Inclusive schools: literature review and proposal of an inclusive middle school model for San Salvador, El Salvador

Abstract

[EN] The aim of this Final Dissertation (TFM) is to propose an improved model of inclusive school for a city in El Salvador to support the economic development of the country through education policies. The work will include a literature review on inclusive education, a historical background of the education statistics in El Salvador, the study of a new education plan launched on year 2011 called ‘Escuela Inclusiva de Tiempo Pleno’, and the proposal of different guidelines and strategies for middle schools. Inclusive Education is a new topic since the 48th session of the International Conference Education on year 2008, held in Geneva by the UNESCO. This conference remarkably intended to introduce the concept of Inclusiveness in Education because ‘quality inclusive education is fundamental to achieving human, social and economic development’ (ICE, 2008). El Salvador, member of the UNESCO since 1948, was represented in the conference by the Minister of Education. At the time each participant country in the conference, including El Salvador, made the commitment of taking actions for improve inclusiveness in the educational system. El Salvador sent a final report where inclusiveness was included in a plan called ‘Plan 2021’ that at the end had not a real focus in inclusiveness. Because of this later the reform ‘Vamos a la Escuela’ was introduced which included the plan ‘Escuela Inclusiva de Tiempo Pleno’. Seven years later, literature review shows that there is a lack of unanimity on what the concept of Inclusive Education implies, the guidelines to apply it correctly and the evaluation methods to measure it progress and achievements through the years. Also, each country, and being more specific developed countries and countries in development, applies it according to their needs or priorities. It is clear that improvements can be done based on successful cases; for example Costa Rica, almost neighbor of El Salvador, is nowadays considered one of the most competitive countries in Latin America according to the International Monetary Fund, besides Chile and Panama. But in El Salvador, the educational programs has not been as successful as expected, for this reason some improvements will be necessary.