Educational Inclusion by Conviction

Abstract

Inclusive education began to be addressed within the broader international debate on “Education for All” (EFA), a debate initiated at the World Conference held in Jomtien , Thailand , in 1990. From Jomtien to the present, thinking has evolved from the almost symbolic presence of special educational needs in the initial documentation to the recognition that inclusion must be a fundamental principle of the EFA movement as a whole. Within this process, the Salamanca Statement on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality (UNESCO, 1994) stands out, as it is from this statement that the concept of educational inclusion emerged strongly. From then on, the scope and perspectives of inclusive education have been based on the idea that all children and young people have the right to a quality education with equivalent learning opportunities, regardless of their social and cultural background and their differences in abilities and capacities (IBE-UNESCO, 2008).