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Basis for dissenting vote against schooling outside the mainstream classroom

State Collective “School Counseling and Human Rights”www.creemoseducacioninclusiva.com.

Summary

  1. Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda, which Spain has adopted along with 193 other UN Member States, reads as follows: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
  2. Since our country ratified the latest Human Rights instrument (UN, 2008) in 2008, “the right to education is a right to inclusive education” (UN, 2013, p. 3). This implies a thorough transformation of the concept of school, and therefore, of psychopedagogical assessment and school guidance.
  3. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concludes that our education system “gravely and systematically” violates the rights of some individuals: “In practice, the [de orientación, que genera informes psicopedagógicos y dictámenes de escolarización] system focuses on the deficits and deficiencies of the student, resulting in the stigmatization of the student as uneducable within the general education system. Instead of exploring all possibilities for the student’s inclusion, diagnoses prevent mainstream schools from providing support measures and reasonable adjustments.” (UN, 2017, p.10)
  4. The Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 points out that “debating the benefits of inclusive education can be equivalent to debating the benefits of the abolition of slavery or apartheid” (UNESCO, 2020, p. 5). In other words, the rights-based and ethical perspective does not need argumentation directed towards outcomes (Ziljak, 2013; Cologon, 2020; Lindsay, 2007; Cara, 2013; Haug, 2017; Ainscow, Booth & Dyson, 2006; Lipsky & Gartner, 1996; Slee, 2001).
  5. In any case, international scientific evidence from over half a century is very consistent and growing, supporting the benefits of inclusive education over education in segregated environments (ARACY, 2013; Cologon, 2019; Hehir et al., 2016; Fisher, Roach & Frey, 2002; European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2018; and Szumski, Smogorzewska, & Karwowski, 2017).
  6. It should be noted that there is an absence of quality evidence contrary to these postulates, which supports that there is a greater benefit from special education compared to inclusive education (Cologon, 2019; Hehir et al., 2016; Jackson, 2008).

CONCLUSION: This body of evidence, as well as the central fact that inclusive education is a Human Right recognized in international legislation ratified by Spain, and in the two Organic Laws that regulate our Education System (LODE and LOMLOE), are the basis for my refusal to sign a segregated schooling report. I understand that a school does not change without a crisis, which means embarking on paths yet to be known, achievable through the professionalism of our teachers.

In _____________, on ____ of ___________, 202_

Signature: _________________________________

Development

Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 of the 2030 Agenda, which Spain has assumed along with 193 other UN Member States, reads as follows: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UN, 2015). This is a goal we have set ourselves to achieve by 2030, i.e., in less than 8 years. This implies for all education professionals and guidance teams in particular a review of their usual practices to build this great social and educational project of educating ourselves together. Since our country ratified the latest Human Rights instrument in 2008 (UN, 2008), “the right to education is a right to inclusive education” (UN, 2013, p. 3). This implies a profound transformation of the concept of school, and therefore, of the task of psychopedagogical assessment and school guidance, since:

means that States parties have the concrete and permanent obligation to proceed as expeditiously and effectively as possible to achieve the full implementation of Article 24 (UN, 2006). This is not compatible with the maintenance of two systems of education: a general education system and a segregated or special education system. (UN, 2016, p. 13)

The review, psycho-pedagogical assessment, as well as referral to segregated schooling modalities, are particularly necessary. There is clear evidence showing that the current configuration of the guidance profession is constituting an obstacle to inclusive education (Calderón, 2018; Echeita and Calderón, 2014; Calderón and Rascón, 2020), to the point of having been one of the main reasons why the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concludes that our education system “gravely and systematically” violates the rights of some people:

“In practice, the [de orientación, que genera informes psicopedagógicos y dictámenes de escolarización] system focuses on the deficits and deficiencies of the student, and results in the stigmatization of the student as uneducable in the general education system. Instead of exploring all possibilities for the student’s inclusion, diagnoses prevent mainstream schools from providing support measures and reasonable adjustments.” (UN, 2017, p. 10)

This leads us to believe that, although all education professionals must modify their practices to align with Sustainable Development Goal 4 and protect the human right to inclusive education, the performance of guidance teams must be drastically transformed: it is necessary to move from the “Special Educational Needs” model to the detection and transformation of barriers to presence, participation, learning, and achievement, which prevent inclusion (Slee, 2012; Stainback & Stainback, 2007; UNESCO, 1994a; UNESCO, 2017). It is about making school a place for the common.

