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![]() European Commission Press release Brussels, 10 July 2012 Special needs children and disabled adults still getting a raw deal from education, says report Despite commitments by Member States to promote inclusive education, children with special educational needs and disabled adults are still getting a raw deal, according to a report published today by the European Commission. Many are placed in segregated institutions and those in mainstream educational settings often receive inadequate support, it says. The report calls on Member States to work harder to develop inclusive education systems and to remove the barriers faced by vulnerable groups when it comes to participation and success in education, training and employment. “We have to strengthen our efforts to provide adequately financed inclusive education policies if we want to improve the lives of children with special educational needs and disabled adults. It is time to deliver on the commitments which have been made. Inclusive education is not an optional extra; it is a basic necessity. We must put the most vulnerable at the heart of our actions to achieve a better life for all," said Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. Around 45 million EU citizens of working age have a disability and 15 million children have special educational needs. The report shows that in some cases, they are deprived of educational and employment opportunities altogether. Children with special educational needs frequently leave school with few or no qualifications, before moving into specialist training which can, in some cases, impair rather than increase their job prospects. People with disabilities or special educational needs are much more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive, and even those who are relatively successful in the job market often earn less than their non-disabled counterparts, the report states. In all Member States, deprived children (especially boys) from Roma, ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are overrepresented in special needs schools. The report questions whether special education systems increase the isolation of pupils who are already socially marginalised, reducing rather than enhancing their opportunities in life. Research suggests that such children could be enrolled in mainstream schools if there was more investment in the development of their language skills and more sensitivity to cultural differences. The report also highlights a wide variation between Member States as to how children with special needs are identified, as well as whether they are placed in mainstream or special schools. For example, in Flanders (Belgium) 5.2% of pupils with special needs are in segregated special schools, while in Italy it is only 0.01%. The report suggests that more needs to be done to harmonise definitions and improve data gathering to enable countries to compare their approaches more effectively and learn from each other's experience. Background The report, "Education and Disability/Special Needs - policies and practices in education, training and employment for students with disabilities and special educational needs in the EU", was compiled for the European Commission by the independent network of experts in social sciences of education and training (NESSE). Other key findings from the report
Several EU initiatives are already in place to strengthen special needs learning:
For more information European Commission:Education and training Follow Androulla Vassiliou onTwitter @VassiliouEU Number of pupils in compulsory education and percentage in segregated special schools and special classes
* Data for England includes pupils with Statements of Need only Source: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, Country Data 2010 Pupils identified as having special educational needs as a % of the total school population ![]() Source: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, Country Data 2010 Note: The statistics for Bulgaria and Italy are drawn from European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, Country Data 2008 since they are not included in the 2010 publication. Pupils in special schools and classes as a % of the total school population ![]() Source: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, Country Data 2010 Note: The statistics for Bulgaria and Italy are drawn from European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, Country Data 2008 since they are not included in the 2010 document.
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