Making Learning Environments More Inclusive for All Students With Educational Technology

Introduction

There are approximately 240 million students around the world who are classified with a disability (UNICEF, 2021). The UNICEF (2021) report found that across countries, even students with similar classifications can have very different life experiences and can have different levels of societal participation. Providing access to assistive technologies, related services, and social norms are all essential to creating an inclusive societal mindset (UNICEF, 2021). Despite the global consensus on the importance of education, including the United Nations’ fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), focusing on providing equitable, inclusive, and quality education for all students (United Nations, n.d.), only 68% of countries in 2020 had defined “inclusive education” within their national education policies (UNICEF, 2021).

In the United States, 7.3 million students qualify for special services (United States Department of Education, 2021). Within this population of students, 65 percent spend 80 percent or more of their school day in the general education classroom, learning alongside their peers (United States Department of Education, 2021). The number of students who spend most of their day in this setting has been rising in recent years, demonstrating a shift toward inclusion. The history of educating learners with disabilities within the United States was not always inclusive. Previously, this population of students was segregated from their peers in the same school building, or in earlier circumstances, they may not have received public education at all (Osgood, 2005). Activism and movements led to a spotlight on this issue, bringing more awareness to the fact that students with disabilities deserved access to an equal education.

In the United States, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was adopted in 2001, which addressed the fact that all students, including those with disabilities, needed to have access to the general education curriculum and teachers who were highly qualified in specific subject matter (Friend et al., 2010). In 2004, the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) placed a focus on the least restrictive environment, which meant that students with disabilities should be placed in the general education setting to learn amongst their peers “to the maximum extent possible” (IDEA §300.114(a)). More recent history has shown the Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA), which was adopted in 2015. This mandate continued to address that students with disabilities need access to the general education setting to be better prepared for life after their secondary education.

Despite the United States mandates, the word “inclusion” does not appear in federal documentation and mandates (Grynova & Kalichenko, 2018). Internationally, the first time that term was used within the field of special education was in the Salamanca Statement in 1994 (Francisco et al., 2020). During that event, 92 countries signed the statement and subsequent framework, dedicating themselves to creating schools that “include everybody, celebrate differences, support learning and respond to individual needs” (UNESCO, 1994, p. III). There has been some debate over the exact criteria to constitute an inclusive school. Some common characteristics of inclusive education include: (a) students with disabilities attending their home school, as opposed to being segregated in a specialized school, (b) a positive environment where all students feel welcomed, (c) placement for all students in the general education classroom, (d) the modification or adaptation of curriculum and instruction based on individual student needs, (e) social inclusion support, and (f) training and resources about inclusion (Chambers, 2020).