In other words, this is a human rights issue, and this prevents referral to schooling modalities that segregate and limit the social evolution of our students, and of us as professionals. This is widely addressed in General Comment No. 4 on the Right to Inclusive Education (CRPD UN, 2016). Therefore, and as the Global Education Monitoring Report 2020 points out, “debating the benefits of inclusive education may be equivalent to debating the benefits of abolishing slavery or apartheid” (UNESCO, 2020, p. 5). In other words, the rights and ethical perspective does not need argumentation aimed at results (Ziljak, 2013; Cologon, 2020; Lindsay, 2007; Cara, 2013; Haug, 2017; Ainscow, Booth & Dyson, 2006; Lipsky & Gartner, 1996; Slee, 2001).

In any case, international scientific evidence for more than half a century has been very consistent and is growing, supporting the benefits of inclusive education over education in segregated environments. Notable are the systematic reviews of scientific evidence and meta-analyses by ARACY (2013), Cologon (2019), Hehir et al. (2016), Fisher, Roach & Frey (2002), European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2018), and Szumski, Smogorzewska, & Karwowski (2017). The benefits of inclusive education, beyond the social justice it promotes, are distributed across different areas or dimensions: improvement in socialization, sense of belonging to a community, feeling of well-being from social relationships with peers and teachers, and social inclusion, academic learning, as well as the maintenance and generalization of learning, communication and language development, and behavior, among others. Other benefits are also shown, such as the improvement of teachers’ teaching practices by becoming more sensitive to students’ needs (Jordan, Glenn & McGhie-Richmond, 2010; Purdue, Ballard & MacArthur, 2001). Furthermore, the benefits of inclusive education affect students with and without disabilities, including students labeled as having severe and multiple disabilities (Cologon, 2020; Ruppar, Allcock & Gonsier-Gerdin, 2017). Although not as clearly, different studies show a higher risk of bullying in students educated in special education compared to those educated in mainstream schools (Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Espelage, 2011).

It should be noted the absence of quality evidence to the contrary to these postulates, which argue that there is a greater benefit to special education over inclusive education (Cologon, 2019; Hehir et al., 2016; Jackson, 2008), and what actually exists compares schooling in special or mainstream schools, without these being classifiable as inclusive practices (Cologon, 2019; Lindsay, 2007). Furthermore, the review of evidence suggests that attending segregated centers minimizes opportunities for social inclusion both in the short term (at school) and in the long term (after graduation) (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2018). However, segregated educational experiences continue to besiege students with disabilities in Spain and deprive them of their fundamental rights (Calderón-Almendros, 2018) even though the evidence shows greater opportunities to learn and develop in more inclusive educational settings (Kurth, Morningstar & Kozlesky, 2014; Cologon, 2019; Hehir, 2016).

All this body of evidence, as well as the central fact that inclusive education is a Human Right recognized in international legislation ratified by Spain, and in the two Organic Laws that regulate our Educational System (LODE and LOMLOE), are the basis for my refusal to sign a segregated schooling report. I understand that a school does not change unless there is a crisis, which means venturing into unknown paths.

“The challenge now is to formulate the conditions for a ‘school for all’. All children and young people in the world have the right to education; it is not our educational systems that have the right to certain types of children. It is the school system of a country that must be adjusted to meet the needs of all children.” (Bengt Lindqvist, Special Rapporteur of the Commission for Social Development, in UNESCO, 1994b, p. 28).

This implies that we must go through periods of turbulence (Echeita and Ainscow, 2011), because we have to reorder our practices. But we are not alone. This is the greatest challenge facing educational systems worldwide (Ainscow, 2016), and we can and must take decisive steps to achieve it, which benefits us all, and paves the way for more equitable and inclusive societies.

References

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