A Research On Primary And Secondary Schools’ Inclusive Education In Ontario Of Canada

Inclusive education developed from international education ideological trendency in the 1990’s.Now it is one of the international educational development trends. In 1990, UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) held World Conference on Education for All and released World Declaration on Education for All. They emphasized that education is people’s fundamental right. The goal of Education for All is to meet basic needs of all the people. Then in 1994, UNESCO also convoked World Conference of Special Education. The conference issued The Salamanca Statement and officially put forward the concept of "inclusive education" for the first time. The conference emphasized again that everyone has the fundamental right to be educated, everyone has their own characteristics, interest, ability and learning needs and the schools should accomodate all the children and meet their special needs. At first, inclusive education came out from special education. When it experienced separation, integration and inclusion, it focuses on education for all and equity and increasingly get the recognition of international education. Inclusive education in our primary and secondary schools started not too long ago and all aspects developed uncomprehensively. Reflecting the inclusive education in Ontario of Canada, although their development time was almost the same as our country, the issued laws and policies and the specific measures in school are all comparatively perfect. And they also made a lot of achievement.In Ontario, the development of inclusive education of primary and secondary schools has experienced three stages roughly. They are the stage of isolation, the stage of reformation and adjustment, and the stage of sustainable development. At different stages in Ontario, the characteristics of the inclusive education of primary and secondary schools are also different. In stage of isolation, special schools and ordinary schools set parallel to each other and independence. Special students and ordinary students in class are in a state of isolation. In the stage of reformation and adjustment, influenced by the education thoughts of "integration" in Europe and "mainstreaming", Ontario also made waves of "integration" between special education and ordinary education "integration" boom, and begin to pay close attention to meet the special needs of students. They began to issue and implement the legal documents. Every child has equal right to enjoy education. They implemented some programs and service to meet special students needs. In the stage of sustainable development, the most influenced part was to issue the Education Act. This is the milestone legislation of inclusive education in Canada which ensures the teaching in general classrooms included the special students to be normal.In Ontario, according to the goal of inclusive education in elementary and secondary schools, they conducted a series of measures to ensure the implementation of inclusive education from the national, school and social level. Firstly, from the national level, there is policy support. They not only include general overview and implementation of the whole inclusive education, but also some specific official documents. There are also some policy documents on the implementation of special education which guarantee the development of inclusive education from curriculum, planning standard and career choices. Besides, the country gives the financial investment included a number of grants for projects to provide financial insurance for inclusive education developing smoothly. Ontario Ministry of Education allocates funds at each school based on students’ enrollment and students" special needs, included the grants for infrastructure construction and the special grants for language, visual and hearing disabilities. These are provide all aspects of distinctive grants program for inclusive education. Secondly, from school curriculum and activity planning, it can be divided into the curriculum, physical activities, student assessment, individual education plans, teaching and teacher training. For curriculum, they arrange the same classes for the special students as the ordinary students and also arrange some extra curriculum to help them understand the content. Teachers should also first check curriculum expectations, specialty and learning needs of students to determine whether the students need to adjust or accomodate to the plans. For physical activities, due to physical activities plays a very important role on children’s growth and development, some disabled students can not join the games safety and smoothly. At this time, teachers need to modify auxiliary tools or change the rules of the game or help them to finish the game. It is important for the special students to join the game for their physical and mental development. An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a written plan describing the special education program or services required by a particular student which regularly updated records on any changes in special education programs and services. If the special students can’t adapt to the personalized teaching strategies above, teachers should make appropriate adjustments. Teaching or student assessment is to identify students’ advantages and requirements. It comes from teachers’ test observation, curriculum evaluation and peer evaluation, personal development and standardized tests. Teachers are the key point of teaching. Pre-service training and post-service education are both very important. Finally, from the social support and community participation, parents, communities and social organizations are the important external strength of the implementation of inclusive education. They cooperate within the school teaching work and provide favorable activities for special students and parents about inclusive education.The embodiment of inclusive education in China is studied along with the class. In the 21st century, inclusive education in primary and secondary schools in China has made some achievement. Special students enrollment keep increasing and more ordinary schools accept special students. However, it also appeared many problems during its development. The development was not balanced and the understanding of inclusive education has deviation. Inclusive teachers’ specialization level is low, and also lack of a clear legal laws and regulations, funding and so on. Although the difference between China and Ontario, Canada, we can also take examples by the measures and reform experience on inclusive education of primary and secondary schools in Ontario. Through the study of inclusive education of primary and secondary schools in Ontario, Canada, I put forward the following suggestions to improve the inclusive education of elementary and secondary schools in China:formulating and issuing national and local laws and regulations for inclusive education; increasing funding for inclusive education, to narrow the gap between the developed and undeveloped areas; building inclusive education teacher certification system and focusing on teachers’ professional development and training; establishing a correct concept of inclusive education to enhance the social consciousness of inclusive education; adjusting the curriculum, and using flexible teaching methods.