The development of the educational space through an increase in the degree of inclusion (world experience)

The aim of this article is to study the parameters and dimensions of the educational space and its changes towards the inclusion of persons with disabilities in different periods of European history. The authors use the theory of educational space of R.E. Ponomarev, creatively developing it and introducing two more dimensions - medium-human-orientation and inclusion-exclusion - into his model. The authors base their conclusions on the findings of researchers who have studied various aspects of the development of special education methods in Russia and in the world, on a number of documents on inclusive education, as well as on their own experience in studying the characteristics of inclusive education in different European countries. The authors of this article reveal how the new field of educational spaces (inclusive-human-oriented or hosting) began to exist and find out how and for what reasons this process took place. Within each historical period, signs of the emergence and development of a hosting space in Europe and Russia are identified. The authors note that the society first exposed persons with disabilities to exclusion, including in the educational sphere. But 195 gradually, new dimensions of the educational space were revealed to society. An exclusive medium-oriented approach was replaced by an inclusive and human-oriented one influenced by a sum of factors (inequality in society and the fact that children with disabilities were more likely to survive in rich families, the influence of Christianity, if we talk about Europe and Russia). The general humanization of the 19th-20th centuries led to an almost absolute inclusion and restructuring of the entire educational process to the needs of students, both with special features and without them, in the West. The development of the educational space from exclusive to inclusive one in Russia and abroad had a number of stages and was subordinated to the objective needs of society, such as the transfer of inheritance rights, the involvement of persons with disabilities in social work, etc. In the past two centuries, the formation of a hosting educational space has been fixed by laws that provided special rights to students with disabilities in the educational process. If at first these laws simply introduced the basic rules for the presence of persons with disabilities in educational institutions, at the moment detailed requirements for teachers, universities, officials are developed. The authors conclude that the trend for full inclusion in educational institutions is not a fashionable trend, but a process prepared by the entire previous history. Russia is still in the process of “catching up” in this process, but it quickly masters new dimensions of the educational space, and it is possible to predict a gradual equalization of opportunities for teaching disabled people in Russia and in the most developed countries.

Keywords

Authors

References