Disability-specific education
Disability-specific education refers to segregated educational settings, such as schools for children with disabilities, where staff are trained to provide inclusive environments to support children with disabilities to learn without barriers.
Whilst disability-inclusive education is widely accepted as the most suitable approach to guarantee universality and non-discrimination, disability-specific education continues to be provided. In many countries, the education of children with disabilities occurs in a range of settings, including segregated ‘special schools’ catering solely to students with disabilities, and integration classes in regular schools, as well as in inclusive classrooms. At times, children with disabilities may benefit more from a segregated or integrated educational setting. This depends on the resources available, policies and attitudes in schools, and the nature of the child’s education support requirements. For example, children with low vision may need to learn braille, or Deaf children may need to be immersed in a sign language environment, before enrolling into a mainstream school.
Whilst efforts to progressively achieve disability-inclusive education in mainstream school settings is widely considered to be the goal, it is important to understand and value the role that disability-specific education facilities and approaches continue to play, and the support they provide so children with disabilities can learn without barriers that may be present in mainstream settings. Article 24 (education) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) includes measures to ensure that education for people who are blind, Deaf, and deafblind, are delivered in the most appropriate languages, modes and means of communication for the individual, which may often be specialist schools.
Resources provided in this section include resources and guidance on the strengths and challenges of disability-specific education, and the collaboration between different approaches to ensure the realisation of the right to education for all children.
WFP (2021) Webinar “Inclusive Education”
The aim of this webinar is to demystify the different concepts existing in Inclusive Education and what it takes to National Associations of the Deaf and relevant stakeholders to transition to quality and inclusive education for all deaf learners in the national sign languages and national written languages.
WFD (2019) Report on Baseline Data Collection on Deaf Education in Nepal
The report shares findings from a consultancy project for the WFD regarding inclusive and equitable quality education through the medium of sign language for deaf learners in Nepal.
WFP (2018) WFD Position Paper on Inclusive Education
WFD advocates for inclusive education for deaf learners that is of high quality education with direct instruction in sign language, access to deaf teachers and deaf peers who use sign language, and a bilingual curriculum that includes the study of sign language.
OHCHR (2020) Policy Guidelines for Inclusive Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education
Provides detailed guidance for policymakers on measures that are required to implement the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on Quality Education which ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
World Bank (2019). Every learner matters: Unpacking the Learning Crisis for Children With Disabilities
This report prepared by the World Bank, establishes the learning crisis for children with disabilities and presents evidence of how and why children with disabilities are being left behind, and the need to shift from school access to prioritizing learning.
