PPT_710kb

School of Occupational Therapy
and Social Work
Education for People with Disability:
Learnings from Inclusive Education in
Lao PDR and a Longitudinal Study of
Technical Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) in Australia
Dr Stian H Thoresen, Prof Errol Cocks,
A/Prof Angela Fielding & Dr Sue Gillieatt
Provider
1
The views and opinions expressed in this
presentation are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Australian Federal, State, or Territory
Governments; Department of Industry;
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade;
Australian AID; or National Centre for
Vocational Education Research.
The Lao PDR disability inclusive development project was funded
by the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, Australian Development Research Award Scheme (ADRAS)
administer by Australian AID.

The Australian TVET project was funded by the Australian
Department of Industry through the National VET Research
program managed by NCVER.

2
More than one billion people with disability 15% of the world’s population (WHO and The
World Bank 2011

 Almost two-thirds in Asia-Pacific (UNESCAP 2012)
Disability is ‘complex’ and ‘contested’ (WHO
and The World Bank 2011)

Social and economic exclusion of people with
disability


Health status, access to education and training, employment,
social relationships, valued social roles …
3
Shift from the ‘medical model’ to ‘social model’
(Oliver 1983)

 Shift from individual deficits to social and environmental
barriers
International Classification of Functioning,
Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO 2001)

 Intersection of health conditions, environmental factors, and
personal factors
Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) (UN General Assembly 2006)



Civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights

Post-2015 Development Agenda
Incheon Strategy

Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities 20132022 (UNESCAP 2012)
4
Lao PDR Inclusive Education Project (Save
the Children, 1993-2009)
 National Policy on Inclusive Education
(Ministry of Education, 2010)
 National Strategy and Plan of Action on
Inclusive Education 2011-2015 (Ministry of
Education and Sports, 2011)

5
Landlocked country with population of 5.6
million
 ‘Least Developed Country’
 Substantial human development progress since
1980

 Life expectancy, education, gross national income (UNDP
2013)

Challenges (UNICEF 2013)
 One-third of the population without access to clean drinking
water
 More than one-third without proper sanitation facilities
 More than one-third live on less than US$1.25/day
 11% of children involved in child labour (ibid)
6

Disability prevalence
 2005 Population and Household Census 1.3% (Messerli et al.,
2008)
 2003 World Health Survey 8.0% (WHO and The World Bank
2011)
 Secondary analysis of World Health Survey: Low 3.1%, high
12.7% (Mitra et al. 2011)
The Census identified people with disability
according to five categories (Messerli et al., 2008):

 ‘Arm or Leg Handicapped’
 ‘Deaf or Dumb’
 ‘Visually Impaired’
 ‘Other Disabilities’
 ‘Multiple Disabilities’
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16 year project to improve access to schools for
children with special needs: disability, girls, ethnic
minorities, and low socioeconomic background
(Grimes 2009, Grimes et al., 2011)

One special school for people with disability in
1992, 539 inclusive schools in 2009 (ibid)

Other countries have viewed Lao PDR as a model
for inclusive education (Takamine, 2003)

8
“The overall finding of the IE evaluation, was that
children with mild and moderate disabilities are
mostly being successfully included in their local
schools; their attendance is good and grade
repetition has dropped significantly” (Grimes,
2009:97)

Most teachers observed as ‘motivated and enthusiastic’

Move from ‘teacher centred’ to ‘child centred’

Additional attention for children with disability
Children with disability seated together with children
without disability

Use of resources (e.g. stones, chopsticks, pictures, and
flash cards)


Working with parents to provide support at home
9
Evaluation carried out in the last year of the
project (with most data collected retrospectively relying on teachers’ and principals’ recollection)

Inadequate teacher training

Poor record and evaluation practices

Lack of supportive resources

Varied uptake of inclusive practices
Variation in effectiveness and ‘enthusiasm’ of
teachers (particularly in urban centres)

10
Recognises
No common understanding of
inclusive education

Lack of definitions, roles, and
responsibilities

Objectives
Acquire equitable access to
quality education as a right

Reduce barriers to education
and within the education system

Improve quality of education
and enhance stakeholder
engagement

11

Pre-primary school readiness programs

Increase enrolment and reduce drop-out

Increase access to TVET (50,000 students)

Increase access to higher education

Increase literacy
Principles of Inclusive Education (‘human rights’, ‘child
rights’, ‘gender equality’, ‘equality of ethnic groups’,
‘equality of opportunity for people with disabilities’)

Resources to facilitate education needs of people with
different learning needs

‘30% of children with mild disabilities are enrolled in
Grades 1-9’ by 2015

12

High Human Development Country (UNDP 2013)
Population of 23 million, of which 4.2 million or 18.5% have
a disability (ABS 2013)

People with disability and their families are economically
disadvantaged which becomes a social determinant of
related outcomes such as poor health

