortam koymaktadır. Bu alanlardan birinin de eğitim olduğu görülmektedir. Eğitim, küresel kalkınma gündeminin yapıtaşlarından biri olmaya devam etmektedir. Eğitim söz konusu olduğunda, kapasite yaklaşımı eğitime erişim ve benzeri konuların ötesinde alternatif bir paradigma sunmaktadır. Bu noktada, kapasite yaklaşımı eğitimde standartlaşmaya şüphe ile yaklaşmaktadır. Kapasite yaklaşımına göre, eğitimin ilk ve öncelikli amacının, insanların istedikleri gibi bir hayat sürmelerini mümkün kılacak şekilde kapasitelerinin arttırılması olduğu belirtilmektedir.
... Per superare la contraddizione che emerge nell'applicazione del concetto di BES, che in letteratura è descritta come "dilemma della differenza" 3 (Terzi, 2005), la Pedagogia speciale ha ampliato il suo sguardo: la sua unità di analisi non è più il singolo individuo e l'intervento finalizzato alla riduzione della distanza dalla normalità; l'attenzione è ora rivolta alle differenze che ognuno e ciascuno porta in classe. ...
The aim of this thematic analysis is to understand in which contexts of higher education service-learning approach is implemented, and how much it is employed in the field of inclusion. Further objective of this thematic analysis is to understand what role within service-learning projects is reserved for students with special educational needs. Are students with disabilities only recipients of service-learning projects or are they actors and promoters? Are service-learning experiences promoting these student’s agency?
Service-learning e inclusione nei contesti universitari. Una thematic analysis.
Lo scopo della thematic analysis è capire in quali contesti accademici viene implementato il service-learning, e quanto è impiegato nel campo dell’inclusione. Ulteriore obiettivo è comprendere quale ruolo viene riservato agli studenti con bisogni educativi speciali all’interno dei progetti di service-learning. Gli studenti con disabilità sono solo destinatari di progetti di service-learning o ne sono attori e promotori? Le esperienze di service-learning promuovono l’agency personale di questi studenti?
... That is, feelings of one's own value are contingent on others communicating the belief that disabled persons possess desirable qualities or abilities, through providing some form of praise or recognition. For us, this concept ties neatly to the capabilities approach, first applied to education by Terzi (2005), which compels educators to disrupt deficit understandings of disability, whereby emphasis is placed on what disabled students cannot do when compared to their nondisabled peers, by centering and celebrating the capabilities of disabled students. Although teachers can also show that they value students' abilities or qualities by using a variety of different pedagogical methods, such as celebrating academic and other achievements or selecting students to act like an example in class, the absence of these behaviors can have determinantal effects. ...
Inclusion has become a global buzzword relating to education policy and practice. Mostly, it is tied to discussions about
access and opportunities in education spaces as well as school policies and the curriculum decisions and pedagogical
actions of teachers. As part of this critique, we propose defining inclusion as intersubjective experiences associated with
feelings of belonging, acceptance, and value that are dynamic, ephemeral, spatial, and in flux. Here, we advocate for
centering the experiences and amplifying the voices of disabled children and young people in and about education spaces,
while acknowledging the wider social forces that structure those spaces, as only disabled young people can explain how
they feel in the educational spaces where they find themselves.
... Because people belong, and are interconnected within interdependent relationships and communities that shape, support and constrain the options they consider and the choices they have the opportunity to make (Galvaan, 2012(Galvaan, , 2015Hammell, 2014;Robeyns, 2005;Yap & Yu, 2016), the framework had to advance a relational ontology (Donchin, 2001;Hunt & Ells, 2011); one that also acknowledges the interconnected nature of relationships between occupational therapists and service users. A relational ontology is embedded within Sen's conceptualisation of capabilities (Robeyns, 2005;Terzi, 2005Terzi, , 2011, such that capabilities are understood to be shaped -and partly constituted -by social circumstances (Entwistle & Watt, 2013). From this perspective, people's choices and actions are understood to derive from the interactions between individuals' abilities and their position in society (Smith & Seward, 2009). ...
Introduction Critical occupational therapists have challenged models from the Global North that have dominated occupational therapy and informed ableist practices focused on appraising dysfunctions, classifying deviations from bodily “norms”, and remedying individuals’ “deficits” in performing three occupations (self-care, productive, leisure). This indicated the need for a new conceptual framework; one grounded in research evidence derived from a diversity of people and contexts. Objectives To outline the imperative for, and genesis and features of an evidence-informed conceptual framework for occupational therapy, centred on occupations, capabilities and wellbeing. Methods This paper draws from the work of critical occupational therapists; outlining the conception and process of building a flexible framework by linking concepts identified through extensive review of multidisciplinary research from both the Global South and North. Results Building on evidence that occupation is a determinant of wellbeing, the Occupation, Capability and Wellbeing Framework for Occupational Therapy (OCWFOT, Hammell, 2020a) encourages a strengths-based approach to occupational therapy: assessing and building on individual, collective and community assets, abilities and resources; focusing on occupations that “matter most”; and fostering a relational view of people as interdependent and embedded within families and communities. Conclusion Focused unequivocally on the wellbeing needs and aspirations of individuals, families, groups, communities and populations that are met or unmet by current patterns of occupational engagement; on both abilities and opportunities; and on occupation as a human right, the OCWFOT is theoretically defensible, provides conceptual clarity, and has utility as an evidence-informed structure around which future research and practices may be oriented.
... Within the Capability Approach, as with the ICF, the Participation Model and the social model of disability (Oliver, 2013), disability is viewed as more than just the skills of the person, it includes consideration of environmental and societal factors, and barriers created in society that limit the person's opportunities to fully participate in the life of the community. Terzi (2005) argues that the Capability Approach offers two insights to disability that are not evident in other models: First, that Sen views impairment and disability as aspects of human diversity and second, that he places human diversity at the core of evaluation of people's advantage or disadvantages which results in evaluating disability in relation to relevant freedoms, and ultimately, justice. ...
It is estimated that approximately 97 million people in the world have complex communication needs and may benefit from alternative and augmentative communication (AAC). Although AAC is considered an evidenced-based intervention, device abandonment remains common, and researchers have attempted to analyze the causes of people abandoning devices. These devices have been prescribed following extensive assessment and often a protracted period of negotiation with a funding body. In this paper, we present the process of AAC prescription using a new model called the Communication Capability Approach by adding the Capability Approach from Amartya Sen to the widely used Participation Model. This allows clinicians to see individual daily decision-making as a valid choice of the individual. We propose reframing the concept of device abandonment as the person and their family making a choice to use a full range of multimodal communication to meet their own needs. This changes the tone of the narrative to viewing the person using AAC as competent and able to exercise self-determination and agency in this decision rather than as abandoning the device. AAC choices can be made on a day-to-day basis, according to the context of use so that people do not abandon devices but rather use whichever mode of communication is appropriate to the context.
