The Inclusion of Children With Special Education Needs: A Theoretical Approach

General Background

Humanism is a general stance dating from the 19^th century and comes from the Latin word humanitas, which means being a kind and benevolent person in relation to others. This philosophy touched on many other fields of knowledge, such as ethics, psychology, politics, and education. The humanistic approach to education has a long history, dating from the ‘60s when Neill (1960) described a different school, a school based on the kind, caring relationship between the teacher and the pupil. Since then, many authors embraced this philosophy and tried to implement it in different school settings for children with disabilities and not only (e.g. G.I. Brown, W.C. Morse). In our days, we speak of caring, equality and attending to the child’s needs – humanistic values meant to allow all children, no matter their challenges, to achieve their full potential and to work towards self-actualization. This humanistic paradigm that seems rather vague at a first glance is the pole for national and international institutions that aim to solve some the world’s biggest problems, including education optimization.

The 2010-2020 European Strategy for Persons with Disabilities has the title “A New Commitment for a barrier-free Europe”. From this title only, one can infer that the fundamental pillars a European society should be built on are made of humanistic, compassionate and all-inclusive policies. To mention several examples, a barrier-free Europe is designed by non-discriminative societies, that respect and accept people with disabilities as part of human diversity, that create equal development opportunities for all children, no matter their challenges or capabilities. The main development opportunity for a child is access to education. This is not just a “favor” offered by the state, but a human right - a universal and fundamental behavior standard that applies to all persons, no matter the gender, age, level of education, etc., and that cannot be taken away from them.

Human rights are the expression of values but at the same time the condition for core human values to be found in the future, preventing the humiliation of human beings or historical tragedies such as those generated by world wars. In order to be respected and promoted, human rights require social intervention, based on an interdisciplinary approach. Human rights can be respected through the contribution of all the factors of the social environment in which a particular person lives (European Commission, 2010. European strategy 2010-2020 for persons with disabilities: A new commitment for a barrier-free Europe). The inalienable and non-negotiable rights of any human being cannot be respected if a child or adult lives in isolation and does not carry out the same activities as other members of the community according to age, gender, and other common factors, and does not perform all the roles as a family member, a full-fledged citizen, an active employed person, a consumer of a culture or a creator in different fields, and so on. The social integration of a person with disabilities is an essential condition for the full exercise of its rights. Therefore, promoting the rights of people with disabilities and ensuring their inclusion in society is a priority of modern nations and European Union bodies (Crețu, 1999).