INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: CURRENT UNDERSTANDING AND CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The relevance of the article is due to the fact that in Ukraine there is a process of implementation of inclusive education in the educational process. Similar processes take place in almost all countries of the world. For the further successful development of educational inclusion, it is important to take into account not only the national context but also the challenges faced by other countries. This will contribute to a better understanding of both the essence of inclusive education and the difficulties in its implementation and ways to overcome them. The purpose of the article is to study the challenges facing inclusive education at the international and national levels and to identify ways to respond to them. Methodology. To achieve this goal, we used the desk research method, which made it possible to collect, summarize, analyze, systematize and conduct a comparative analysis of information on inclusive education. Scientific novelty. The article analyzes modern approaches to understanding the basic concepts of inclusion in Ukraine and abroad; reveals the models of organization of education for students with special educational needs; describes the causes of the gap between policy and practice in the field of inclusive education. Conclusions. It is established that the difficulties in the implementation of an inclusive approach in education are associated with the lack of a common understanding of inclusive education and a clear definition of the basic concepts that make up its thesaurus; the opposition of inclusive education to special education; the risk of segregation of students with special educational needs in special classes of secondary schools; the existence of gaps between the provisions declared in legal documents and the practice of implementation of inclusive education. The prospects for overcoming these challenges are associated with the introduction of a systematic approach to solving the problems of inclusive education at all levels of government with the involvement of all stakeholders.