Has the approach to inclusion changed over the years?

It is 25 years since the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education endorsed the approach of inclusive schools and argued that regular schools should accommodate all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions.

The Statement is generally perceived to be a turning point although the past 25 years have also been marked by other important moments on the way to inclusion in education, not least the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 and General Comment 4 of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

To mark the anniversary, an International Forum on Inclusion and Equity in Education is being held in Cali, Colombia, this week from 11 to 13 September 2019 with the motto ‘Every learner matters’.

The GEM Report is present at the Forum, presenting initial findings from new education profiles it is developing to describe countries’ laws and policies on inclusion in education, the theme of the 2020 GEM Report. The profiles will be made publicly available when the 2020 GEM Report is launched next April.

These profiles are being developed to facilitate peer-learning and policy dialogue between countries, especially at the regional and sub-regional level. They will also enable more systematic monitoring of the implementation of national and international strategies to achieve SDG 4 – and allow for analysis of key trends to help answer the question: how far is the world from fulfilling the promise of Salamanca?

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