... Research has shown that educators' beliefs are often shaped by deficit discourses, which are difficult to challenge (Thompson, McNicholl, and Menter 2016;White and Murray 2016). Deficit discourses in education have been commonly applied against students with special educational needs (Terzi 2005), from ethnic minorities (Aikman et al. 2016) and lower socioeconomic backgrounds (García and Guerra 2004). This study focuses on the latter. ...
This paper focuses on the perceptions of technical high school tutors in Mexico about students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the context of global curriculum reforms and institutional hierarchies. Through two novel concepts in education, culture of poverty and cultural deficiency, the paper explores: (a) how structural constraints shape tutors’ perceptions and practices with students, and (b) how tutors’ perceptions contribute to reconceptualise discourses of deficit and the culture of poverty in a more comprehensive way. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with nine tutors working in Tijuana, Mexico City and Tuxtla Gutierrez, the main themes of analysis are: tutors’ working conditions, their perceptions of and relationships with students, the quality of education on offer, curricular reforms, and behaviour management. Even if systemic factors contribute to tutors’ perceptions of deficit amongst students, we found valuable experiences of empathy, trust, and encouragement amongst tutors that show both their agency and resilience.
... Sen's (1979: 220) idea of capability framework had been developed by combining different equality models with the intention of achieving one which can "provide a sufficient basis for the equality aspect of morality". This idea has been used by scholars in educational research focussing on learners with disabilities (Terzi, 2014(Terzi, , 2007(Terzi, , 2005 Dalkilic and Vadeboncoeur (2016: 131) put forward is that this framework "allows for a dynamic assessment of educational practices". Their conception of this theory seems to suggest that reaching absolute inclusion or exclusion might be impracticable. ...
Recent studies show that there is a very low enrolment rate of learners with special educational needs (LSEN) in institutions of higher learning locally. This might be because most LSEN attain low achievement scores in the terminal examinations which make them not meet the admission requirements of such institutions. Consequently, the number of professionals with disabilities would then be very meager. There might be a wide range of contributing factors that turn out to be realized at the terminal examinations stage even though the root causes could have been identified and dealt with at the earlier grades. The extreme manifestation of this challenge occurred when the 2017 cohort of learners with visual impairment in one regular school attained a 100% fail rate in Junior Certificate examinations. This definitely calls for investigating the reasons that led to this unfavourable outcome. The paper aims at presenting the facts from the perspective of learners due to their direct involvement in this issue. Data was generated from the interviews conducted with three visually impaired learners. Data were analyzed using social justice education theories and capability framework. There are two main findings revealed in this study. Firstly, learners were not involved in deciding on the format of the question paper they preferred. Secondly, it was indicated that the terminal examination did not align with both instructional practice and formative assessment. This article recommends that learners should be involved in decision-making concerning their welfare. Apart from that, summative assessment should be aligned with instructional practice.
... Many scholars working with the capability approach are able to use this core idea to incorporate multidimensionality into normative notions, and to develop more nuanced evaluative approaches to assessing social relationships in fields of education, health, and housing, to name a few (Chiappero-Martinetti, Osmani and Qizilbash 2020). As much of the extensive scholarship on the capability approach and education illuminates (e.g., Terzi 2005;Walker and Unterhalter 2007;Hart 2012;Walker 2019), the first narrative we outline, which suggests a solution of enhancing education quality inside schools, does not sufficiently attend to the complex intersecting ways in which inequality is formed both within and outside schools which the capability approach does by looking at a range of conversion factors. ...
The harmful effects of Covid 19 on children living in poverty have refocused attention on the complex nature of child poverty and the vexed question of its relationship to education. The paper examines a tension at the heart of much discussion of child poverty and education. On the one hand, education is often regarded as essential for children’s flourishing and a means by which children can “escape” poverty; yet on the other hand, education systems, institutions, and practices, often reflect and entrench the disadvantages associated with poverty. Narratives concerning education as an escape from poverty tend not to deal in any depth with the injustices associated with poverty, stressing instead the transformative potential of education. By contrast, largely sociological analyses of the ways in which schooling reproduces inequalities tend to stop short of developing a normative account of how education can contribute to transforming the structural injustices related to poverty and its effects on children’s lives. In working to move beyond this analytic impasse, the paper shows how the cluster of concepts, which Robeyns (2018) locates as central to the capability approach, give insights which help to address these two different lacunae. The notion of conversion factors highlights the significance of taking account of existing relationships in education, while the distinction between capabilities and functionings helps guide practices regarding the education of children living in poverty. Drawing on literature on the heightened inequalities associated with poor children’s experience of lack of schooling during the COVID pandemic, the paper sketches some of the ways in which sociological analysis and normative evaluation can be linked in taking forward an “ethically engaged political philosophy” (Wolff, 2018) to discuss child poverty and education in real schools.
... Η παρούσα εργασία ξεκίνησε ως σύλληψη μετά την πρώτη επαφή μου με ένα κείμενο της Lorella Terzi, το καλοκαίρι του 2020 (Terzi, 2008 και 1β)-θα εστιαστώ στους όρους και τις έννοιες: "inclusive education (ενταξιακή/συμπεριληπτική εκπαίδευση)", "equitable education (ισότιμη/δίκαιη εκπαίδευση)", "quality education (ποιοτική εκπαίδευση)", "learning opportunities (μαθησιακές ευκαιρίες)", "for all/all learners (για όλους/όλους τους μαθητές)", "equal access (ισότιμη πρόσβαση)", "persons with disabilities (άτομα με αναπηρίες)", "knowledge (γνώση)" και "skills (δεξιότητες)". Αντίστοιχα, από τον ορισμό της "ενταξιακής εκπαίδευσης", ο οποίος εμπεριέχεται στον νόμο 4823 (2021, άρθρο 4, παρ. ...
