Content uploaded by Marinela Scepanovic
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Marinela Scepanovic on Jan 01, 2024
Content may be subject to copyright.
Selection of our books indexed in the Book Citation Index
in Web of Science™ Core Collection (BKCI)
Interested in publishing with us?
Contact book.department@intechopen.com
Numbers displayed above are based on latest data collected.
For more information visit www.intechopen.com
Open access books available
Countries delivered to Contributors from top 500 universities
International authors and editor s
Our authors are among the
most cited scientists
Downloads
We are IntechOpen,the world’s leading publisher ofOpen Access booksBuilt by scientists, for scientists
12.2%
181,000
195M
TOP 1%
154
6,700
Chapter
Perspective Chapter: Individual
Support Services in Inclusive
Education – Pros et Contras
(Polemic)
MarinelaŠćepanović, SnežanaNikolić and NebojšaMitrović
Abstract
Inclusive education needs constant support for its development and improvement.
It is a long and demanding process that requires many changes, both in society and
its attitude toward the rights and needs of all children to education, as well as in the
management of the education system, which certainly implies the provision of various
forms of support for inclusive education. From the position of an approach based on
human rights, requirements move in the direction of the complete derogation of all
segregated environments for children with disabilities; such attitudes are not empha-
sized on positive experiences in segregation (separate and stimulating education of the
gifted, for example). We cannot ignore the need for children with different abilities for
additional educational support. But is it reasonable to expect that teachers can respond
to all the challenges that inclusive education sets before them in the context of the
requirement to adapt the approach to the needs of each child? In polemic, we discuss
the power and weakness of mainstream schools to respond to the requirements of the
modern concept of inclusive education for all children and the need to keep profes-
sional individual educational support services for children who need them.
Keywords: inclusive education, polemic, human-rights approach, disabilities,
giftedness, mainstream settings, individual support services
. Introduction
Inclusive education is the most effective way to give all children a fair chance to go
to school, learn, and develop the skills they need to thrive. Inclusive education means
all children are in the same classrooms and schools. It means real learning opportuni-
ties for groups who have traditionally been excluded—not only children with disabili-
ties but also speakers of minority languages and others.
Inclusive systems value the unique contributions students of all backgrounds bring
to the classroom and allow diverse groups to grow side by side to the benefit of all [1].
For example, UNESCO underlines that every learner matters equally. Yet millions
worldwide continue to be excluded from education for reasons that might include
sex, gender orientation, ethnic or social origin, language, religion, nationality,
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
economic condition, or ability. Inclusive education works to identify all barriers to
education and remove them and covers everything from curricula to pedagogy and
teaching. UNESCO’s work in this area is firstly guided by the UNESCO Convention
against Discrimination in Education (1960), Sustainable Development Goal 4, and
the Education 2030 Framework for Action, emphasizing inclusion and equity as the
foundation for quality education [2, 3].
Sustainable Development Goal number 4 contains objective 4.a build and improve
educational institutions that are sensitive to children, disabilities, and gender and
provide a safe, non-violent, inclusive, and effective learning environment for all;
and the indicator of achievement of the goal is: percentage of schools that offer basic
services, according to the type of services [4]; so, we can understand that the existence
and offering of basic support services in schools proves that educational institutions
have become more inclusive and provide more adequate education for all children.
But what type of inclusive educational support is needed for students, and which
support services are present in schools? And, are these services directly (individually)
support to students, or is it support provided to students in a department or group?
Are there so-called therapeutic services available as a form of support in school, such
as occupational therapy or speech therapy? Who provides expert support to main-
stream school students to overcome obstacles in education?
In this article, we argue about these issues (and broader) to justify the need to
preserve individual professional support to students in different areas of expertise as
solid support in inclusive education in mainstream schools, which has existed for a
long time worldwide.
