NGO Alliance Implements Six Models of Inclusive Education in Moldova

The Alliance of active NGOs in the field of Social Protection of Family and Child (APSCF) is a network of local and national NGOs created in 2002 (legally registered at the Ministry of Justice in 2014) with the mission to increase the participation of social actors, as well as to develop and promote public policies and social practices focused on child and family in Republic of Moldova.

The network counts today 89 NGOs, being present practically in each of 32 counties, as well as within those 2 big municipalities (Chisinau and Balti), Gagauzia and the region of Transnistria of the R. of Moldova. The NGOs members of APSCF offer direct assistance to approximately 58,000 beneficiaries (children and adults) from the vulnerable groups. As a result, the approaching to the beneficiaries assures a good documentation of different problems that are faced by them. The act of being a member of APSCF facilitates the transfer of this information to the decision makers from different levels of the public administration.

Inclusive Education was one of the main educational issues in the Republic of Moldova revolving around lack of inclusive education practice; and lack of research and data collection in the field of Inclusive Education. Although declared as a state policy and priority, the Inclusive Education is still in early development stage. There are few schools that are prepared to deal with individual cases and to assist children from different background and with different educational needs to fully participate in education and achieve their full potential.

The main challenges for achieving inclusive education are teachers’ concerns and lack of expertise and experience to work with children with different educational needs; school environment is not prepared for physical access; The focus on academic performance; parents of children with typical development are resistant to change; parents of children with special educational needs fear stigmatization and school failure for their children; Lack of class materials; Even when accepted in school children with special educational needs (SEN) may be neglected and marginalized due to limited teachers’ experience and successful models to adopt.

In order to address these challenges, the NGO alliance was actively involved in discussing and contributing to the Inclusive Education Action Plan to ensure non-discriminatory access to school of the poorest children, disabled children, Roma children, deinstitutionalized children, etc. and the adaptation of environment and curriculum. NGOs piloted 4 models in schools for inclusive education and conducted a research on that to bring evidence on the achievements and the progress in the area. These models are implemented in pilot schools with the aim to identify positive practices, learned lessons and challenges in developing policies in the field of evidence-based education. This helped the schools to adopt inclusive education and get benefits from the experience and successes of the piloting around these models.

The models of inclusive education developed by NGOs with relevant experience and approved by the Ministry of Education included the following stages: identifying necessities of support in carrying out inclusive education; preparing a favourable environment for the inclusion of children with SEN (including disabilities); supporting the educational structures at the national, district and school level to implement the inclusive education; strengthening capacities of all the actors involved in the implementation of inclusive education; disseminating information on piloting models of inclusive education and creating a public opinion on the inclusive education.

An evaluation of Moldova’s inclusive education models, which was conducted as a part of the project “The activation process of Inclusive Education in Moldovaâ€‌, shows that the implementation of inclusive education has a positive impact in the targeted schools, and improvement was reflected on parents, children and teachers. Parent and teachers who were interviewed within the evaluation process confirmed that inclusive education had positive impact on SEN. On the other hand, parents of typical children also indicated that the implementation of inclusive education reflected positively on SEN behaviours and attitude. The evaluation indicates that 57% of teachers believe that inclusive practices contributed to enhancing self-confidence in children with SEN, 62% of teachers mentioned that they became more tolerant, and 48% confirmed that they became more responsible. Regarding children, the evaluation show that 86% of children revealed that they like school a lot, and 69% of children mentioned that they can't wait for the morning to come to go to school.

The political will which led to approval of relevant legislation and regulations and the efforts of the NGOs alliance presented in the models resulted in good progress in inclusive education practices.

To further promoting the models of inclusive education the NGOs initiated Gala event which is a special festivity to celebrate the pioneer schools, structures, teachers and service providers in inclusive education. The Inclusive Education Annual Gala event was organised within the 1^st National Conference on Inclusive Education to promote and celebrate the champions of EFA. The event raised profile of Inclusive Education among over 120 professionals; Encouraged innovation. The Ministry expressed the interest for ownership of Gala event and now is working on a regulation to be organised on an annual basis as a learning and sharing experience event.

For NGO Alliance Initiative Group “Education for Allâ€‌ website please press here