Στα πρόσφατα κείμενα διεθνούς πολιτικής της UNESCO, η πολιτική της ‘Εκπαίδευσης για Όλους - Education for All’ έχει τη θέση της ανάμεσα στους δεκαεπτά Βιώσιμους Αναπτυξιακούς Στόχους για το 2030 (Sustainable Developmental Goals - SDGs) και συγκεκριμένα τον στόχο SDG4 για “τη διασφάλιση ενταξιακής (inclusive) και ισότιμης/δίκαιης (equitable) ποιοτικής εκπαίδευσης (quality education) και την προαγωγή διά βίου μαθησιακών ευκαιριών (learning opportunities) για όλους” (UNESCO, 2016· 2020). Στην ευρωπαϊκή εκπαιδευτική πολιτική σκηνή, οι κατευθύνσεις του Ευρωπαϊκού Φορέα για την Ειδική Αγωγή και την Ενταξιακή Εκπαίδευση συμμορφώνονται με τον στόχο SDG4 της UNESCO (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2017, σ. 6-7). Σύμφωνα με σχετική έκθεση, καθώς έχει αρχίσει να αναγνωρίζεται το υψηλό κόστος της ανισότητας και της σχολικής αποτυχίας για τα άτομα και για την κοινωνία, η βελτίωση της επίδοσης όλων των μαθητών δεν είναι πλέον μια ακόμη πολιτική πρωτοβουλία, αλλά ηθική επιταγή. Η ενταξιακή εκπαίδευση εκλαμβάνεται ως ανθρώπινο δικαίωμα και στρατηγική προετοιμασίας για την παγκοσμιοποιημένη κοινωνία του 21ου αιώνα (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2015, σ. 5 & 7). Η Ελλάδα, βρίσκεται στο στάδιο της μετάβασης, καθώς η ισχύουσα νομοθεσία τοποθετείται εντός του διαχωριστικού παραδείγματος γενικής-ειδικής εκπαίδευσης (Νόμος 1566, 1985· Νόμος 3699, 2008), αλλά και εντός του νέου παραδείγματος της ‘Εκπαίδευσης για Όλους’/’Ενταξιακής Εκπαίδευσης’ (Νόμος 4074, 2012· Νόμος 4547, 2018· Νόμος 4823, 2021). Στον Νόμο 4823 (2021), που σύμφωνα με την αιτιολογική του έκθεση υλοποιεί τον στόχο SDG4 της UNESCO, ως ενταξιακή εκπαίδευση ορίζεται η “εκπαιδευτική προσέγγιση, η οποία συνεκτιμά τις ανάγκες της ετερογένειας του μαθητικού πληθυσμού και αποσκοπεί στην άρση των φραγμών στη μάθηση και στη διασφάλιση ισότιμης πρόσβασης στο εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα όλων των μαθητών, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των μαθητών με αναπηρία και ειδικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες” (Νόμος 4823, 2021, άρθρο 4, παράγραφος 1θ). Με πρωταρχικό σημείο εστίασης στην επιχειρούμενη μετάβαση στην πλήρη ενταξιακή εκπαίδευση στην Ελλάδα, μέσω της θεσμοθέτησης και της υλοποίησης του SDG4 της UNESCO (Νόμος 4823, 2021· ΕΣΠΑ 2021-27), θα προσεγγίσω ζητήματα φιλοσοφίας της εκπαίδευσης και της εκπαιδευτικής πολιτικής, με εστίαση στη Θεωρία Ικανοτήτων (Capability Approach) του Amartya Sen (Sen, 2006· 2009· Nussbaum & Sen, 1993), όπως αυτή ενσωματώνεται στο έργο της Lorella Terzi για την εκπαίδευση των ατόμων με αναπηρία ή/και ειδικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες. Η Lorella Terzi είναι Καθηγήτρια Φιλοσοφίας της Εκπαίδευσης στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Roehampton στο Λονδίνο του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου. Από το ακαδημαϊκό της έργο, θα παρουσιάσω τις κεντρικές φιλοσοφικές της θέσεις, όπως αυτές αποτυπώνονται στο βιβλίο της με τίτλο “Justice and equality in education: Α capability perspective on disability and special educational needs” (Terzi, 2010a) (βραβείο NASEN 2011) και τη συνεισφορά της στο βιβλίο της Mary Warnock και του Brahm Norwich, με τίτλο “Special Educational Needs: A New Look” (Warnock & Norwich, 2010), του οποίου έχει την επιμέλεια. Το έργο της Lorella Terzi τοποθετείται στην περιοχή τομής της σύγχρονης φιλελεύθερης πολιτικής φιλοσοφίας με την εκπαίδευση και τη δημόσια πολιτική. Τα πεδία ενδιαφέροντος του έργου της, τα οποία θα με απασχολήσουν στο πλαίσιο της παρούσας εργασίας, αποτελούν ζητήματα θεωριών εκπαιδευτικής δικαιοσύνης και ισότητας (Terzi, 2007b· 2009· 2010a· 2010b· 2010c· 2015), ζητήματα ένταξης και ενταξιακής εκπαίδευσης (Terzi, 2014· Stamou, Bonneville-Roussy, Ockelford & Terzi, 2019), ζητήματα αναπηρίας και ειδικών εκπαιδευτικών αναγκών (Terzi, 2004· 2005a· 2005b· 2008· 2009· 2010a) και ζητήματα που άπτονται της Θεωρίας Ικανοτήτων του Amartya Sen (Terzi, 2005a· 2005b· 2007a· 2007b· 2008· 2009· 2010a· 2010c· 2015). Στην παρούσα εργασία, βασιζόμενη στο έργο της Lorella Terzi και στην εμπειρία μου ως ερευνήτρια και εκπαιδευτικός στον χώρο της ειδικής/ενταξιακής εκπαίδευσης (Ημέλλου, 2015· 2017· 2022· Imellou & Charoupias, 2017), θα προχωρήσω σε επισημάνσεις, κριτικές και παρατηρήσεις για την επιχειρούμενη μετάβαση στο παράδειγμα της πλήρους ενταξιακής εκπαίδευσης στην Ελλάδα. Οι συγκεκριμένες επισημάνσεις, κριτικές και παρατηρήσεις θα πραγματοποιηθούν με φακό εστίασης τη φιλοσοφία της εκπαίδευσης, με έμφαση στους μαθητές με αναπηρία ή/και ειδικές εκπαιδευτικές ανάγκες και τις προς αυτούς παρεχόμενες υπηρεσίες.
... The CA examines a person's capability to function in relation to their valued life choices instead of focusing on the utility value of a resource simply in terms of income [32]. The CA, therefore, focuses on individual well-being as a substantive opportunity for people to live a life of their choice [32][33][34][35]. One could argue that utilitarianism, in principle, also maximizes people's values as defined by an individual; Societies 2022, 12, 182 3 of 21 nevertheless, proponents of CA contend that it lacks its ability to enhance the personal capability to convert resources into welfare. ...
The value of Assistive Technology in enabling active and equal participation in political, social, economic, and cultural life of people with disabilities, people ageing, and people with chronic conditions is broadly accepted. However, most of the global population who need assistive technology (AT) lack access to it, hence the call for international efforts to improve access to AT. Drawing from the capability approach (CA) developed by Amartya Sen and Martha C. Nussbaum, we explore factors that may hinder or facilitate access to AT. We examine the idea of an AT Passport as an innovative user-centered approach for improving access to AT. We used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore service users’ lived experiences of access to AT and their understanding of the AT Passport concept. We identified the core values of human diversity, equity, access to opportunity, and individual freedom to choose a life of significance to them. Access to AT is central to expanding these capabilities subject to conducive personal and social-contextual issues. The AT Passport could be developed as a capability-enhancing resource by facilitating access to AT, harnessing the diversity of people’s personal, social, and environmental factors to enrich peoples’ capability sets. Further research is required to identify core AT Passport functionalities, usability, and acceptability features.
... As the study progressed, the value of using Sen and Nussbaum's capability approach [15] as a lens through which to consider the PA system became clear. Scholars like Mitra [16] and Terzi [17] have explored how the capability approach can be adapted to disability studies, with particular emphasis on the role of society in promoting justice for disabled people. Coupled with this social conception of justice, the capability approach's centring of each individual's freedom to decide what is important to them, in terms of the functionings and capabilities they value, clearly mirrors the independent living movement's assertion that effective supports should ensure that disabled people are in charge of the directions and day-to-day running of their own lives. ...
