Policypaper on education and training

Denmark is a democracy. We cherish this fact because we find democratic values important. It is vital that everybody has influence upon society in general as well upon as his or her own situation and everyday life.

In order to achieve real participation it is not enough to just participate in communication concerning democracy; it is also necessary to understand the democratic social mechanisms and be aware of the opportunities for influencing them. This knowledge can be acquired in many ways and contexts, but for most people participation in various forms of education is a very important way of learning about these mechanisms: discussing them with others, applying them and, through education, fully understanding them. A well-educated population is one of the prerequisites for a democratic society.

Society and the conditions that influence people's lives change, as do the opportunities for exercising influence. This particularly applies to people with disabilities. Therefore it is imperative that lifelong learning is for everybody - including people with disabilities.

Unfortunately, this is not yet the case in Denmark.

The Danish Council of Organisations of Disabled People (Danish acronym: DSI) will work to ensure that all types of educational programmes are open to people with disabilities and that there are opportunities built into the programmes for obtaining the necessary special educational support in the form of educational aids and materials, guidance, interpretation and personal assistance.

Education is a power for change, both at the individual and general levels. Modern technology and production methods require educational qualifications. In today's society, fewer and fewer tasks can be solved without educational qualifications. The road to a position within the labour market is through education, regardless of whether one wishes to be affiliated to the labour market for a few or many hours or whether it is based upon ordinary or special conditions.

This also means that lack of educational qualifications contributes to social exclusion. Therefore, access to education must be secured for people with disabilities who are already very often in a vulnerable position.

In the developing countries, learning will be a vehicle for the implementation of a development towards welfare and democracy. In our country, the maintenance and further development of a high level of education is a prerequisite for maintaining social as well as individual welfare.

DSI supports the principle of sector responsibility. In the field of education and training, sector responsibility means that all questions regarding the education of people with disabilities must be solved within the educational sector. This involves both financial questions and the organisation and delivery of the education - including the special educational support in the form of educational aids, materials, counselling and guidance.

DSI holds the position that sector responsibility should apply both to children, young people and adults. It should include mainstream education that aims to provide children, young people and adults with specific competences (e.g. within primary, secondary and further education) as well as educational programmes where learners acquire competences on a voluntary basis (e.g. within the area of liberal adult education).

Sector responsibility is a new way of organising the support to people with disabilities. With sector responsibility, the focus changes so that people with disabilities receive the support they require within the educational sector in accordance with the conditions that apply there. Problems regarding social support must still be solved by the social sector.

Research, development and experience exchange regarding sector responsibility at the national, regional and local levels must be organised within the educational sector. However, the required knowledge and experience regarding people with all sorts and degrees of disabilities cannot be provided by the educational sector alone. Solving actual problems for people with disabilities must take place in close co-operation with, for example, the social and health sectors.

Sector responsibility also means that the educational sector must consult the user organisations in the field in all matters regarding the organisation and delivery of provision. Measures regarding people with disabilities should not be implemented in practice before they have been discussed with their organisations.

In the field of education a number of councils, boards and committees are commissioned to follow developments in different educational programmes and participate in the processing of applications, complaints and other matters. DSI is represented on some of these bodies, but in many of them people with disabilities and their organisations are still not represented.

In our view - and according to the recommendations of the UN Standard Rules - people with disabilities should be represented within every type of body involved in the promotion of educational opportunities for people with disabilities.

Educational inclusion in our view means the application of measures that enable all pupils and students, including those with special educational needs, to benefit from education to the greatest extent possible. The concept of inclusion is based on the idea that provisions are made available within the educational programme, whereas the concept of integration was based on the idea that through special education and other forms of special educational support the pupils and students should be “equipped” to cope with a general educational programme.

DSI is of the opinion that from the outset all educational programmes should be designed in such a way that they are accessible for people with disabilities. At the same time we are working to ensure that people with disabilities are given access to all existing educational programmes.

These goals can only be achieved if the physical settings are fully accessible. At the same time all relevant information and educational materials must be accessible for everybody, including people who are blind or visually impaired, people who are dyslexic or have reading and spelling difficulties, etc.

The necessary support in the form of, for example, interpretation facilities and induction loop systems, must be available not only during group instruction and individual instruction, but also when groups of learners are working in teams and co-operating without the involvement of teachers or other educational professionals.

Instruction must be organised and provided in such a way that people with functional impairment can participate on equal terms. This has clear implications for educational staff in general and in particular for teachers.

