You Failed, Sit down! - Inclusion in the Classroom in Germany

Since the Black-Yellow coalition has been in office, people with disabilities feel neglected by their government. The only bright spot appears to be in the educational system: An expert opinion demands the legal right to inclusion in a regular classroom.

01/03/2010

All are equal under the law – that is how the opinion of Mannheim’s expert on International Law Eibe Riedel can be summed up. Hence children with disabilities and special needs now have the right to attend a regular school with non-disabled children.

The backdrop for this was the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Germany joined about a year ago. Article 24 of the Convention states that the United Nations act on the assumption of an inclusive educational system. Thus Riedel expert opinion asks for a German educational system that is open to all children- regardless of type and degree of their disability. That is the theory, but what this looks like in practice is entirely different.

Considering inclusive classrooms,
Germany has to learn much more
than multiplication up to hundret;
© Hofschläger/Pixelio.de

Implementation: inadequate

According to Adolf Bauer, President of the Organization for the Socially Disadvantaged (SoVD), “it is not enough merely to grant the respective party a right to attend regular classrooms. To succeed in establishing inclusive classrooms locally, the structural prerequisites overall need to be changed.“ Together with the Federal Association “Living together – Learning together“, the Organization for the Socially Disadvantaged requested this expert opinion.

Hubert Hüppe, who is also a member of this Federal Association and the new Federal Government Commissioner for the Disabled, agrees with Bauer and adds:
“Without the support from the federal states and the municipalities, this is not going to work.“ The reason: The expert opinion clearly states that both the German Federal Government and the Federal States are obligated to initiate prompt and target-oriented measures by which to achieve inclusion in German classrooms. Within a period of two years, legislation is required to set up changes.

In early January, the black-yellow coalition announced it will start to implement the UN-Convention beginning in 2011. In conjunction with the Federal States, an action plan is then set to be devised. In reference to Riedel‘s expert opinion, the Federal Government states that “the Federal States will be responsible individually“ for the carrying out of Article 24 and the practical consequences as they pertain to the expert opinion.

Silvia Schmidt, member of the German Federal Parliament (MdB) and the SPD party’s Commissioner for the Disabled stressed however, that the opposition will continue to use all their energy to create an educational system based on the inclusive classroom model. Schmidt also made clear, which provisions need to be made: It needs to be ensured that education happens at a nearby location, to avoid separation of parent and child as it is the case with often remotely located special schools. “Those measures will not only implement human rights, but will also help in saving costs for the Federal States and municipalities.“ Special schools are typically located far away from the person’s residence which translates into higher transportation costs to and from school. Local financial sponsors like the regional authority in North- Rhine- Westphalia would be able to save money by introducing inclusive classrooms in their general schools.

Even if costs are reduced in this instance, new costs will arise in other areas. The general schools need to completely adapt themselves to the needs of the new students. School buildings need wheel chair ramps and elevators, so children with limited mobility will have access to the school. For students with cognitive impairments, instructional material needs to be adapted and teaching staff needs to be trained accordingly. Therefore it is questionable, whether the cost savings will outweigh these additional costs in the end.

In other european schools children
with handicaps have more reasons
to laugh; © memoossa/SXC

Germany: advancement at risk

Experts consider the educational policy requirements of the UN-Convention carried out, if 80 percent of students with a disability are visiting a general classroom. Adolf Bauer of the Organization for the Socially Disadvantaged (SoVD) knows that Germany is merely at the beginning when it comes to collaborative learning among disabled and non-disabled children. According to Bauer, an integration level of 15.7 percent makes Germany dead last in Europe.

Yet some smaller successes are already evident on the state level: North Rhine Westphalia’s Minister of Education Barbara Sommer (member of the CDU party) points out, that the percentage of children and adolescents with disabilities has continuously increased over the past few years in North Rhine Westphalia. Sommer illustrates, that across all school grades, the integration level during the school year 2000/2001 was at 8.8 percent, while it is at 16.1 percent for the current school year, doubling the amount of disabled children participating in regular schools.

The fact of the matter is: The UN-Convention is binding to the Federal Government, its Federal states and municipalities according to international law. The Federal States have committed themselves to implement the Convention into Federal State Law. That is why the Federal Government Commissioner for the Disabled, Hubert Hüppe, refuses to discuss the issue of “if“ there will be inclusive classrooms. “It is now merely a question of “how“ this will be carried out. The children are already here, now we have to find solutions“, states Hüppe.

Those solutions need to be started early on in a child’s life. According to Hüppe, inclusion starts with the under-three-year-olds. Hueppe is convinced that if we are more used to interacting with disabled people from an early age on, we would have less issues accepting a disabled co-worker at our work space later on in life.

Nadine Lormis
REHACARE.de

(Translated by Elena O'Meara)