Issues Faced by Special Educators Around the World During the Pandemic

Introduction

Issues Faced by Special Educators Around the World During the Pandemic considers the challenges presented by the COVID-19 Pandemic which are confronting countries, families, educators, and learners around the world. This chapter will specifically address the educational needs of students who have been have identified with what is termed in the United States as having moderate to severe disabilities.

It is known that the educational needs of students with disabilities, especially those children and youth with the most serious disabilities, are intense and the support which they require must be continuous. Breaks in educational support are likely to result not only in failure to develop and grow, but actually in regression by the students. However, a variety of educational practices intended to address instruction, learning and other supports have been implemented during the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of which are promising. This chapter discusses the contexts within which they have evolved as well as some promising practices which may be continued in some form when the Pandemic is over.

Information discussing educational practices during the COVID-19 Pandemic is cutting edge and evolving. Means by which different countries address educational and support needs during the COVID-19 Pandemic has varied. This chapter will focus on considerations by not only Global North countries but also Global South countries in order to explore issues related to world-wide educators who struggle to provide instruction and services to students under the best of circumstances.

While there is considerable information being published there are two concerns facing the authors. First, knowing that the definitions of and use of terms used for students with the most challenging disabilities vary from country to country. This makes it difficult to identify literature which specifically addresses the education of this population of students. Second, it is difficult to identify the practices that are being used by educators to specifically address the needs of students who have the most serious disabilities. Because of these concerns, various interventions, strategies, and practices will be identified in this chapter and then discussed in relation to how they might be used with children and youth who have the most challenging disabilities post the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background

Individuals with disabilities throughout the world face challenges to life on a daily basis. The recognition of the existence of COVID-19 and the ensuing pandemic, beginning in 2019 in Wuhan, China, have only exacerbated the challenges these individuals with special needs face each day. This is especially true for individuals with disabilities that are more severe and debilitating, particularly in Global South countries. This population of learners already had limited, if any, supports before critical measures were implemented in 2019.

The terms Global North and Global South generally differentiate countries based on their economic development. Global North countries refers to economically developed countries, those which control about 80% of the income in the world and about 25% of the world’s population. Global North countries include the countries in North America, most of Europe, Israel, Cyprus, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. In contrast Global South countries are much less well developed and include countries of Africa, India, China, Brazil, and Mexico. It is generally observed that economic development is related to the identification and provision of educational and other supports for people with disabilities and other special needs. Poverty is a primary reason that children do not receive schooling (UNICEF, n.d.).