Children and Youth in Post-socialist Countries
A workshop dedicated to the inclusion of children and youth in post-socialist countries was held at the Research-Educational Group «Inclusive Society: Comparative Analysis of Structural Conditions and Insiders' Opinions in Russia and Post-socialist Countries» аnd International Laboratory for Social Integration Research on May 3, 2022. It discussed a draft of a research article being prepared for a special issue of the journal «Children and Youth Services Review».
Michael MakoelleTsediso (Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan) and Daria Prisyazhniuk (HSE) have presented a draft of their article «Teachers attitudes toward inclusive education of children in Central Asia». The authors have analyzed the results of the quantitative research of teachers' attitude toward inclusive education, which have been conducted in 4 countries of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The indicators reflect a slow but steady shift from the segregation strategy used in the Soviet Union to inclusion and equality for students with disabilities. The articles cover such topics as special education for children with disabilities, the impact of inclusive education on enrollment, assessment system and teachers' workload. As the authors note, there is a lack of inclusive education programs in Tajikistan in comparison with other countries, it leads to low professional competence of teachers in the field of inclusive education.
Experts in the field of inclusive education were invited to discuss the article. Maria Kozlova (HSE), Rakhat Orozova (American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) and Bibigul Iskakova (HSE) acted as discussants.
The article have been also commented by the editors of a special issue of the journal «Children and Youth Services Review»: Michael Russell (University of Innsbruck, Austria), Sarah Phillips (University of India at Bloomington, USA) and Elena Yarskaya-Smirnova (HSE). The discussion has also been attended by Research-Educational Group and Laboratory staff, as well as other authors working on articles for the special issue.