This book offers a framework for the implementation of inclusive education in developing countries. It proposes bringing the vulnerable to the centre of planning decisions, recognising the history of special education in psychologizing failure, and that mainstream must own the transformation to inclusive education.

This edited volume explores various issues pertaining to the education of children with disabilities in Africa, the Caribbean and Middle East. As a group, persons with disabilities have been subjected to social, cultural and educational exclusions of various forms and for various socially-scripted reasons. In education, for instance, individuals with disabilities have been altogether excluded from educational participation in many parts of the developing world or they have been excluded from pursuing meaningfully beneficial higher levels of education in developed countries like the United States. One of the social responses/remedies to the widely-acknowledged exclusionary practices experienced by learners with disabilities has been the widespread implementation of inclusive practices in the education of individuals with disabilities across countries, in the west and the developing regions of the world. A distinctive marker of difference in the way inclusive practices have been enacted in western countries versus those in the developing world has primarily stemmed from the fact that majority of western countries operate under funded mandates that also regulate the provision of education to persons with disabilities. While the ideal of inclusion has been highly desirable, many of countries in the developing world have floundered in their implementation due to lack sound legislative framework to guide implementation coupled with socio-cultural factors related to negative perceptions of disabilities and limited funding sources. Chapters in this volume explore inclusive education from a variety of perspectives.

Education and Disability in the Global South brings together new and established researchers from a variety of disciplines to explore the complexities and dilemmas encountered in providing education to children and young people with disabilities in countries in South Asia and Africa. Applying a range of methodological, theoretical and conceptual frameworks across different levels of education systems, from pre-school to higher education, the contributors examine not just the barriers but also the opportunities within the educational systems, in order to make strong policy recommendations. Together, the chapters offer a comprehensive overview of a range of issues, including a nuanced appreciation of the tensions between the local and global in relation to key developments in the field, critiquing a globalized notion of inclusive education, as well as proposing new methodological advancements in taking the research agenda forward. Empirical insights are captured not just from the perspectives of educators but also through engaging with children and young people with disabilities, who are uniquely powerful in providing insights for future developments.

The history of people with disabilities has been dominated by their isolation and exclusion. The long fight towards inclusion and inclusive education in particular started not many years ago. Most were powerless to control their own destiny. Their participation in society has been the object of others actions. In many countries their disability policies have a substantial element of protection and charity but not the right to equalisation of opportunities. This book highlights the process of change that is underway internationally. The equalisation of opportunities requires new processes through which the various systems of society such as health services and education are delivered. It means the right for people with disabilities to remain in their communities and to receive the schooling and social supports they need within the ordinary structures available in local communities. Strong advocacy is needed for this to happen. In particular parents need to be empowered, communities mobilised and professionals trained in new ways of working: hence this book. Drawing on experiences in Africa, the book describes the issues to be considered when it comes to implementing inclusive strategies: the processes to be followed and the roles of different sectors, such as people with disabilities, parents, policy makers, educationalists, health and community development professionals and crucially, society at large.

It is a fundamental right for all children to be given access to quality education to ensure they reach their full potential as individuals; a right which is reflected in international law in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and supported by the Education for All Agenda (1990) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and Optional Protocol (2006). Nation states across Africa have signed up to these protocols and remain committed to ensuring education for all children. The progress globally however in the past 25 years, including in Africa, has been slow (UNESCO, 2015). Questions remain on why this is so and what can be done about it. This book brings together researchers, education policy makers and academics from the African community. What is unique about this text is that it includes local insights narrated and critiqued by local professionals. This book presents a wide range of African countries across the continent, to provide a critical overview of the key issues affecting developments. It questions the origins of ideas and definitions around inclusive education and the impact it has made on policy and ultimately practice, within local socio-cultural and economic communities, both urban and rural. It highlights positive developments as well as challenges and provides a deep understanding of why the process of implementing inclusive education is so complex in the African continent. It provides an understanding of what is needed to develop a more sustainable model of inclusive education across the continent and within specific countries.

