Special Educational Needs and Rights to Education in School and University from a Cross-National Point of View: A Look in a Complex World

A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102). This special issue belongs to the section "Special and Inclusive Education".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 22694

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Education, Philosophy and Psychology, University of Cagliari, Via Università, 40, 09124 Cagliari CA, Italy
Interests: memory; neuropsychological assessment; cognitive rehabilitation; neuropsychological rehabilitation

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Guest Editor
Department of Law, University of Cagliari, Via Nicolodi, 09124 Cagliari CA, Italy
Interests: disability; special educational needs; school and university; learning disabilities; neuropsychological profile; disablement; cross-national comparisons

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last 40 years ago in Europe and in other countries in the world, there have been an increasing interest in the promotion of inclusion in school and in university for people with disability. Different countries choose different paths and different conceptual options for the provision of instruments, strategies and resources to promote inclusion and right to access to education, learning and participation for people with disability. The different paths and the different conceptual choices are strictly related to the history and to the cultural and socio-economic background of each country, and they are related to the laws that each country developed in the field of inclusion in school and university. In 2006, the United Nation Convention of the right of people with disability proposed a clear and specific definition of all the rights of people with disability, within the frame of human rights in all the domains of life and in the specific fields of education, school and university. The main aim of the Convention of the right of people with disability was to propose a shared vision of disability and to propose a worldwide shared vision of the rights of people with disability. After more than 10 years, aiming to make a look in the complexity of this history, in this special issue, we invite scholars from different countries to discuss about these topics and to share their experiences in the field.

Prof. Donatella Rita Petretto
Prof. Carmelo Masala
Prof. Rita Pilia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • Special Educational Needs
  • Specific history
  • Laws and inclusion in school
  • Convention for the right of people with disability
  • Rights to learning

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 185 KiB  
Editorial
Some Lessons Learned in the Use of Distance Learning with Students with Special Educational Needs during COVID-19 Outbreak
by Donatella Rita Petretto, Stefano Mariano Carta, Stefania Cataudella, Ilaria Masala, Maria Lidia Mascia, Maria Pietronilla Penna, Paola Piras, Ilenia Pistis and Carmelo Masala
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11(3), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11030108 - 08 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3083
Abstract
At the end of 2019, COVID-19 (an infective respiratory disease caused by SARSCoV-2) was discovered in Wuhan, China [...] Full article
2 pages, 155 KiB  
Editorial
Special Educational Needs, Distance Learning, Inclusion and COVID-19
by Donatella Rita Petretto, Ilaria Masala and Carmelo Masala
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(6), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10060154 - 03 Jun 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 8755
Abstract
In the last two months, school closure has been one of the more used worldwide “not-pharmacological mitigation strategies” to prevent and limit infection from COVID-19, and to delay the outbreak’s peak [...] Full article

Research

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16 pages, 3968 KiB  
Article
The Perceptions and Attitudes of Peers towards Students with Special Needs as Reflected by Their Drawings and the Social Acceptance Scale
by Özlem Dağlı Gökbulut, Burak Gökbulut and Mustafa Yeniasır
Educ. Sci. 2024, 14(4), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14040346 - 26 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1151
Abstract
Inclusive education processes, in which teachers, students and parents play an active role, serve an extremely important function in the adaptation of individuals with special needs to academic and social life. These educational processes serve the purpose of including individuals with special needs [...] Read more.
Inclusive education processes, in which teachers, students and parents play an active role, serve an extremely important function in the adaptation of individuals with special needs to academic and social life. These educational processes serve the purpose of including individuals with special needs in the same learning environments with their peers. In this way, these individuals not only improve their skills more quickly, but also improve their social abilities through interaction with their peers, increasing their likelihood of being accepted by the society at large. It is critical for their peers to be aware of the needs of children with special needs and to approach them with this awareness so that inclusive education proves successful and individuals with special needs can have a better future. In this study, the perceptions of peers towards individuals with special needs were determined through their drawings, and their attitudes towards these individuals were revealed by means of the applied attitude scale. The 42 drawings obtained were examined and a total of five themes were generated, namely: help and friendship, success, exclusion, physical challenges, and hospital-rehabilitation center settings. Based on the pictures drawn by children who are developing typically and their answers on the scale, it can be concluded that they generally have a positive attitude towards their peers with special needs and they mostly do not see them as distinct from their other friends. Full article
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25 pages, 1866 KiB  
Article
All Inclusive?! Empirical Insights into Individual Experiences of Students with Disabilities and Mental Disorders at German Universities and Implications for Inclusive Higher Education
by Janieta Bartz
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(9), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10090223 - 28 Aug 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5196
Abstract
In the context of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the German Rectors’ Conference has expressed the goal of empowering inclusive education at German universities. The German study “beeinträchtigt studieren” from 2018 indicates that the [...] Read more.
In the context of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the German Rectors’ Conference has expressed the goal of empowering inclusive education at German universities. The German study “beeinträchtigt studieren” from 2018 indicates that the situation of disabled university students needs to be improved (1). The present case study uses a mixed-methods approach to re-examine the situation of disabled students against the background of individual narratives. One important focus is on accessibility in teaching (2). The study shows that students with disabilities have to deal with many special barriers, among them learning environments, learning materials, and attitudes of teachers—a situation that is further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (3). Given the results, the question arises as to what measures are useful in ensuring that students do not suffer from stigmatizing or discriminatory experiences during their studies (4). There is a need for further training and development of inclusive teaching methods, such as the Universal Design for Learning (5). Full article
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13 pages, 256 KiB  
Article
The Warnke Method for the Diagnosis and Improvement of Phonological Competence in Special Needs Children
by Ewa Brzdęk and Janusz Brzdęk
Educ. Sci. 2020, 10(5), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10050127 - 29 Apr 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3306
Abstract
Speech, reading, and writing are the basic forms of linguistic communication. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose any problems with them as early and completely as possible, particularly in children with special needs. One of the methods that focuses primarily on the [...] Read more.
Speech, reading, and writing are the basic forms of linguistic communication. Therefore, it is very important to diagnose any problems with them as early and completely as possible, particularly in children with special needs. One of the methods that focuses primarily on the diagnosis and therapy of such learning difficulties is the one developed by Fred Warnke. The diagnostic solutions of the method were motivated by the following assumptions: (a) Automation of hearing, vision, and motor functions can be improved based on the level of brain activity; (b) the development and automation of phonological analysis and synthesis are based on cooperation between the two brain hemispheres. The main purpose of this paper is to present and discuss some research results that show the usefulness of diagnosis of the first stage of the Warnke method, as well as the training determined by it, in improving the phonological memory, language, and reading and writing skills of a group of four Polish children with special needs. The range of automation of each function was estimated on the basis of the values obtained in the diagnoses (initial and final). The final diagnosis showed an improvement in the levels of speech, reading, and writing. Thus, the research has confirmed that the Warnke method diagnosis may help to broaden and complement the standard evaluation methods of phonological competence for Polish children with special needs. The outcomes were so encouraging that we decided to present them to a wider audience. Full article
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