Personal assistance (PA) has long been a key support for Irish people with physical and sensory disabilities, but evidence shows that Ireland lacks national standards for allocation, provision and data collection. Addressing a particular gap in understanding the experiences of disabled people, this paper draws on a large-scale mixed-method study with PA service users which was conducted in summer 2021. Overall, the evidence shows satisfaction among many service users, but suggests that systemic shortfalls have a clearly detrimental effect on the functionings and capabilities valued by the participants in relation to their ability to participate in social and economic activities that many people take for granted. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into what good personal assistance means for disabled people’s everyday lives and what Irish PA service users want to see change in the system. The findings are grounded in the Irish context, but they are useful to an international audience in clearly showing the value of PA and the importance of meaningfully including disabled people in its design and regulation.
... This tension between inclusion and exclusion is also demonstrated by Ella, who explained her uncertainty about where she fits best -the small learning support group where she has many of her lessons, describing it as 'more comfy', or the mainstream class where she struggles to get the support she needs. A couple of older participants reflected on this issue, which is referred to in chapter 2 as the dilemma of difference (Terzi, 2005). Gina discussed how inclusion does not always mean equality and made the point that being treated the same as everyone else at school is unhelpful and damaging when so-called inclusive classrooms do not accommodate the needs of learners with dyslexic difficulties: ...
In this thesis I focus on the lived experience of young people with severe dyslexic difficulties in state, mainstream education in England. In considering school as a space where difference is constructed and stigma can be experienced, I draw on sociological theory to explore the kinds of emotional labour (Hochschild, 1979) that school demands from young people, when they have to explain their needs, as well as hide, downplay and negotiate their difficulties. Working with conceptual resources drawn from symbolic interactionism and the work of Foucault and Bourdieu, I explore how discursive and cultural practices form part of the institutional and relational contexts created by policy-makers, parents, teachers and peers and the implications of these for young people's emotional wellbeing and identity. The study contributes to a very small body of existing literature about those whose dyslexic difficulties are most severe and broadens the conversation about young people's experiences at school to consider the wider influences that shape their identities. The empirical basis of the research includes a mixed methods online survey with 474 parents and qualitative research with 15 young people aged 10-19 and their mothers.
The findings of the study echo those within the existing literature, suggesting that access to early, evidence-based intervention in primary school makes it possible for young people to move on from a dyslexic identity and progress alongside their peers. However, my research presents a landscape of inconsistency in terms of the distribution and quality of provision, with parents holding government accountable for a lack of investment and varying levels of awareness and understanding of dyslexia among educators. Parents' ability to negotiate access to support was also uneven, reflecting an unequal distribution of economic, cultural and social capital.
Mothers emerge as central actors in the management of their children's emotional states, playing a key role in scaffolding them away from notions of deficit towards ideas of difference. Drawing on Reay's interpretation of emotional capital, I also consider classed cultures of parenting as having relevance to an understanding of young people's emotional wellbeing. The role of teachers and trusted adults within the school is also examined, including the vital part they play in mediating institutional discourses through micro interactions with learners.
On the basis of these findings, I argue that educators would benefit from opportunities to learn about the emotional impacts of living with severe dyslexic/literacy difficulties, challenging them about normative assumptions regarding difference and deficit. By amplifying positive stories about school, it becomes possible to understand the importance to young people of having their challenges recognised and their abilities and achievements acknowledged, as well as the importance of being able to express their agency, feeling cared for by staff, and a whole-school ethos supporting inclusivity and neurodiversity.
... When the values of constructivism are examined, it is seen that this approach covers every student, but it should not be forgotten that special education does not treat every process hospitably. Let's situate our thinking far from behaviorism: difference in an ability perspective is neither a deviation from a common standard, as in the medical model, nor is it simply something to celebrate, as in postmodern views of the social model; it is only a particular variable that has an objective reality (Terzi, 2005). Due to the understanding that special education is in a very different place from this understanding and that it has many supporters around it, one cannot go one step further. ...
... Az eszközök és a cél működésmódok közötti kapcsolatot teremtik meg, köztük a személyes, egyéni ( Sen több alkalommal a fogyatékosságon keresztül példázta, hogy a (nagy mennyiségű) javak birtoklása nem jelent feltétlenül nagyobb jóllétet: "Egy fogyatékos személynek lehet, hogy nagyobb a fogyasztói kosara, mint egy nem fogyatékos személynek, miközben kevesebb lehetősége adódik a normális életre és a céljai elérésére." (Sen, 1999, o. 74 Nussbaum több írásában foglalkozik a fogyatékossággal, különösen a súlyosanhalmozottan, illetve a pszichoszociális fogyatékosságban érintettek helyzetével (lásd például Nussbaum, 2002Nussbaum, , 2006Nussbaum, , 2009 & Trani, 2009;Mitra, 2006;Terzi, 2005b); másrészt, hogy milyen hasonlóságok és különbözőségek azonosíthatók a fogyatékosság nagy elméleti modelljei és a képességközpontú megközelítés között (lásd Bickenbach, 2014;Burchardt, 2004;Harnacke, 2013;Mitra, 2006Mitra, , 2014Riddle, 2014;Welch, 2007); harmadrészt pedig, hogy miként segíthet a képességhalmaz figyelembevétele a szakpolitikai döntések meghozatalában (lásd Goerne, 2010;Mitra, 2006Mitra, , 2018Palovičová, 2017 Ennek a diverzitásnak a megragadása a képességszemléletű megközelítés egyik olyan eleme, ...
A disszertáció célja annak körüljárása, hogy miként jellemezhető a társadalombiztosítási rendszeren keresztül támogatott gyógyászati segédeszközök hozzáférhetősége Magyarországon, a felhasználók választási szabadsága szempontjából. A feltáró elemzés elméleti kerete az Amartya Sen nevéhez kötődő képességszemlélet (Capability Approach), a jóllét és a fejlődés normatív elmélete, ami a fejlődést az emberek képességeinek és arra való tényleges lehetőségeinek – szabadságainak – bővülésében látja, hogy olyan életet éljenek, amilyet okkal tartanak értékesnek.
A segédeszköz elosztást amentén vizsgáltam, hogy az mennyiben személyre szabott, és mennyiben bővíti a felhasználók tényleges lehetőségeit a számukra értékesnek tartott, jó életre: a segédeszközhöz jutás folyamatában mennyiben jelennek meg az érintettek véleményei, értékei, hangja, a „semmit rólunk nélkülünk” elv, milyen garanciákat vállal a jogalkotó és a folyamatban résztvevő többi szereplő annak érdekében, hogy az érintettek tudatában legyenek a valódi választási lehetőségeiknek.