People who attend educational programmes also take part in the social life of the school or institution and it should be possible for everybody to do so regardless of their individual needs and competences. A special effort is required in this field, particularly in primary and lower secondary education.

In addition, tests and examinations must take into account the needs of people with functional disabilities. In they are unable to participate fully and complete the tests because of their disability, the educational programme should be designed so as to enable them to be tested in a different way, at the same level as far as competences are concerned, but through the application of alternative materials and subjects. Exemptions should not appear on their certificate.

In order to participate in mainstream education, many students with learning difficulties require a certain amount of special education to compensate for, reduce or remedy their disability. Special education must be planned and organised as an integral part of mainstream education provision. The very purpose of special education should be to support the student's opportunities for participating in mainstream education.

Everybody who wishes to participate actively in our modern society is faced with the need for lifelong learning. It is imperative that people with disabilities participate in further and supplementary education programmes. Without these opportunities it is difficult to become affiliated to the labour market and achieve full inclusion. Recently, it has become popular to complete part of one's education abroad and this opportunity should also be open to people with disabilities and special educational needs.

It only makes sense to talk about inclusion if special educational support is provided within all educational programmes. Special educational support is provision and guidance that takes into consideration the combination of subjects and a given disability.

Even though people with disabilities have the full right to participate in all types of education, many of them will still have the need for learning and development in specific areas where the necessary quality can only be achieved if education and social interaction takes place with other people who have similar disabilities. Therefore, the pursuit of inclusion must not lead to the phasing out or abolition of opportunities for learning and personal development with others with similar disabilities.

We want to maintain special schools for deaf students, which enable students to complete the highest level of basic schooling in a sign language environment. This is necessary in order to ensure that deaf students are fully included in all activities within and around the educational programme.

It is DSI's position that the main aim of political efforts in the field of disability and education should be to secure and maintain equal rights for people with disabilities. We would rather talk about equal rights than about equality. Even though these two concepts may seem synonymous, the concept of equal rights includes a reference to entitlement that we consider important.

In order for people with and without disabilities to have equal opportunities, their conditions must sometimes be different. People with functional impairment must have their disability compensated for in order to achieve equal rights. In order to achieve equal rights in the field of education, the educational authorities and institutions must acknowledge the fact that equal opportunities can only be achieved if support and compensation is provided in accordance with people's individual needs.

The concept of equal rights should always be based on the idea that the relationship between people with and without disabilities is an area that is always open to negotiation. It is a permanent challenge to secure equal rights and it is not something that can be achieved once and for all.

In order to ensure the necessary quality of provision, educational staff must have relevant qualifications and insight and understand the situation of people with disabilities. Educational staff must acquire basic competences in the field of special needs education through in-service training and further education so that the instruction can be provided in co-operation with the disabled learners themselves.

All teachers should acquire essential knowledge of special education through their basic college training. Teachers working with learners with functional impairment should acquire specific competences in relevant areas. Teacher training should be research-based.

Further and in-service teacher training institutions must take current research in the field of special needs education into account and make it available in their training programmes for teachers working with both children and adults. It is important to ensure on-going exchange of experience, not only between teachers, but also between in-service and training institutions.

According to the UN Standard Rules, organisations like the DSI must have influence on the educational programmes offered by teacher training institutions. In this way we can help disseminate and share the knowledge and experiences that are developed in the various institutions.

Educational research must be intensified and further developed in order to enable effective and goal-oriented development of educational provision for children, young people and adults with special needs. This must take place in close collaboration with the various bodies that provide professional support and resource centres specialising in specific areas and engaged in the collection and dissemination of research information at the national and international levels.

Primary and lower secondary education (basic schooling) must offer a real opportunity for everybody. This means it must be accessible in the widest sense of the word, including children with disabilities and special educational needs.

Special (segregated) provision must be provided when necessary in order to ensure that the needs of all children can be met. It should be an option that there is an alternative if parents prefer special provision to mainstream schooling so that the parents of children with special educational needs have a real choice.

We must ensure quality of education for all children. Therefore we must provide proper training for teachers working with children with special needs. The children's individual needs, situations and abilities are very different and we must offer a wide range of teacher training opportunities in order to make sure that all types of needs are covered.

The support system must be of such a nature that parents - regardless of where they live - are offered proper education that meets the needs of their children.

Special education must not involve positive discrimination of children with special educational needs. The main aim should be to compensate for specific disabilities and to ensure that children with special educational needs are presented with the same demands and opportunities as their non-disabled peers in the same age group.

