Press release: Against the negotiation to open segregated classrooms in the Valencian Community
From the Platform for inclusive education “Quererla es Crearla”, as members of school faculties in the Valencian Country fighting for an improvement that guarantees a more just, inclusive, and quality public education, we want to clearly express our opposition to the Conselleria’s proposal to open 150 UECO classrooms within the current negotiations on education in the Valencian Country.
Special classrooms are not an inclusive measure. They imply the segregation of students with disabilities and violate both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the mandate for inclusive education enshrined in current legislation. Inclusive education means guaranteeing the necessary support, staff, and transformations within mainstream settings, not separating students.
The separation of students based on disability is a form of discrimination that prevents adequate socialization for all students, as they cannot learn to live with human diversity. Furthermore, educational research has consistently shown that students educated in special classrooms develop a lower sense of belonging to the community and a lower sense of well-being, affecting academic learning, the maintenance and generalization of learning, communication, language development, and behavior, among other things.
Therefore, the “Quererla es Crearla” Platform publicly states that this proposal must be withdrawn from negotiations and cannot be assumed or validated by unions as an advancement or an acceptable solution. We want to highlight the manipulation by the Conselleria de Educación of the Generalitat Valenciana in the negotiation, attempting to make Unions consolidate a Conselleria proposal that is outside the law, against a fundamental human right, and ignoring international scientific evidence.
Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Education, with the collaboration of “Quererla es Crearla”, held the Incide Workshop to create the “Strategic Plan for Inclusive Education” to which the Ministry is committed. That participatory meeting strongly denounced the opening of new special schools and special classrooms.
Class unions cannot fall into the trap of understanding the segregation of vulnerable students as a way to improve teaching conditions. This is what the Valencian administration is tortuously attempting with the opening of the 150 UECO classrooms. If it is finally accepted, the unions will have done so knowing that it implies a serious violation of fundamental rights. We trust that the unions will rise to the occasion in defending a truly inclusive public education that respects human rights.
- Download this Press Release inPDF.
- We argue the Press Release in the article:“Indefinite strike in Valencia: we defend inclusive education, not the creation of UECO classrooms”