Early school leaving is a complex, dynamic and multifaceted phenomenon, resulting from a combination of personal, social, economic, educational and family-related factors, very often linked to socio-economic disadvantage. It is rarely a sudden decision, and usually the visible result of a long process of underachievement and progressive disengagement from education.
Continue ReadingA dilemma for inclusive education is one of quantity vs. quality. Is it more important to improve the quality of education for those students currently in school or to use resources to expand the number benefitting from education? From a human-rights perspective, there is no question that continuing to exclude some children from education, or from the regular education system, is discrimination and needs immediate rectification.
I often use a story to illustrate this last point.
Continue Reading
Dimension 1:
Concepts
In a national education system that is in the process of becoming inclusive:
Continue Reading
Riace global village, where about 3.000 refugees reside in an almost abandoned village. Riace is a seaside village in a depopulated and economically deprived area in the south of Italy.
Domenico Lucano has been Mayor of Riace since 2004. It is his intuition that has radically changed the village.
Mr. Lucano’s idea came to him in response to two phenomena: first, the increasing number of migrants arriving on Italian shores; and second, the dramatic depopulation of his village in the past decades. By the 1990’s, only a couple of hundred inhabitants remained in Riace, and their average age could lead one to expect that the village might soon be completely abandoned. In the arrival of the migrants, Mr. Lucano saw an opportunity to rejuvenate and revive his village.
Continue ReadingThe term ‘diversity management’ refers to the adequate and effective management of differences through:
• knowledge
• dynamic skills
• creative mind-set (ability to see things from different angles)
• and without rigid prejudgement (Ting-Toomey and Chung, 2004)
Continue ReadingThe term ‘diversity’ refers to the non-homogeneity among the members of a society (individuals and/or groups) from a cultural, social, political, economic, or any other perspective. As a consequence, the definition of diversity can vary.
Continue ReadingFargespill (or “Kaleidoscope” in English) is an ensemble consisting of children and youths from all over the world.
The right to access a quality inclusive education is encompassed in Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Continue Reading
According to Law 4386/2016 (Article 82, section 5), the purpose of inclusive classes is to create a fully inclusive school environment for pupils with disability and/or SEN through special educational interventions and programmes.
Continue Reading