Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Challenges for teachers’ professional learning for inclusive education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

PROSPECTS volume 41, pages 371–384 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Efforts to prepare teachers and other professionals for inclusive education in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS/CEE) region are heavily influenced by the legacy of Soviet defectology (the study of children with disabilities) and Soviet traditions of teacher education. The authors identify some challenges facing those concerned with preparing teachers for inclusive education and provide examples of current projects in the region that address the complex problems associated with providing inclusive education for children identified as having disabilities. The changing role of defectologists in inclusion policy and practice is also discussed. Case examples from Armenia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Serbia reflect current innovations in teacher education and professional development in the region.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Notes

  1. This region includes four sets of nations: the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan); Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia); South Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia); and the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania).

  2. According to Tanner (2010), the Roma, also known as Romani or Gypsies, are traditionally semi-nomadic people who came from Northern India to Europe some 1,000 years ago. Historically they have faced severe discrimination and persecution and these problems are particularly acute in the CIS/CEE region where they live in the most deprived areas, are excluded from educational and employment opportunities, and have poor access to services, often being victims of racially motivated crimes (European Roma Rights Centre 2004).

References

  • Ainscow, M., & Haile-Giorgis, M. (1998). The education of children with special needs: Barriers and opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe. Innocenti Occasional Papers, Economic and Social Policy Series, no. 67. Florence: UNICEF International Child Development Centre.

  • Ajdinski, L., & Florian, L. (1997). Special education in Macedonia. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 12(2), 112–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becirevic, M. (2006). Exploring the meanings of inclusive education in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Key stakeholders’ perspectives on policy and practice. Unpublished MPhil thesis. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.

  • Becirevic, M. (2010). Inclusion or illusion? Policies and practices for children with disabilities and their families in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Bulgaria. Unpublished PhD thesis. Milton Keynes, UK: The Open University.

  • Belgian Presidency of the European Union (2010) Call for an EU recommendation on child poverty and child well-being (Background Paper to the EU Presidency Conference: Child Poverty and Child Well-Being). Brussels: UNICEF, Eurochild and EC. http://www.eurochild.org/fileadmin/Events/2010/09%20BE%20Presidency%20Child%20Poverty/Background%20Paper%20to%20the%20EU%20Presidency%20Conference_EN.pdf.

  • Cheyne, J. A., & Tarulli, D. (2005). Dialogue, difference, and voice in the zone of proximal development. In H. Daniels (Ed.), An introduction to Vygotsky (pp. 125–147). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csányi, Y. (n.d.). Experience of transforming education provision for children with disabilities in Central European Countries. Budapest: ELTE University Faculty of Special Education.

  • Daniels, H. (Ed.). (2005). An introduction to Vygotsky (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Des Power, B. B., & Blatch, P. (2004). Education in a recovering nation: Renewing special education in Kosovo. Exceptional Children, 17(4), 485–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Roma Rights Centre (2004). The non-constituents: Rights deprivation of Roma in post-genocide Bosnia and Herzegovina. Country Report Series No 3. Budapest: European Roma Rights Centre.

  • Florian, L., & Rouse, M. (2009). Supporting the sustainable development of Education for All children with learning difficulties in Armenia: Consolidation phase. Final report with commentary on course reforms at the State Pedagogical University—Toward Education for All—phase 2. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen School of Education.

  • Malofeev, N. (1998). Special education in Russia: Historical aspects. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 31(2), 185–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mission East (n.d.). Towards Education for All 3: Supporting the sustainable development of education for all children with learning difficulties in Armenia. Securing the consolidation. http://www.miseast.org/en/armenia/home.

  • Open Society Institute (2007). EU monitoring and advocacy program: Equal access to quality education for Roma. Vol. 1. Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Serbia. Budapest: Open Society Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouse, M., Florian, L., & Connolly, J. (2000). External evaluation of the project “Special Classroom for Children with Disabilities” 1997–2000. Final report. Sarajevo: UNICEF.

  • Stojic, T. (Ed.). (2009). A guide for advancing inclusive education practice. Belgrade: Fund for an Open Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stosljevic, M. (1998). Uvod u Defektologiju [Introduction to defectology]. Student handbook, 2nd ed. Belgrade: Faculty of Defectology of Belgrade University.

  • Sutton, A. (1980). Backward children in the USSR: An unfamiliar approach to a familiar problem. In J. Brine, M. Perrie, & A. Sutton (Eds.), Home, school, and leisure in the Soviet Union (pp. 160–191). London: George Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanner, A. (2010). The Roma of Eastern Europe: Still searching for inclusion. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=308.

  • Tsokova, D., & Becirevic, M. (2009). Inclusive education in Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Policy and practice. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 24(4), 393–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Todorova, V. (2009). Children’s rights in Bulgaria after the end of communism. The International Journal of Children’s Rights, 17(4), 623–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UIS [UNESCO Institute for Statistics] (2005). Children out of school: Measuring exclusion from primary education. Montreal: UIS.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO IBE [International Bureau for Education] (2003). Teacher training and curriculum reform in the South Caucasus region: From vision to practice. Final report on the sub-regional seminar held in Tbilisi. Geneva: UNESCO IBE.

  • UNESCO IBE (2008). Inclusive education: The way of the future. Conclusions and recommendations of the 48th session of the International Conference on Education (ICE), Geneva, 25–28 November 2008. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/ice/48th-session-2008/conclusions-and-recommendations.html.

  • UNICEF (1998). Education for All? The MONEE Project Regional Monitoring Report 5. Florence: UNICEF International Child Development Centre. http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/monee5introe.pdf.

  • UNICEF (2005). Children and disability in transition in CEE/CIS and Baltic States. Florence: Innocenti Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNICEF (2007). Education for some more than others? Geneva: UNICEF Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

  • UNICEF (2010). Situation analysis: Inclusive education in CEE/CIS. Geneva: UNICEF CEE/CIS Regional Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vann, B., & Šiška, J. (2007). From ‘cage beds’ to inclusion: The long road for individuals with intellectual disability in the Czech Republic. Disability & Society, 21(5), 425–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1993). The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Volume 2 (Chapters originally published between 1924 and 1935). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Lani Florian

  2. Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Majda Becirevic

Authors
  1. Lani Florian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Majda Becirevic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lani Florian.

Additional information

We are grateful to the three reviewers who provided helpful comments on our work and to our colleagues in the region who provided examples of their work for inclusion in this paper: Sarmite Tubele, University of Latvia, Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art; Iva Strnadová and Vanda Hájková, Department of Special Education, Charles University in Prague; and Ulviya Mikailova, and Lamiya Sharafkhanova, Centre for Innovations in Education and Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University.

About this article

Cite this article

Florian, L., Becirevic, M. Challenges for teachers’ professional learning for inclusive education in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Prospects 41, 371–384 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-011-9208-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-011-9208-4

Keywords

search

Navigation