Salamanca Statement and Framework For Action of 1994

Download as doc, pdf, or txt
Download as doc, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 2

THE SALAMANCA STATEMENT AND FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION OF 1994

Adoption
In June 7-10, 1994, representatives of 92 governments and 25 international organizations formed the World
Conference on Special Needs Education, held in Salamanca, Spain. They agreed a new dynamic Statement on the
education of all disabled children, which called for inclusion to be the norm. In addition, the Conference adopted a
new Framework for Action, the guiding principle of which is that ordinary schools should accommodate all children,
regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions.

Education for all


The Statement begins with a commitment to Education for All, recognizing the necessity and urgency of
providing education for all children, young people and adults 'within the regular education system. It says those
children with special educational needs 'must have access to regular schools.

Call to governments
The World Conference went on to call upon all governments to:
 Give the highest policy and budgetary priority' to improve education services so that all children could be
included, regardless of differences or difficulties.
 Adopt as a matter of law or policy the principle of inclusive education and enroll all children in ordinary
schools unless there were compelling reasons for doing otherwise.
 Develop demonstration projects and encourage exchanges with countries with inclusive schools.
 Ensure that organizations of disabled people, along with parents and community bodies, are involved in
planning decision-making.
 Put greater effort into pre-school strategies as well as vocational aspects of inclusive education.
 Ensure that both initial and in-service teacher training address the provision of inclusive education.

Inclusive schooling
The Statement also calls on the international community to endorse the approach of inclusive schooling and
to support the development of special needs education as an integral part of all education programs. In particular it
calls on UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank for this endorsement.

It asks for the United Nations and its specialized agencies to 'strengthen their inputs for technical
cooperation' and improve their networking for more efficient support to integrated special needs provision. Non-
governmental Organizations are asked to strengthen their collaboration with official national bodies and become
more involved in all aspects of inclusive education.

As the UN agency for education, UNESCO is asked to:


 Ensure that special needs education forms part of every discussion dealing with education for all.
 Enhance teacher education in this field by getting support from teacher unions and associations.
 Stimulate the academic community to do more research into inclusive education and disseminate the
findings and the reports.
 Use its funds over the five-year period, 1996-2001, to create an expanded program for inclusive schools and
community support projects, thus enabling the launch of pilot projects.

Framework for Action


Section I. New Thinking in Special Needs Education
This section states that we must recalibrate our minds towards our views in inclusive education. We must
omit our old ways in which few children with special abilities and disabilities have access to education specially in the
developing regions of the world. We must start with the new ones and ensures that the educational planning by the
government should concentrate in educational for all persons, in all regions of a country and in all economic
conditions for both public and private schools.

Section II. Guidelines for Action at the National Level


A. Policy and Organization
This provision talks about the duties and responsibilities of the government towards inclusive
education. It states that the practice of mainstreaming children with special abilities and disabilities should
be an integral part of the national plans in achieving education for all. Legislation should recognize the
principle of equality of opportunity for children, youth and adults with disabilities in primary, secondary and
tertiary education. Moreover, the national authority has the responsibility to monitor external funding and
ensures that both policies and financing arrangements should encourage and facilitate the development of
inclusive schools.
B. School Factors
This provision focuses on three points that should be considered in integrating children with special
abilities and disabilities into inclusive education:
 Curriculum Flexibility – states that the curriculum should be adopted and designed in order to cater
the needs of the students not vice versa. The school should provide curricular activities suit to
children with special abilities and interest. And in the case of with special educational needs they
must receive additional instructional support.
 School Management – refers in making schools more responsive to children with special
educational needs. This calls for the responsibilities of local administrators and school heads to
develop more flexible procedures in order to offer support to pupils experiencing difficulties and to
develop close relationship among the parents and the community.
 Information and Research – the conduct of research will help in gaining more information regarding
inclusive education and children with special educational needs and this will help improve teaching
and learning.
C. Recruitment and Training of Educational Personnel
This provision talks about the appropriate preparation of all educational personnel which stands out as
a key factor in promoting towards inclusive schools. This includes positive orientation towards disability and
the availability of pre-service training programs. Furthermore, this provision also emphasizes the importance
of recruiting teachers with disabilities who can serve as a role models to children with special educational
needs.
D. External Support Services
It states the importance of the external services or the support that inclusive schools can get from
various people or agencies. It could be from other institutions through their outreach staff. We could also
have advisory teachers, educational psychologists and speech and occupational therapists. The greater the
effort or the support that is present, it will ensure the success of inclusive education.
E. Priority Areas
This provision identifies four target areas that were given consideration to the development of
educational plans:
 Early Childhood Education – it believes that the success of inclusive schools depend on the early
identification, assessment and stimulation of the very young child with special educational needs.
That is why early childhood care and educational programs are implemented. The earlier the child
became oriented he/she will have physical, intellectual and social development as well as school
readiness at the very young age.
 Girls Education – a special effort is required to provide training and education for girls with special
educational needs. Girls with disabilities should have access to information and guidance as well
as role models to help them make realistic choices and prepare them for their future role as an
adult woman.
 Preparation for Adult Life – young people with special abilities and disabilities should be helped in
making an effective transition from school to adult working life. Schools should assist them to
become economically active and provide them with the skill needed for everyday life. Offering
training in different skills that correspond to the demands of adult working life is highly recognized.
 Adult and Continuing Education – this talk about the special courses that should also be designed
in order to cater the needs and conditions of the different group of adults with disabilities.
F. Community Perspectives – realizing the goal of education for all is not the task of the ministries of
education for alone. It is a collective effort. Thus, it requires parent partnership, community involvement,
role of voluntary organizations and public awareness.
G. Resource Requirements – EFA must be recognized as a key government policy and accorded a
privileged place on the nations development agenda. It must be funded in order to obtain adequate
resources.

Section III. Guidelines for Action at the Regional and International Level
This section emphasizes the importance of international cooperation among governmental non-
governmental, regional and interregional organizations which plays a very important role in supporting the move
towards inclusive schools.

References: http://www.csie.org.uk/inclusion/unesco-salamanca.shtml
www.right-to-education.org>...PDFthesalamncastatementforaction-RighttoEducation...

Prepared by: Hannah Grace D. Cano and Vicente D. Miano

You might also like