. Methodology
In our research article, we use the polemic as a methodological approach to achieve
an understanding of the proposed solutions and procedures and to reject the solu-
tions that oppose them. We use polemic to argue with the opinions, experiences, acts,
and arguments of other researchers. The methodological approach using polemics
successfully returns in scientific practice (mainly in humanistic and social sci-
ences) because Stoicism, Epicureanism, or some other ancient systems have become
increasingly present in today’s theories [5] as the basis of moral systems. Also, today’s
philosophical discussions are based on the ancient polemic from which they receive
the most diverse ideas for consideration, such as Bogdanovski and Nišavić [6], the
authors who transferred the polemic to the original theoretical discussion.
Although the term polemic is often related to theological considerations, its use
in ancient philosophical schools had the greatest significance. In Brill’s Dictionary
of Religion, polemic is represented as “Here is a rhetorical ‘attack strategy’ for quar-
reling: polemics (Gk., polemiké téchne), and identified by irrelevantly aggressive,
but overpoweringly argumentational, discourse.” [7]. “Such argumentation is called
polemics and it commonly contains an aggressive attack on or refutation of the
opinions or principles of another and involves the art or practice of disputation or
controversy” [8]. Roskam also claims that “the obvious starting point of philosophical
polemics is the position of the opponent” [9], while ter Borg concerns that “polemics
might be defined as a discursive conflict” [10].
As scientists found, polemics—from πολεμική/polemikḗ (sc. τέχνη/téchnē), “art of
war,” i.e., hurtful dispute through words—is directed toward topics and is thus objective
in its orientation [11]. Peterson notices the basic but also the positive side of the polemics,
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
describing them as “work on ideas of verbal warfare and destructive debate,” while he
says that in his study, however, polemical discussions were actually productive forms
[12]. Other authors also recognize complex but with positive intent formed debates
within polemics, which aim to produce new ideas and improve the future [13–16].
. Results
. Inclusive education support services
Inclusive education support services include all forms of educational work that
assist students with needs for some form of education support, encourage their
development and advancement, and their maximum inclusion and social interactions
in school groups. Children and students may need additional support in education for
various reasons and circumstances: children with disabilities, children with learning
problems, migrant children, children of different religions and languages, children
from different cultural backgrounds, victims of violence, children victims of child
trafficking, children victims of abuse and exploitation, but also children with gifted-
ness, children with double or multiple exceptionality (one or more disability and one
or more giftedness) and in different areas talented and exceptional children, children
without parents, street children, bilingual children, children from socially deprived
environments, and the others.
Education support services are essential for inclusive education provided in the
school, the environment, and/or the family of the child or student. Education support
services include several procedures, which can be considered a process of supporting
the child, the institution, and the family during education.
Schools support pupils with a wide range of special educational needs (SEN). They
should regularly review and evaluate the breadth and impact of the support they offer
or can access, and must co-operate with the local authority in reviewing the provision
that is available locally and in developing the Local Offer [17].
Some possible forms of support applied in inclusive education in school are:
• Detection and recognition of children/students in need of educational support;
• Identification and assessment of abilities and educational needs of children/
students;
• Determining the necessary support measures for the child, school, and family;
• Personal companion in education;
• Teaching assistant;
• Adjusting the content, methods, and techniques of working with the child/
student;
• Aids and products of assistive technology;
• Peer support;
• Individual support from professionals in various specialties;
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
• Advisory work;
• Instructive work;
• Monitoring the implementation of child/student, school, and family support
measures;
• Support for the professional development of teachers and associates for work in
inclusive education;
• Adjusting the school environment (physical environment);
• Support for improving school inclusiveness.
As shown above, individual support from professionals in various specialties is only
one form of support for inclusive education. Then why is this service the main topic
of our polemic? We believe its significance is far above other listed services because of
its benefits for children and students. In the following text, we discuss and analyze its
importance and possibilities.
Accurate identification through a thorough evaluative process, is the first step to
ensure that individuals with learning disabilities receive the services, support, and
accommodations that are required for academic and life success. The same source [18]
also emphasizes that functional academic demands vary across the lifespan as well
as across educational settings, so when an individual does not need support in one set-
ting or at one time of life, it does not necessarily mean that support is not warranted
at another time or in another context.