A kutatás során – szociálpolitikai alapelveken, nemzetközi tapasztalatokon, három európai tanulmányúton és a képességszemléleten alapulva – elemzési indikátorrendszer készült. A szakirodalom áttekintésén és a jogszabályelemzésen túl, a támogatórendszer gyakorlati működését szakértői és érintetti interjúk (n=52) segítettek feltárni.
Magyarországon nincs nemzeti stratégia vagy program, ami bizonyos mértékben biztosítéka volna a támogató technológia hozzáférhetőségének. Több mint ötven jogszabály érinti a gyógyászati segédeszközöket, ezek ugyanakkor kevésbé védik a felhasználókat. A jogalkotó elsődleges célja, hogy megelőzze a túlköltekezést. A gyógyászati segédeszközök mellől elmaradnak a kapcsolódó szolgáltatások, ami nem csak az egyén szintjén teremt problémát, és eredményezi sok esetben az eszközök kihasználatlanságát, hanem csökkenti a gazdaságilag racionális működés valószínűségét is. A támogatott gyógyászati segédeszközök rendszerének jelenlegi működésében az akadályozottság orvosi-medikális modelljének jegyei fedezhetők fel: a szakemberek dominanciája mellett az érintettek valódi részvétele, és valódi választási szabadsága esetleges.
Kulcsszavak: Támogató-segítő eszközök és technológia; asszisztív megoldások; képességszemlélet, a fogyatékosság, egészség és jóllét emberi fejlődés modellje
... Flere andre studier har ligeledes analyseret, hvordan det paedagogiske arbejde med børn og unge i udsatte positioner, på tvaers af institutionelle kontekster, kan siges at vaere praeget af dette dilemma (Graham & Tancredi 2019;Minow, Shweder & Markus (red.) 2008;Norwich 2003;Warnock 2005;Terzi 2005). I den danske kontekst omkring dagtilbuddenes laereplansarbejde har der gennemgående vaeret et staerkt politisk fokus på at sikre indsatser for børn i udsatte positioner. ...
The strengthened pedagogical curriculum is by various parties presented as a movement away from a narrow focus on educational output with measurements of children’s progress and capabilities. Because of this, accompanying legal frameworks contains a distancing to criticized time-consuming documentation requirements set for day care professionals’ work. However, before as well as after the legislative change, municipal administrations of day care have an obligation to secure measures towards children in vulnerable positions. In this study, we examine the implementation of the strengthened pedagogical curriculum in four municipalities, with a focus on municipal decisions in regards to children in vulnerable positions. The main conclusion is that all municipalities choose to maintain tools to measure and describe all children’s learning and progress, and that this is done with reference to children in vulnerable positions. The study discusses a basic pedagogical dilemma between, on the one hand, making individual children’s challenges visible – and thus risking that children will be met by focus at their deficiency. And, on the other hand, refraining from pointing out challenges – and, because of that, risking that special needs will not be met and competencies needed in school and life will not be sufficiently developed.
... In questo quadro, progettare didattica inclusiva significa molto più che rispettare la normativa relativa all'inclusione scolastica, dal momento che questa riconosce come ugualmente legittime pratiche con effetti molto diversi sulla piena partecipazione alla vita scolastica: sono le/gli insegnanti, attraverso le loro pratiche progettuali e didattiche, a riempire di significato pedagogico il quadro normativo, scegliendo di volta in volta come agire, e determinando, di fatto, quanto il quadro normativo produrrà realmente pratiche didattiche inclusive. Sul piano teorico, il difficile compito delle e degli insegnanti è stata descritto come il "dilemma della differenza" (Minov, 1990;Norwich, 2010;Terzi, 2005 Quando trattare un'alunna o un alunno in maniera diversa per sostenerne lo sviluppo in modo individualizzato o personalizzato ne enfatizza la diversità, causando stigmatizzazione e diventando, di fatto, un ostacolo ai processi di piena partecipazione alla vita scolastica? E se, per contro, tutte le alunne e gli alunni vengono trattati in modo uguale, quando questa scelta comporta un'insensibilità nei confronti delle differenze di alcune/i, che, in un dato contesto, ostacola l'apprendimento o comporta stigmatizzazione nelle dinamiche di socializzazione? ...
On the basis of an idea of inclusive didactics conceived as particularly committed to equity in the way educational actions are planned, carried out and evaluated, the article develops the theme of inclusive lesson planning. The present literature on lesson planning highlights how the current National Curriculum is potentially open to valuing individual differences and to a participatory construction of meaningful learning paths by children and adults. On the other hand, the current reflection and debate on the Individualised Educational Plan shows the importance of overcoming the idea of a double planning track, one for the class and one for pupils with Special Education Need. An interesting direction in this sense comes from recent reflections on the idea of differentiation und universality in learning. Against this background, the article proposes a framework for the design of inclusive learning units.
... A estrutura desta abordagem reconhece que as pessoas são diferentes e possuem necessidades diferentes que dependem das características pessoais como idade, gênero ou comprometimento, e de fatores externos como disponibilidade de recursos ou barreiras ambientais (THURMAN et al., 2019). Assim, abordagem difunde que se deve considerar a interface entre o indivíduo e os seus interesses sociais e ambientais no contexto mental na avaliação de quais características podem afetar os recursos (TERZI, 2005 ...
O estudo objetiva analisar as tendências da produção científica sobre a abordagem das Capacidades de Amartya Sen, por meio de um estudo bibliométrico na base Web of Science, dentre os anos de 1995-2019. Para isso, primeiramente, buscou-se identificar os periódicos e a evolução das publicações no período considerado. Após, analisou-se as instituições de origem e os principais autores dos artigos. Em seguimento, elucidou-se os tipos de pesquisa e os aspectos metodológicos adotados nos artigos. Por fim, efetuou-se uma análise dos hot topics relacionadas a Abordagem das Capacidades. Neste contexto, percebe-se o crescimento das publicações de artigos que buscam compreender e analisar a Abordagem das Capacidades e destaca os esforços em contribuir com o avanço da temática. Permite-se ponderar que, houve um crescente interesse acadêmico pelo tema nas duas últimas décadas, e que pode avançar nos próximos anos.
... Many argue that, the definition of the term SEN is negatively linked with a medical view of disability. In the concept of 'SEN', Terzi (2005) observes introducing a new kind of categorization rather than moving away the notion of categorizing children. In the educational field, 'SEN' is generally defined from the children's perspective, not from the context of institutional or social barriers. ...
The Government of Bangladesh is placing great emphasis on ensuring an education to all marginalised including the children with special needs by initiating a range of policies and strategies. The Head Teachers as the critical player in implementing Government policies at school level are generally not fulfilling their expected role. It is intended to explore how the role of Head Teachers regarding the inclusion of special needs children is currently perceived and how it can be further developed. It is significant to know how and why the role of Head Teachers is undermined and ineffective for the successful inclusion of children with special needs. The study is a small-scale qualitative research project. Data was collected through interviews, FGD and documents review. Three key questions guided the whole study. Participants included six Head Teachers, three Assistant Teachers and three local education officials working in a district were interviewed. Additionally, along with some important relevant documents were reviewed. An FGD with the parents of special needs children was also conducted. It was found that despite various challenges most of the Head Teachers have positive attitudes towards the special needs children but unsure how to deal with the challenges effectively. Generally, inclusion of special needs children is being perceived as being one of physical access of physically disabled children to school. Limited understanding of the inclusion and special needs issues along with limited resources and their underdeveloped leadership role are the major hurdles that need to be addressed. More focused specialised training, enhanced funding from the Government and most importantly employing a distributed approach of leadership that includes and involves all stakeholders are considered by the study as being critical to moving practice forward.