The level of individual subjects that are taught should be as high as possible. If feasible, they should be taught at the same level as in mainstream education. The topics included in the curriculum should be the same for all children. Educational plans should be developed for all children so as to facilitate the continuous provision of the best possible education and support. These plans must be evaluated and discussed with parents on an on-going basis.

Sufficient resources must be available within the districts' educational and psychological support services in order that the most prevalent types of special need can be dealt with by means of local expertise.

Support services are responsible for making sure that specific expertise required in the preparation of statements and recommendations regarding individual children is taken into consideration. Therefore, support services will sometimes have to liase with resource centres or special schools with expertise in specific areas. This is particularly important when setting up programmes in situations where the district support services do not have sufficient knowledge and expertise themselves.

If certain groups of disabled people have their own support system, the local support services must refer to this for assistance.

Optimum support and guidance must be provided to the parents and their children in order to facilitate each individual child's development. The educational and psychological support services must guarantee that appropriate education and support is provided to each individual child. They must be a body that the school and parents can safely consult for advice and guidance.

Before the final programme is completed, proposals and reports prepared by the support service must be discussed with the parents and, when appropriate, with the children themselves.

The district support services should be part of a network that can help parents decide if they should submit an appeal concerning a decision regarding their child. The support services should also help parents if they want to submit an appeal to authorities other than those that made the latest decision.

It is important that the support staff's knowledge and expertise in the field of special needs education is updated.

It is the Government's goal that 97 per cent of all school-leavers each year should continue in upper secondary and further education.

In order to reach this goal, it must be possible for young people with special educational needs to chose and complete an upper secondary education programme in accordance with their individual competences and needs.

It is important that a wide variety of upper secondary and further education programmes are available and that all young people can chose for themselves the type of programme that offers the professional and personal qualifications they want to achieve. Students should never be referred to one specific educational programme only.

It must be possible to prepare the educational programme in accordance with young people's individual competences and needs and it should be possible to set up special groups of students as well as smaller classes with fewer students if needed.

The principle of sector responsibility should be applied through the provision of special educational support and compensatory financial support schemes within the framework of all upper secondary and further education programmes. At the same time, it is important to maintain the offer of compensatory special education in parallel with or as a continuation of the programme.

The documentation regarding the students' needs and capabilities which is recorded in their educational plans during primary and lower secondary education must be made available to the educational institution they attend when they leave school.

Even though a substantial effort has been made in the field of transition from one level of education to the next, young people with special educational needs are still faced with a number of disadvantages. Whilst the schools' career advisers and others who are involved in the process of transition are obliged to provide guidance to all students, they often lack the educational qualifications and professional knowledge of the needs of students with disabilities and there are no formal in-service training programmes in this field. Sometimes special needs advice officers (advisers employed within the district support services to be responsible for the guidance of special needs children and young people) are involved, but they often lack the experience required in order to provide proper career guidance.

A special effort is required in this field. Basic knowledge regarding special needs must be included in the training of school careers teachers, advisers and special needs advice officers. At the same time they must be allowed to buy in special expertise regarding disabilities and special needs education as and when required.

If young people take an education or examination in order to qualify for admission to other further, higher education programmes or employment it is important that a special effort is made to facilitate their successful transition to the next step in the educational system or to the labour market.

The transition programme must include special educational support as and when required.

All levels of education must be open and accessible for people with disabilities. This is only possible if a special educational financial support scheme is available.

The special educational financial support scheme must include a considerable amount of guidance, which takes into account the specific needs of individual students as seen in the light of the requirements of the educational programme they are following.

Both the financial support and the inclusive guidance must be provided on the basis on a thorough description of each individual student's needs and requirements and a review of the types of financial support and aids that are available, as well as on in-depth knowledge of the requirements that apply to each study semester and throughout the entire study programme.

DSI demands that within the guidance of students there is an entitlement to request professional expertise regarding specific disabilities and special educational needs as well as regarding the various types of financial support available.

The educational institutions must take their responsibility for providing individual educational programmes very seriously so as to enable students with special needs to participate on equal terms with other students and on such conditions that the effects of their disability are reduced to a minimum.

In order to accomplish their task successfully, higher education institutions must co-operate closely and flexibly with e.g. other institutions that provide compensatory special needs education for adults, teachers' advisory and resource centres and other bodies that offer advice regarding technical and educational aids and materials. Students should always have a decisive role in this co-operation.

Educational institutions should demonstrate their willingness to include students with special needs. Information materials should be available in formats that are accessible to everybody; schools should provide information regarding physical accessibility and in every other way stress their commitment to co-operate with students and the resource people working with them.

