ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH TO INTRODUCING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN A SECONDARY GENERAL SCHOOL

Abstract

Active discussion and implementation of inclusive education in the system of secondary general education in Ukraine has been taking place over the past ten years. Educational policy is aimed at providing qualitative educational services to all children, regardless of psycho-physical disability or lack of it. To that effect, a new form of joint study for students with disabilities and with a typical development is introduced, that is called inclusive one. An ecological approach is of great importance in the implementation of inclusive education. This methodological approach in pedagogics is not a new concept. However, until now, in the context of inclusion, issues of the task and principles for implementing the environmental approach, its main features, necessary resources, quality criteria, diagnostics, subjects, components, value interactions with other approaches remain unclear. These questions reflect a wide range of research tasks. In this article, the main components of the inclusive environment of the secondary general education school have been identified and described; the concept of “inclusive educational environment” has been specified; the main tasks, features, principles of an inclusive environment have been clarified. In particular, the author suggests to define the «inclusive educational environment of the secondary general education school» as a set of educational services for the secondary general education school, requiring the creation of conditions, a set of actions, ways and means, attracting necessary external resources, specialists of other industries in order to form necessary competencies for the students’ life in accordance with their needs and opportunities. Moreover, the formed conditions for the educational process where all pupils, regardless of their psychophysical disorder or lack thereof, receive equally high-quality educational services, have been determined as the priority task of the inclusive environment of the secondary general education school. In the structure of the inclusive environment of the secondary general education school the author has indicated and analyzed the following components: substantive, socially-spatial, procedural, action-oriented, effective. The article emphasizes that the environmental approach in the introduction of inclusive education to the system of the secondary general education school should provide for the implementation of specific principles. For this purpose, the groups of these principles have been singled out and listed: general pedagogical, inclusive and specific principles. Priority directions for further research have been also identified. The implementation of the ideas proposed by the author will contribute to the qualitative implementation of inclusive education in Ukraine. This is because inclusion requires the creation of an accessible environment for the self-realization of the individuals regardless of their psychophysical disabilities.