"Education and Disability in the Global South brings together new and established researchers from a variety of disciplines to explore the complexities and dilemmas encountered in providing education to children and young people with disabilities in countries in South Asia and Africa. Applying a range of methodological, theoretical and conceptual frameworks across different levels of education systems, from pre-school to higher education, the contributors examine not just the barriers but also the opportunities within the educational systems, in order to make strong policy recommendations. Together, the chapters offer a comprehensive overview of a range of issues, including a nuanced appreciation of the tensions between the local and global in relation to key developments in the field, critiquing a globalized notion of inclusive education, as well as proposing new methodological advancements in taking the research agenda forward. Empirical insights are captured not just from the perspectives of educators but also through engaging with children and young people with disabilities, who are uniquely powerful in providing insights for future developments."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Despite global efforts to promote inclusive education, many African countries need help implementing inclusive practices in their educational systems. The lack of guidelines and preparedness among school practitioners often hinders the effective inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream education. This results in a significant number of students with disabilities being marginalized and deprived of their right to quality education. Discussions of Inclusive Education Within African Contexts addresses this pressing issue to equip school practitioners with the knowledge and strategies to implement inclusive practices effectively. The book draws on global best practices and frameworks, such as the Salamanca statement, to provide practical guidance tailored to the unique challenges faced by African educational systems.

11 Motives and motivations for mature women's participation in higher education in Ghana -- Introduction -- Conceptualising the study -- Mature women's motives and motivations for HE participation -- Method -- Research context and participants -- Results and discussion -- Motivations for returning to study -- Parents' motivation -- Partners' encouragement, socio- economic status and childcare arrangements -- Geographical relocation and social networks -- Motives for entering HE -- Higher education as a tool for breaking the cycle of poverty -- Personal development -- "Everybody was going, so I wanted to go"--Conclusions -- Concluding remarks -- 12 Epilogue - reflections on cultural responsiveness -- Index

How do we articulate the possibilities, limitations and challenges of inclusive schooling and education in African contexts? This book insists that inclusive education cannot be taken for granted. Inclusion is neither a natural nor a given educational practice. It must be struggled for. Bringing a critical perspective to inclusive schooling and education is imperative. This book adds to current educational debates with an African lens. It engages inclusive education from multiple lenses of curriculum content, classroom pedagogy and instruction, representation, culture, environment and the socio-organization life of schools, the pursuit of equity and social justice and the search for educational relevance. It is opined that Africa cannot be left behind in rethinking educational inclusion in ways that evoke critical questions of power, equity and social difference. The question of leaner’s identity in terms of class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, language, ethnicity and race are equally consequential for African schooling and education. When inclusion is understood as wholeness of education, then how schooling and education engage the complete learner – her/his body, mind, soul and spirit, as well as the use of local community and Indigenous knowledges in teaching and learning become relevant. Inclusion stands the risk of liberal educational agendas that simply tinker or toy with schooling and education and hardly embrace the challenge of educational change. What we need is a fundamental structural change that ensures schooling and education embraces difference while grappling with the teaching of Indigeneity, decolonization and resistance.

How we understand education quality is inextricably linked with perspectives on social justice. Questions of inclusion, relevance and democracy in education are increasingly contested, most especially in the global South, and improving the quality of education, particularly for the most disadvantaged, has become a topic of fundamental concern for education policy makers, practitioners and the international development community. The reality experienced by many learners continues to be of inadequately prepared and poorly motivated teachers, struggling to deliver a rapidly changing curriculum without sufficient support, and often using outmoded teaching methods in over-crowded or dilapidated classrooms. Education Quality and Social Justice in the South includes contributions from leading scholars in the field of education and development. The text draws upon state of the art evidence from the five year EdQual research programme, which focuses upon raising achievement in low income countries, and demonstrates how systems of high quality universal education can be sustained. By exploring recent research initiatives to improve education quality, the importance of supporting local policy makers, educators and parents as agents of change, and students as active inquirers is highlighted, and the challenge of taking successful initiatives to scale is explained. The book is divided into three main parts: -Framing Education Quality -Planning and Policies for Quality -Implementing Quality in Schools Education Quality and Social Justice in the South argues that implementing a high quality of education using theories of social justice can inform the understanding of inclusion, relevance and democracy in education. The book should be essential reading for both students and researchers within the fields of international and comparative education, along with educational policy, poverty and development studies.