 Over a quarter of people with disability in Australia live below
the 50% median income poverty line (ACOSS 2013)
 Increasing disability employment by a third can lead to a $43
billion increase in GDP over a decade ($12 billion increase for
2011) (Deloitte Access Economics 2011)
 Estimates of economic benefits of increased disability
participation in, and completion of, VET range from $12 to
$18.8 billion (National VET Equity Advisory Council 2011;
Australian National Training Authority 2000)
13
Ratified Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disability in 2008

Other legislative frameworks (Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for
Education 2005)


Inclusive education more prominent
 Needs based
 Support (in-class and financial)
 Access and accessibility
 Individual education plan and individual planning
 HOWEVER, lack of consistency and definition of
‘inclusion’ (Forlin et al. 2013)
14
Previous research suggests that work-based training is an
effective and beneficial vocational pathway for people with
disability

The project particularly developed two previous studies
carried out with EDGE Employment Solutions in WA that
indicated the benefits of specialist support programs and
good graduate outcomes for people with disability (Lewis,
Thoresen and Cocks 2011a, 2011b)

Build an evidence base that examines economic and social
outcomes achieved by apprenticeship and traineeship
graduates

15
Many people with disability have non-vocational transitions
from school

 ‘Alternatives to Employment’
 ‘Day Services’
 ‘Sheltered Workshops’ (Australian Disability Enterprises)
Majority of people with disability who undertake VET are
enrolled in lower level (Cert I or II) courses – sometimes part
of ‘day services’

Administrative data show consistently low apprenticeship,
traineeship, and VET participation and completion rates for
people with disabilities

16
People with disability made up 1.2%-2.3% of apprenticeship and
traineeship commencements between 1998-2011 (1.6% in 2011)
(NCVER 2013)

People with disability made up 4.9%-6.4% of VET students
between 2002-2012 (6.4% in 2012) (ibid)

46% of apprentices and trainees complete their courses compared
with 51% of those without a disability (Ball & John, 2005)

66% of students with a disability pass their course requirements
compared to 73% of students without disability (NCVER 2013)

Annual growth rate of VET students with disability, 4.3%, was 2.5
times that of the growth rate of VET students without disability
(1.4%) (NCVER 2013)

17

People with disability made up 1.2%-2.3% of apprenticeship and
traineeship commencements between 1998-2011 (1.6% in 2011)
(NCVER 2013)

People with disability made up 4.9%-6.4% of VET students
between 2002-2012 (6.4% in 2012) (ibid)

46% of apprentices and trainees complete their courses compared
with 51% of those without a disability (Ball & John, 2005)

66% of students with a disability pass their course requirements
compared to 73% of students without disability (NCVER 2013)

Annual growth rate of VET students with disability, 4.3%, was 2.5
times that of the growth rate of VET students without disability
(1.4%) (NCVER 2013)
18
Longitudinal cohort study of apprenticeship and
traineeship graduates with disability (three waves)

403 people with disability (DG) who completed an
apprenticeship or traineeship between 2009-2011 recruited
through Disability Employment Services, Group Training
Organisations, Registered Training Organisations (TAFEs),
and State Training Authorities

Comparison group (CG) (matched on A/T level, gender, and
age) recruited through Group Training Organisations (n=86)

Reasonable match to apprenticeship and traineeship
graduates with disability in Australia with two exceptions

 Underrepresentation of participants from the State of Victoria
 Overrepresentation of participants with Intellectual or Learning
disability
19
Open ended questions in
first wave survey

Analysed thematically with
NVivo (qualitative data
analysis)

Disability group reported
total of 844 barriers (𝑥 = 2.5)
and 1,061 facilitators (𝑥 =
2.8)

Comparison group reported
total of 161 barriers (𝑥 = 2.3)
and 209 facilitators (𝑥 = 2.6)

20
Disability group
Comparison group
83% reported at least one barrier
80% reported at least one barrier
Lack
of resources (49%)
Impact
Lack
of resources (62%)
of disability, health,
and injury (46%)
Impact
Employment
Employment
Training
factors (32%)
of disability, health,
and injury (6%)
and education factors
Training
Negative
motivations,
experience, and networks (20%)
Negative
No
No
(30%)
barriers (9%)
(32%)
factors (17%)
and education factors
motivations,
experience, and networks (26%)
barriers (17%)
21
Disability group
Comparison group
94% reported at least one facilitator
93% reported at least one facilitator
Positive motivations,
experience, and networks (71%)


Employment factors (52%)
Training and education factors
(51%)


Receiving resources (36%)
Positive
motivations,
experience, and networks (58%)
Employment
Training
(42%)
factors (70%)
and education factors
Receiving
resources (41%)
Addressing disability, health
and injury (6%)


No facilitators (1%)
22

Education is a basic human right
Inclusive Education (rather than special education)
recognises that it is the lack of supports and environmental
barriers that exclude people with disability

Aligned to Normalization, Social Role Valorisation, Social
Model of Disability, and UN Convention of the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities

Teachers need both technical and attitudinal skills to
implement inclusive education and training

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For more information, contact:
Stian H Thoresen, PhD
Research into Disability and Society
School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work
Curtin University
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +61 8 9266 3745
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