DSI would like to see a reform of the financial support system for students with disabilities and special educational needs. We find it inappropriate and inconsistent with the principle of sector responsibility that students with special needs must apply for financial support through the social services whilst support for other students' living costs is awarded by the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme (Danish acronym: SU), a system managed by the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme Agency in collaboration with the educational institutions and under the auspices of the Danish Ministry of Education.

The financial support scheme must take as its starting point that in order for students with special needs to obtain genuine equal rights, they must sometimes be treated differently than other students. Financial support to students with disabilities must compensate for the income that other student can make from paid work alongside their studies. DSI proposes that grants for student with special needs are raised with the equivalent of what other students can earn through paid work.

Today, Danish students are only entitled to special educational financial support, so-called special pedagogic support - or SPS support - for the same period as they are entitled to support via the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme (SU). DSI wants to put a stop to the interrelationship between these rules. Other students can study for as many years as they like, albeit without financial support. Similarly, students with special needs should be able to study for as long as they want, without state grants but with an entitlement to SPS support. If students with special needs are not granted this indefinite entitlement to SPS support, they will be disadvantaged in comparison to other students.

DSI proposes that state study loans should be paid back in accordance with the general terms that apply to this type of loan when the students find employment after a reasonable period of time once they have completed their studies. If they do not find a job, the loans should be written off automatically over the same period of time it would normally have taken to pay them back.

Many students with disabilities require larger or specially adapted housing that usually costs more than other students have to pay. These expenses should be compensated for and be made independent of the tariffs that regulate the reimbursement of young people's expenses as well as of the parents' income.

Neither housing benefits, coverage of extra expenses due to a disability or benefits awarded in accordance with the rules governing pensions should lead to a reduction of the grants awarded via the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme. There is a need for co-ordination of the legislation covering these areas.

DSI considers it important that students with special needs are able to take on a job alongside their studies. Such jobs are often helpful in facilitating an affiliation to the labour market. When a disabled student finds a job, the income should be balanced against the grant that is awarded to compensate for the lack of income from paid work.

It should be possible for students to attend practical training programmes of up to one year's duration in order to improve their employment opportunities. It should be possible to extend the state educational grant as well as the grant compensating for lack of earned income. It would be expedient if the labour market agreements regarding personal assistance could be applied during this practical training period.

Several factors may influence the total study period. Students may have to wait for personal aids, the preparation of educational materials, repair of equipment, interpretation, accessible transportation to be provided etc. They may undergo time consuming treatment, attend training programmes or be absent during longer periods of illness or reduced work capacity. Likewise, periods with intensive compensatory special education and periods of waiting for the implementation of compensatory aid may influence the study period.

If a study programme turns out to be incompatible with students' disabilities, they must be able to change to another programme.

All these factors may prolong the study period and should therefore entitle students to an extension of the period in which they can receive educational state grants.

Studies as well as society in general are becoming increasingly internationalised. Many students choose to study abroad for shorter or longer periods and within certain study programmes this is more the rule than the exception. It must also be possible for students with special needs to spend shorter or longer periods abroad and to take their aids and financial support with them.

The adult education system offers a wide variety of programmes ranging from short courses to advanced further education and continuing training. Single subject courses can be as short as one day and are sometimes paid for by employers. Some of the longer programmes are advanced qualifying general education or vocational training, whilst others provide an opportunity for adults who wish to acquire, or refresh, basic school educational competences.

It is important that all of these programmes are open for people with disabilities.

Many adults with special needs can look back on a fragmented school career. Formerly, large groups of people with special needs - such as for example, learners with reading, writing or learning difficulties - did not receive compensatory special education or other forms of education that took into account their special needs. These people's problems were taboo and they were often considered less intelligent than other people.

With the recognition of other forms and manifestations of disabilities and the consequent development of new tests and educational materials, we are moving away from these views and there should be every possibility to provide real learning opportunities for people with for example, reading and writing learning difficulties. Unfortunately, the principle of sector responsibility does not yet apply within this area and therefore people with special needs are still widely excluded from adult education and training. DSI will give high priority to the work in this area.

Further education and continuing training is important in order to maintain a lasting and satisfactory affiliation to the labour market. There must be close co-operative relationship between the entire further education sector and the labour market bodies concerned with the creation of job opportunities for people with disabilities and special needs, including the administrators of the special labour market subsidy schemes.

Special educational financial support and compensatory special education must be available within all educational programmes, from the shortest refresher courses to the longest and most advanced study programmes.