... What the college is experiencing resonates with the 'dilemma of difference'. The dilemma of difference as coined by Terzi (2005) and Norwich (2010) is a choice between treating all students as the same so that no one feels different and provides similar support and resources or whether to label and treat students differently so that they can benefit from individualised support. Besides the concern for students learning, the college is also faced with the operational mandate. ...
Background: Despite a commitment to achieving inclusion for all by the Botswana government, the enrolment of students with disabilities in Botswana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions is still fraught with confusion as reflected by its practice and implementation. Exclusionary rather than inclusive practices remain prevalent.
Objective: This study explores students with mild intellectual disabilities’ experiences of inclusion or exclusion in TVET institutions using key concepts of the Capability Approach.
Method: A phenomenological interpretive qualitative design was adopted. One government, technical vocational institution, offering programmes for students with disabilities in Botswana was conveniently selected. Fourteen students were purposefully selected from this institution based on the criterion that they were students with mild intellectual disabilities. Individual interviews served as the data collection method to enable participants to voice their experiences of inclusion or exclusion at the TVET institution. Thematic content analysis was utilised to analyse the data.
Results: It was found that whilst students with mild intellectual disabilities are offered an opportunity to enrol at TVET institutions, they are faced with social and epistemological exclusion, deliberate marginalisation, labelling and emotional abuses.
Conclusion: These negative experiences hinder students’ achievement by limiting their capabilities.
... The lack of feeling valued manifested in a number of ways in this study, including devaluation by peers as well as participants reflecting that their PE teachers demonstrated a lack of value because they were unwilling to reconsider pedagogical practices in order for them to participate, and rather than inconveniencing the class activities, participants were asked (or told) to sit out of activities and watch from the sideline. Clearly, here, teachers did not position themselves well to support feelings of being valued among participants by showing that their capabilities were valued, but rather reconstructed and supported a deficit understanding of impairment where they emphasized what participants could not do and removed them from activities [39]. It is important to recognize, however, that feeling valued is a fluid concept, that can change based on moment-by-moment expressions of value of one's ability [12]. ...
The aim of this study was to reconstruct subjective constructions of experiences in PE and feelings of being valued within PE classes in Germany by students with visual impairment (VI). Two female and two male students (average age: 19.25 years) participated in the study from the upper level. For the reconstruction of experiences of feeling valued, episodic interviews with a semi-structured interview guide were used. The data analysis was conducted with MAXQDA 2020 based on content-related structuring of qualitative text analysis with deductive-inductive category formation. To structure the analysis, the main category, feelings of being valued, was defined by two poles (positive feelings of being valued as opposed to bullying). As a main finding, respondents primarily reported negative feelings and experiences characterized by instances of bullying, discrimination , and physical and social isolation, perpetuated by both their peers and teachers. In search of a deeper understanding, we identified social hierarchy as an underlying structure determining the students' perceived positioning within the social context and thus directing their feelings of being (de-)valued. It became evident that it is not the setting per se that determined social hierarchy, but that it is more about the concrete manifestation of social hierarchy.
... Similarly to a health problem, disability leads to a reduction in the range of practical opportunities. We chose to consider a disabled person as deprived, consistent with the capability approach which has considered disability as a lack of freedom (Mitra, 2006;Terzi, 2005), although we are aware that other conceptualizations of disability may not agree on the idea of disability as an individual constraint. ...
This paper offers an updated picture of the nature of deprivation in old age in Latin America, as well as an analysis of its different dimensions. Based on harmonized cross-sectional social protection surveys for Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Uruguay we estimate and compare multidimensional poverty indices for older adults. We consider the following dimensions: housing, health, labor and social security, and education. Our results illustrate the disparities in multidimensional poverty of the older people across the region. We also provide original evidence about deprivations in health that go beyond health coverage and underline the importance of Social security at older ages. The general picture indicates that Housing is the dimension with lower deprivation rates, whereas Health presents the higher levels of deprivation. Chile and Uruguay stand out for their relatively good performance in Labor and Social Security.
Resumen Esta revisión tuvo como objetivo reconocer las investigaciones y las experiencias que surgen en las Instituciones Educativas Superiores en relación con la diversi-dad e inclusión. Los resultado exhortan a revisar y trascender los enfoques que actualmente rigen el diseño de los procesos educativos en la Educación Superior , especialmente, aquellos dirigidos al restablecimiento de derechos a las po-blaciones vulnerables, en aras de fortalecer la educación inclusiva y garantizar el derecho constitucional a una educación con calidad que dignifique y permita la participación plena de estos colectivos, reflejándose en una implementación de programas que posibiliten la inclusión educativa en las Universidades. Palabras clave: Educación Inclusiva; Educación Superior; Vulnerabilidad; Diver-sidad Cultural. Abstract The objective of this review was to recognize the research and experiences that arise in Higher Education Institutions in relation to diversity and inclusion. The results urge to review and to transcend the approaches that currently govern the design of educational processes in Higher Education, especially those aimed at restoring the rights of vulnerable populations in order to strengthen inclusive education and to guarantee the constitutional right to a quality education that dignifies and allows the full participation of these groups, reflected in the implementation of programs that enable educational inclusion in Universities.
The COVID-19 pandemic set a New Normal (NN) and altered the modalities of performing different activities. Several activities came to a standstill, resulting in job loss and school closure. New dynamics in the labour market emerged, such as Working-From-Home (WFH), Virtual Meetings (VM), Social Distancing (SD), and Downsizing (DS). These dynamics altered employer-employee relationships, which espoused new skills. The strategy was to change policies to work from home and use Information Communication Technology (ICT). However, many people were not adequately skilled to face the new challenges. This paper aims to describe what short learning programmes (SLPs) are, why institutions offer them and examine why individuals participate in SLPs. The author uses the Capability Theory (CAT) and the Critical Reality Theory (CRT) to explain why SLPs are crucial to face employment challenges beyond COVID-19. The main findings are that SLPs are necessary for everyone to be re-schooled and attain new skills needed at a specific time. Hence, many institutions offer SLPs to various learners. The contribution of this paper is the advocacy of SLPs to increase individuals' employability. Hence, SLPs are depicted as a means for skills development beyond COVID-19.
