Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2015, Page 104

UPPELDI OG MENNTUN/ICELANDIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 24(2) 2015104
SOCIAL ( IN )EQUALITY: COLLABORATIVE REFLECTION
Education
Mitra (2006) explains how a particular variable, for example education, can, according
to Sen’s approach, be understood as comprising personal characteristics, capabilities,
and functionings. ‘Education can be considered a “personal characteristic” that influ-
ences work as a functioning (e.g., what education do working persons with impair-
ments have?)’ (Mitra, 2006, p. 239). In the 1980s, when we started our formal educa-
tion, most students with intellectual disabilities were educated in segregated special
schools. There were no disabled students at Kristín’s compulsory school. Steindór
went to a different neighborhood school and remembers two other special education
needs students who received support from a special education teacher, mostly within
the regular classroom. In lower secondary school, Steindór was bullied by a group
of boys, and even though he had good friends at the school, he was open to the idea
of transferring to a segregated special school for disabled children. There was good
cooperation between the two schools and to begin with Steindór went to the special
school only few days of the week but was supposed to transfer completely to this
school before the end of the school year. He made good friends at the special school
and liked the teachers and staff. Despite his young age he realized that the school
could not provide him with the educational encouragement and support he needed,
and it was his decision to stay at the neighborhood school even though the issue of
bullying had not been fully resolved. Steindór: ‘It was a simple equation really. I had
friends in both schools. But only the neighborhood school could offer me appropriate
education.’
Current education policy is based on inclusive education and individualized
learning (The Compulsory School Act No. 91/2008; The Preschool Act No. 90/2008;
Ólafsdóttir, Jóelsdóttir, Sigurvinsdóttir, Bjarnason, Sigurðardóttir, & Harðardóttir,
2014). Less than 1% of all compulsory aged school children are enrolled in three
different segregated special schools (Klettaskóli, Brúarskóli and Hlíðarskóli). Most of
these students have been labeled as having intellectual disabilities and approximately
15% of compulsory school students are so affected. For the past decade, the number
of students in segregated settings has decreased, as has the number of special schools
(Statistics Iceland, n.d.b.).
In 2008, Iceland faced economic difficulties, resulting in a financial crisis of such
magnitude that the economy has still not recovered. The economic crisis in Ice-
land has impacted the education system; thus budgets have been cut with resultant
redundancies and hiring freezes (The Ombudsman for Children, 2010; Ministry of Wel-
fare, 2011). The difficult economic environment, combined with reports of Icelandic
students not performing well on Program for International Student Assessment
(known as PISA), has fueled the debate on inclusive education. Special and inclu-
sive education has been researched extensively in Iceland (e.g., Bjarnason, 2005; Egil-
son, 2014; Gunnþórsdóttir & Jóhannesson, 2013; Jóhannesson, 2006) and recent re-
search findings suggest that people with intellectual disabilities have limited access to
education and educational institutions (Björnsdóttir, 2014). Education as capabilities
is about access to educational institutions and students with intellectual disabilities