Anybody with an inherited or acquired functional impairment that disables them in their daily life (or who are at risk of becoming disabled) must have free access to counselling and guidance in order to identify ways of remedying of reducing the effects of the impairment. Society is obliged to ensure that the required counselling and guidance expertise is available and can be provided as closely as possible to a person's home. This principle must give way, however, if the decision to do so is based on geographic, demographic or other concrete reasons.

Society must make an education system available that can provide high quality education that remedies or reduces the effects of functional impairments so as to avoid, to the greatest possible extent, the creation of disabled citizens.

Disabled people and their organisations must have real influence on educational provision, including the content and scope of programmes and the level and quality of the service.

Counselling and guidance as well as education and the incurred expenses should be considered as a compensatory expense and should under no circumstances be the responsibility of the individual citizen.

In addition to school boards, DSI would also like to see the formation of regional bodies responsible for the co-ordination of all provision at the regional level as well as for the promotion of ongoing developments in this field.

The regional branches of user organisations must be entitled to a fair representation in these co-ordinating bodies. The individual regions, or the regions acting jointly, should be responsible for the education and training of representatives so as to provide them with the skills required to perform their duties.

DSI would like to see the creation of an impartial national appeals committee that people can complain to if they are dissatisfied with decisions regarding educational provision. The user organisations must be represented on this committee.

With the current legislation regarding liberal adult education it is extremely important that an effort is made at both the local and central levels to secure representation of people with special needs on the local committees for liberal education so as to facilitate equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

People with special needs must have equal opportunities for participating in liberal adult education. This can be achieved by securing blind people's rights to be provided with educational materials, by reimbursing disabled participants' additional transportation expenses, or by providing aids free of charge, including interpretation.

No physical, economic or other outside factors should prevent disabled people from participating in liberal adult education. If it is required in order to meet their needs, it must be possible to form small groups of learners so as to enable improved differentiation of the instruction.

In our view, technological developments have the potential for both improving and endangering disabled people's access to education and training. Technological advances can improve opportunities for participating in education provided these technological aids are designed or adapted to a person's special needs.

Educational computer programmes must be designed so as to enable people with all sorts of special needs to use them. Attention must be paid to the fact that people with certain disabilities may need special training software or conversion software that adapts the programme to meet their specific needs.

Physical accessibility to the place where the computer is situated as well as accessibility to the computer itself, by means of for example speech synthesis facilities or special equipment, must be ensured.

Special training courses in the use of equipment and software must be provided in order to enable students with special needs to take full advantage of technological aids. Educational institutions must have the newest and most modern software programmes and equipment available.

The accessibility of these technological aids for people with special needs must be considered during the development and design of the technological aid. If we fail to do so, technological developments may turn into a barrier, which excludes people with special needs from education rather than promoting their inclusion.

The responsibility for ensuring that technological development does not become an excluding factor rests with the educational sector, which must co-operate with providers of knowledge in the fields of technology and disabilities in the labour market and social sector in order to identify and provide solutions that facilitate accessibility for people with special needs.

We live in a society where work processes and communications are knowledge and technology-based. Educational qualifications become more and more important in order to ensure a lasting and satisfactory position within the labour market.

We must make sure that the required expertise regarding the needs of people with disabilities is available in job seeking courses as well as regarding the aids that are required. In the transition from education to the labour market, support and aids must be provided quickly, efficiently and competently.

Access to further education opportunities is needed in order to maintain an affiliation to the labour market. The participation of people with special needs in further education programmes should be ensured through sector responsibility. The prospect of maintaining a position in the labour market is one of the main reasons why is it is important to ensure life long learning opportunities for people with special needs.

Denmark has adopted several international conventions such as for example, the conventions regarding human right and the rights of children and agreements such as the United Nations' Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. Denmark also played an active part in the drafting of the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. All these documents contain guiding principles that Denmark is obliged to respect.

DSI considers it important that Denmark, through international co-operative relationships, works to support future initiatives in this field including the development of a genuine convention regarding the rights of people with disabilities in which their right to education and training is a key element.

New initiatives in which Denmark should be involved should also include standards that ensure a minimum level of schooling and education for all people with disabilities.

All Danish projects providing aid and assistance to developing countries and which include elements of education and training must take the disability perspective into account. Whilst such projects must naturally take the local situation and needs into consideration, they should also generally reflect the views and attitudes on which we base our overall disability policy.

Enclosures:

The United Nations' Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities no. 5, 6 and 18

Den 17. februar 2003,

J.nr. 3914.21 [04.UU.04] SIH/kt

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