Intellectually disabled students face particular barriers to epistemic participation within schooling contexts. While negative forms of bias against intellectually disabled people play an important role in creating these barriers, this paper suggests that it is often because of the best intentions of educators and peers that intellectually disabled students are vulnerable to forms of epistemic injustice. The author outlines a form of epistemic injustice that operates through an educational practice widely regarded as serving the interests of intellectually disabled students. ‘Epistemic ability profiling’ involves the identification of the epistemic consequences of disability in the service of promoting students’ best interests, or to create opportunities for their participation in epistemic communities. Epistemic ability profiling is a double-edged sword: it is important that educators understand and attend to the ways in which differences in ability shape students’ epistemic agency, and yet epistemic ability profiling operates against the background of a conceptually ableist conceptual terrain. As a result, epistemic ability profiling runs the risk of legitimating structural forms of injustice against intellectually disabled people.
This pilot study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of game-based learning in teaching executive functions (EF) to preservice teachers. Various games were employed as training tools to improve EF skills, and students' satisfaction and perceptions of the training were evaluated. The results revealed a highly positive response to the utilized methodology, highlighting its efficacy in stimulating students with special educational needs. Participants valued the adaptability of the games and considered the experience enjoyable and innovative. These findings emphasize the importance of providing future educators with practical exposure to active learning methodologies.
Building relationships among students and their wider community may encourage participation and impact student learning. This study describes the implementation of a three-month model project in Museum Education in a primary school in a rural province of Crete. Observational data of students (N = 11) and their parents (10 fathers and 10 mothers) focuses on: a) what extent students with different educational needs acquired new educational and interpersonal experiences by the investigation of the historical, cultural habits and customs of contemporary children and the children of Minoan civilization, and b) examining the notion of parents’ participation in their children's educational and social school activities. It is indicated that the whole process encouraged student participation in class activities, achieved a more comfortable classroom environment, promoted collaboration with peers, their teacher and museum-educators and created a sense of community. Due to the children’s maximum interest for the programme, parents in order to strengthen the access of such efforts, offered a further cooperation with the teacher and administrators of the program, as well as with other support services that leaded to the constitution of a parent-teacher association and the founding of a new library in their province. Key words: elementary students, family, museum educators, school-wide community cooperation.
Systems-thinking is a useful approach to deepen our understanding of the linkages, relationships, interactions, and behaviours that, together, comprise and shape our health systems. Offering a comprehensive range of opinion and scholarship from experts located across the world (Europe, North-America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania), spanning a wide range of disciplines, this book presents a compilation of case studies, prescriptive or retrospective reflections, conceptual pieces, interventions, and methodological approaches to guide and inspire global health practitioners in their application of systems-thinking approaches across topics familiar to the field of Global Health including, but not limited to, maternal and child health, disability, social inclusion, malaria, TB, HIV, and other infectious diseases, tobacco control, mental health, human resources for health, healthcare decentralisation, health information systems, health in conflict and/or fragile contexts, health system strengthening, quality improvement, and nuclear disarmament.
The aim of this chapter is to focus on the changes needed to empower children’s agency and to and to make them capable agents and able to exercise active citizenship via education and via participation in research processes (i.e. production of knowledge) and through their involvement in activism and social mobilization. The chapter is structured into seven sections. In the second section, we explore these issues from a child-centred capability approach. The capability approach is used to think about our children’s lives in our societies and how we can engage them as human beings in a process for justice and dignity for all. Child individual agency and children’s collective actions constitute the starting point of this new process of emancipation (Ballet et al., 2011). The third section presents a framework linking children’s agency and active citizenship. The fourth section explores the role of the education system and its transformative impact on children’s agency. The fifth section presents the methods and the potentiality of involving children in knowledge production presenting action research and emancipatory research as potential elements of change and discontinuity in the production of knowledge for decision-making. The sixth section describes meaningful case studies where children are involved in decision making, activism and social movements. In the last section the main conclusions and policy recommendations are given.KeywordsChildrenYouthCapabilitiesAgencyCitizenshipEmpowermentKnowledge productionEmancipatory research
The number of students with disabilities in higher education has grown significantly. Although society and higher education have become increasingly diverse, discussions and efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion on college campuses frequently exclude disability, and research on the topic is narrowly focused. In this paper, we seek to reconceptualize the understanding of diversity as a way to promote a more inclusive environment where students with disabilities feel welcomed and engaged. Current attitudes are shaped by legislative history and models of disability, so we review the background of both aspects. With better awareness, higher education, including accounting programs, can break down barriers and model social justice. Responsibilities fall on faculty, student peers, and administration, including disability services, to foster these changes. Regarding accounting education, universal design for learning (UDL) and associated learning theories offer many promising avenues to create active and inclusive learning environments for all students.
The concept of inclusion remains a topic of many discussions between professionals and researchers. At the same time, many children with autism are included in mainstream school with their neurotypical peers. Research has shown that many children with autism are socially excluded in mainstream schools. This review paper aims to explore the perspective of pupils with autism on inclusive education. The main results were grouped by the following themes: relationship with peers, relationship with teachers, environment and sensory issues, interests, and what children need in mainstream schools. This narrative review has shown that from the perspective of pupils with autism educational inclusion is still not achieved.
In the last thirty years of pedagogical practice, particular attention has been paid to the inclusion of children with special education needs, multi-lingual children in multi-cultural environments and children living in poverty. Nowadays, inclusive education is a subject and a requirement of all European institutions in the EU and the Council of Europe, many families, experts, non-governmental organizations and individuals. The paper is a result of a research of education systems, systems of support, legislation and evaluation of positive practice in the nine countries of the European Union and Kosovo. The condition for the research countries to be included in the sample is based on the population number not being larger than 8 million. Because of the relevance of the comparative analysis, two older state members of the European Union were chosen (Austria, the Flemish and the French region of Belgium), fourrecent EU member states (Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia and Slovenia), three Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Finland and Norway) and Kosovo.The aim of the research, besides defining the currentand basic definitions in exploring the description of the education systems of individual countries, is to present practices of inclusion of children with disabilities and multi-lingual children to carry out the processes of inclusion. The aim was achieved through the tasks of including children with SEN and multi-lingual children in individual countries in Europe and in the Kosovo, through the analysis of the legal framework andthe organization of the education system in the individual countries enabling inclusive processes, by determining differences in relation to the systems of individual countries which are inclined to mainstream or special education, by identifying the support the particular groups of learners: children with SEN and multi-lingual children receive within the school system, by bringing out examples of good practices. Countries with high income rate per capita and low level of unemployment have a better organized system of inclusion of all CSEN, they provide more support and services at the local level.
This article presents elements of a capability perspective on impairment and disability and develops in connection with it a multidimensional and relational account of disability. It suggests how a capability perspective provides new and fundamental insights into the conceptualization of impairment and disability, and in doing this, resolves the tension between natural and social causal factors evident in current discussions of disability and education. It argues that the capability approach is innovative with respect to the centrality of human diversity in assessing equality, and that the specific understanding of human diversity proposed, the democratic decisional process promoted and the normative account of disability those entail, all have the potential to take educational theory and inclusive education policies in fruitful directions.
