Challenges and Dilemmas in the Education of Children With Special Needs in Romania

Introduction

Special education can be seen as a priority at Romanian education level because it is currently in a restructuring process. In this process both government and non-governmental organizations are involved. Although in previous years Romanian special education was mainly based on special schools, at the beginning of the millennium a series of strategies were used to encourage the inclusion of children with special needs in typical classes or in special classes within schools in general education.

Through the implementation of these modern educational measures, the integration of children with special needs at both school and social level is imposed as a viable alternative to the absorption of the individual by the social environment. In a World Bank report in 2012 it was found that many children with disabilities do not have access to special education, do not appear in school registers, and are not covered by government plans. The special educational system also includes socially disadvantaged children, but not only them. They face different forms of exclusion that affect their quality of life (UNICEF, 2014). Most of these children come from ethnic and linguistic minorities, which are considered to have special educational needs in general.

At the theoretical level, many terms or concepts have changed such that not to harm the person with special needs, especially on emotional level. We are witnessing, both locally and internationally, at a process to avoid language approaches that would cause differences between “us” and “the others”, between “normal” and “special”, between “typical” and “deficiency”. The approaches that promote tolerance and acceptance are encouraged and we are witnessing a continuous process of educating people regarding the attitude toward children with special needs.

As it is a process in progress, although most children with special needs benefit in an inclusive school by support teacher, school counselors or school facilitators but often given the high number of students in classes and the teaching personal/student's report, it is still difficult to say that the integration process is an easy and successful one. There are still many cases, in which the emotional aspects of the family force the integration of the child with special needs, without considering that the present system is not fully prepared for the efficient management of certain situations. Outside school programs, the parents of the children from the inclusive schools had to provide some additional measures of recovery. Some of this must be paid because it is not enough available free services for all children in state units or in non-profit organizations with free services. In a study in Zagreb, Croatia, the differences between perceived quality dimensions of inclusive educational process, from the perspective of teachers as well as from the perspective of students was relevant. It was found that teachers’ assessment of students’ behaviour according to their disabilities is more diverse that the student’s self-assessment (Bouillet, Kudek-Mirosevic, 2015). The easy access to additional support and therapy, behavioral or other type is also a challenge because the system has not enough money to support free interventions.

Through the educational and social integration of children with special needs we can hope not only for unconditional acceptance, but also for its emotional integration, so that its function at socio-cultural and economic level will be complete.

In the following lines, we aim to review the main challenges facing special and inclusive education in Romania as well as the main aspects that we should address in the near future.