School, what inclusion for students with disabilities?

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Published by Sabrina Bergamini on 4 December 2024

School and inclusion: I have my say

Photography that emerges is that of a school that is still not very inclusive. And the students themselves say so, through opinions that highlight a gap between individual behavior and that of the class/school community.

A systematic review highlights that eighteen years have passed since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, thirty-five since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Adolescent, which establishes the right to education; “However, despite the numerous and concrete steps forward made so far, the effectiveness of the right to education for all remains an objective to be achieved today".

What do they think? boys and girls of the school they attend? This is the question that the Authority for the Guarantee of Childhood and Adolescence started from, which carried out a public consultation to give students the opportunity to express themselves on school, inclusion and disability. A total of 6.042 children between the ages of 14 and 19 participated.

Inclusion and disability at school

When talking about inclusion at school, "43,5% of the children declared that they had witnessed or become aware of bullying incidents against students with disabilities”, highlights the study. “The data is already alarming in itself, but what is even more striking is that 36,5% of these young people did not know how to behave or who to turn to. In this regard, it should be remembered that in recent years ad hoc figures have been created, such as that of the contact teacher, to combat bullying and cyberbullying within schools. However, although this is a small percentage, the results of the consultation highlight how further interventions are necessary, in particular in terms of education in respect for others and healthy conflict management".

"One of the aspects what strikes me most when reading the results of the consultation is the discrepancy in the perception that the kids have of their own behavior as individuals and as part of the group they belong to. In fact, if over 70% declare that they are individually 'quite or very welcoming' towards classmates with disabilities, when the inclusive nature of the group is taken into consideration, 58% find their class not very inclusive. This aspect makes it more necessary than ever to strengthen the kids' sense of belonging to a community and their sense of individual responsibility within the group", comments the Guarantor Authority Carla Garlatti. (2)

Unpreparedness is spreading

Only less than four out of ten students (38,2%) declare that they have received advice from teachers on how to behave with a partner with a disability. And compared to the training of support teachers, half of the kids (50,5%) think that those who are prepared are few.

53,8% of students find the school buildings quite adequate for the needs of people with physical disabilities, while only 26,8% consider them adequate for those with mental disabilities and 16,2% for those with sensory difficulties.

58% find their own not very inclusive class, while at an individual level 55% declare themselves to be “quite welcoming” and 21,4% “very welcoming”.

Students with disabilities, exclusion

Six out of ten students (62,1%) are convinced that there are moments that tend to exclude students with disabilities. Another fact that is perceived by the kids is in fact a decrease in attention towards students with disabilities as the course of studies continues.

Looking at the educational aspect, indeed, "half of the children who participated in the consultation indicated that compared to nursery and primary school, attention towards students with disabilities is less in lower and upper secondary schools. Children perceive less care and attention towards classmates with disabilities as they progress through their studies. This feeling often leads to them seeing their class as not very inclusive towards students with disabilities (those who responded attend lower or upper secondary schools). As evidence of this, 58% of those who find their class not very inclusive believe that as they progress through their level of education, care and attention towards classmates with disabilities decreases".

How to intervene if the school is not inclusive

The school Is it inclusive overall? The answer is not clear-cut and students are split in half: 51,4% are convinced that it is not, 48,6% think it is.

Those who believe that school is not inclusive However, he has clear ideas on the areas of intervention:

– 52,9% believe it is necessary to invest in teacher training;

– 36,2% (more than one in three) think that awareness-raising among peers (co-workers, schoolmates) is very important;

– 30,4% refer to the importance of investments in evidently inadequate school buildings;

– 26,5% believe that an investment in a school psychologist is useful;

– 11,9% of students believe that increasing the number of support teachers is useful.

Schools and Disabilities, When Participation is Denied

If this is the perception, what is the status of students with disabilities in Italian schools? According to the Istat report published in February 2024 and relating to the 2022/2023 school year, critical issues continue in the school inclusion of students with disabilities (3) who in schools of all levels are almost 338 thousand, 4,1% of the total enrolled.

According to Istat improves the supply of support teachers and the student-teacher ratio, equal to 1,6, is better than that required by law.

But among the teachers 1 in 3 does not have specific training. In fact, these are teachers selected from the curricular lists who do not have specific training for support but are used to address the shortage of specialized figures. Over one in ten is then assigned late: one month after the start of school, in fact, approximately 12% of support teachers have not yet been assigned.

Discontinuity in teaching

Another fact It should be noted that there is still a strong discontinuity in teaching: as many as 60% of students with disabilities change support teachers from one year to the next, 9% during the same school year.

27% of schools (but one school in three in the South) does not have a sufficient number of computer stations for students with disabilities.

The problems of inclusion they also occur when there are educational trips: students with disabilities often do not participate in those that include an overnight stay.

87% of students with disabilities in fact, they participate in short educational trips (without sleeping out at night) organized by the school, but the situation changes if the duration of the trip changes: 62% of students with disabilities, a dramatically high figure, do not participate in trips with overnight stays – a percentage that reaches 72% in the South. Even extra-curricular activities organized during school hours, such as art workshops, chess, theater, see a participation gap: only less than half of students with disabilities take part (48%).

Which accessibility And what about buildings? Very little: only 40% of schools are accessible to students with motor disabilities, an already low figure that drops to a paltry 17% for students with deafness or hearing loss and to a paltry 1,2% for students with blindness or low vision.

Sabrina Bergamini