The case is presented for a dilemmatic perspective to the educational provision for pupils and students with difficulties and disabilities. This perspective recognises the links and tensions between social and individual values and models. The paper focuses on the central significance of dilemmas of difference in understanding policy and practice issues in the field. One of the central arguments is that a commitment to inclusion implies a commitment to meeting the needs of a minority and therefore to arrangements which may not be required by the majority. Inclusion is about mainstream schools accommodating a full diversity, and in doing so leads inevitably to adopting dedicated or specialised support systems for some. The paper provides an overview of recent changes in policy and practice as well as looking at possible future trends. An inter–disciplinary model which connects individual and social perspectives is proposed both for explanatory purposes and for designing provision in terms of the interaction between the inclusivity of the system and responding to additional individual needs.
This study is a philosophical conceptualisation of educational equality in retation to provision for disabled students and students with Special Educational Needs. Its theoretical core is the outline of a principled framework for a just distribution of educational opportunities to these students. Situated within liberal egalitarianism, this conceptualisation relates principles of justice as fairness (as developed by John Rawls) and the capability approach (as developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum) to the areas of disability studies and special and inclusive education. Current perspectives on disability, and in particular the social model of disability, and positions on Special Educational Needs, as well as related policies, present theoretical and operational limits not only in relation to the achievement of inclusion, but also in addressing the equal entitlement of children to education. These limits derive primarily from the absence of clear principles, and relate specifically to the understandings of disability and special educational needs informing these perspectives. This conceptualisation of educational equality operationalises the capability approach with reference both to issues of definitions and of provision. The capability approach is a normative framework where equality is evaluated within the space of the actual freedoms - or capabilities - people have to pursue their ends and to convert resources into functionings they value. In connecting capability to the demands of justice, this approach contributes important insights to the theorisation of a principled framework for resource distribution. The framework theorised entails principles of justice as fairness informed by a capability metric, which is sensitive to the interests of disabled students and students with learning difficulties, and underpinned by definitions of disability and Special Educational Needs reconsidered in terms of functionings and capabilities. Whilst re-establishing the centrality of educational equality, this study reconceptualises disability and Special Educational Needs within a framework of justice.
In this major book Martha Nussbaum, one of the most innovative and influential philosophical voices of our time, proposes a kind of feminism that is genuinely international, argues for an ethical underpinning to all thought about development planning and public policy, and dramatically moves beyond the abstractions of economists and philosophers to embed thought about justice in the concrete reality of the struggles of poor women. Nussbaum argues that international political and economic thought must be sensitive to gender difference as a problem of justice, and that feminist thought must begin to focus on the problems of women in the third world. Taking as her point of departure the predicament of poor women in India, she shows how philosophy should undergird basic constitutional principles that should be respected and implemented by all governments, and used as a comparative measure of quality of life across nations.
In the 1980s and 1990s our understanding of disability has matured and evolved. This . . . collection of essays by Michael Oliver discusses recent and perennial issues—such as the fundamental principles of disability, citizenship and community care, social policy and welfare, education, rehabilitation, the politics of new social movements and the international context. Interwoven as these issues are with the personal biography of the author, they reflect some of the major concerns which confront disabled people. The book thus represents both a personal journey of exploration and an attempt to take further our theoretical understanding of disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Gilbert MacKay was appointed professor of special education at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in September 2000. With a background in teaching and educational psychology, Professor MacKay has research interests in early communication and people with intellectual disabilities. Recently, the Scottish Executive awarded him grants totalling £250,000 for the development of a service for young children with autism and for the professional education of experienced teachers in developmental difficulties such as dyspraxia.
This paper, originally given as a keynote address at the Scottish NASEN conference in Glasgow, challenges many of the prevailing trends in relation to disability and special educational needs. Taking a broad view of developments since Warnock, and providing a fascinating insight into recent initiatives in Scotland, Gilbert MacKay offers an analysis of five ways in which the notion of disability, and the practical reality of our responses to it, are being unhelpfully removed from the educational arena. While we can all strive to promote forms of inclusion that encompass ever–widening parameters of diversity, no one’s interests are served if the implications of individuals’ difficulties are simply ignored or wished away. Gilbert MacKay highlights the dangers in some recent trends but also points the way towards a much more responsive and productive future.
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abstract Emerging from the political activism of disabled people's movements and mainly theorised by the scholar Michael Oliver, the social model of disability is central to current debates in Disability Studies as well as to related perspectives on inclusive education.
This article presents a philosophical critique of the social model of disability and outlines some of its theoretical problems. It argues that in conceptualising disability as unilaterally socially caused, the social model presents a partial and, to a certain extent, flawed understanding of the relation between impairment, disability and society, thus setting a framework that needs clarifications and extensions and presents limits to the achievement of its own aim of inclusion.
This article concludes by suggesting that, despite its theoretical limits, the social model acts as a powerful and important reminder to face issues of inclusion as fundamental, moral issues.
Brahm Norwich, Professor of Educational Psychology and Special Educational Needs at Exeter University (formerly Professor of Special Education, at the Institute of Education, University of London) discusses ways in which labelling can affect attitudes to, and provision for, pupils with special educational needs. He gives details of an in-depth study on the attitudes of experienced teachers, trainee teachers and trainee educational psychologists.
Alan Dyson, who last year gave the Gulliford lecture on which this article is based, takes a critical look at the relationship between ‘inclusion’ and ‘social inclusion’. He bases his analysis on a review of the history of special needs education and on some of the thinking which emerges from his work on a current research project, Understanding and developing inclusive practices in schools. This project is funded by ESRC (L 1392 51005) as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme and has been undertaken in collaboration with colleagues at Newcastle, Christchurch University College Canterbury and the University of Manchester. The later parts of this article refer to this project, although the views expressed are Alan Dyson's rather than those of the research team as a whole.
This book brings together and develops some of the most important economic, social, and ethical ideas Sen has explored over the last two decades. It examines the claims of equality in social arrangements, stressing that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than either their resources or their welfare. Sen also looks at some types of inequality that have been less systematically studied than those of class or wealth. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0198289286/toc.html
Professor Sen revisits the issues tackled in his previous seminal work, On Economic Inequality, first published in 1973, and provides new analyses and insights in this crucial area. This original and incisive book brings together and develops some of the most important themes of Sen's work over the last decade. He notes that the difference between virtually all contemporary ethical approaches to social arrangements lies not in whether they demand equality or notDSthey all demand equality of somethingDSbut in what sort of equality they propound. Any claim to equality must take account of the diversity of human beings and their characteristics. Sen argues in a rich and subtle approach that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than either their resources or their welfare. Sen also looks at some types of inequalities that have not yet been studied as systematically as inequalities of class and wealth have been. These include, inter alia, the important issue of gender inequality.
1. Introduction 2. Eugenics and its shadow 3. Genes, justice, and human nature 4. Positive and negative genetic interventions 5. Reproductive freedom and the prevention of harm 6. Why not the best? 7. Genetic intervention and the morality of inclusion 8. Policy implications Appendix 1. The meaning of genetic causation, by Elliott Sober Appendix 2. Methodology References.
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