Inclusiveness in Education

Concepts, Methods and Practice

De: Milind Brahme

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

This collection of essays is an attempt to rethink the question of Inclusion in School Education in the Indian context, looking at Inclusion as an organic element of the pedagogical process itself, going beyond the treating the symptom approach of Special Education/Special Needs Education. With contributions from India and Germany, the essays that comprise the volume are grouped into three sections. The conceptual essays in the first section address questions about the relationship between education and phenomena such as globalization, rising inequalities, increased migration. They look at policy and curricular issues and attempt to open up a discussion on possibilities of conceptualizing education as an inherently inclusive practice. The three essays in the second section look in detail at Exclusion in the Indian context under the three categories: Caste, Poverty/Child Labour and Gender, to try and highlight the fact that exclusion from school education is systemic in an unequal and stratified society that India still is. Piecemeal approaches and even policy initiatives such as those that are part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have had limited success, and the need for pervasive reform (including community participation and reform) is urgent. The third section brings together five examples of possibilities of education as inclusive praxis—from mixed age groups and active learning methodologies in Tamil Nadu government and private schools, through case studies dealing with emotionally challenged children, educating children in tribal areas, to possible inter-school extra-curricular activities that attempt to promote inclusive attitudes among children through aesthetic appreciation of shared materialities.