Other sources also speak about the importance of the ability assessment and refer-
ral toward the necessary support services in the school. As the European Agency for
Special Needs and Inclusive Education [19, 20] states, countries in Europe may have
different types of official decisions, but for all official decisions:
• There has been some form of educational assessment procedure involving differ-
ent people. This procedure may involve the child/learner, parents, school-based
team members, as well as professionals from multi-disciplinary teams from
outside the child’s/learner’s (pre-)school,
• There is some form of a legal document (plan/program, etc.) that describes
the support the child/learner is eligible to receive, which is used as the basis for
decision-making,
• There is some form of regular review process of the child/learner’s needs,
progress, and support.
We see that after the educational needs assessment process, in addition to provid-
ing support, documentation is kept on the support of the child/student, and the entire
process is monitored and evaluated in some way. When the competent authority
assesses the ability and needs of the child or student for educational support, the
support process in inclusive education of the child/students begins.
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
. Individual support services
Individual support services (personal, individual support) are the individual sup-
port of professionals in various specialties provided to children/students in the school
and extracurricular educational environment.
The reviews [19, 20] show different forms of support in various countries individu-
ally provided by experts of different profiles. In nearly all countries, specialist provision
professionals have to address special education issues to promote quality inclusive
education at the school level. Specialists may be SEN teachers who are qualified in
special education and/or in a specific type of special need. Their role is to support learn-
ers with SEN to follow the curriculum, taking into account their abilities and needs.
Professionals can also guide teachers as they adapt their practices to learners’ specific
needs. According to the country reports, these specialists may include special peda-
gogues from pedagogical-psychological services who provide consultancy to learners
receiving support, parents or guardians, and teachers. They may also be teaching or
learning assistants who help the teacher deliver lessons or provide in-class support to
specific learners. Some countries also emphasize the role of sign language interpreters.
What do individual support services include? In order to better understand the
described services and their different activities carried out in various contexts, we
propose the following overview of the individual support services (Table ).
In the example of regulations in the education system of the Republic of Serbia,
as corrective and stimulating exercise programs (as individual types of support are
called), the following are listed:
• Speech therapy exercises.
• Listening and speaking exercises.
• Psychomotor re-education exercises.
• Visual training/tactile training/orientation and movement/Braille.
• Orthooptic pleoptic exercises.
• Corrective gymnastics (instead of earlier: corrective preventive exercises and
games).
• Phonetic rhythms/musical stimulations/movement stimulations.
• Serbian sign language.
• Social skills, and
• Sensory integration [21].
Bearing in mind the diversity of the educational needs of children/students, it is
clear that most of the above-mentioned individual support services require special
implementation conditions in their application, primarily specialized rooms, and in
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
addition, specific instruments for work—documentation, tools for work, literature,
instruments, and technologies. Most importantly, highly qualified specialists provide
these services with competencies in highly specialized areas of expertise.
Providing individual support services to children/students in inclusive education
is forwarded to improve the child’s capacities for successful and independent educa-
tion. Therefore, this service is most important for children and students, and for the
Individual support services
1. Mastering special skills in the domain of academic advancement
a. Literacy or learning to read and/or write in a particular way (braille, cursive, etc.)
2. Using educational aids
a. Assistive technologies to support writing, reading, calculation, and acquisition of other skills and
knowledge
3. Developing specific communication as the only possible or accepted way by the child
4. Developing special personal skills necessary for participation in the community
a. Mobility
b. Communication
c. Social skills
d. Social competency
e. Others
5. Improving interpersonal communication with the school and family environment
a. Acquiring and developing mutual trust and belief;
b. Understanding messages and non-verbal communication;
c. Gaining the trust of the family and trust in the family;
d. Developing cooperation with everyone who participates in education – peers, teachers, school, parents,
and others
6. Skills of importance for children/students with SEN, which include the development and improvement of:
a. skills for coping with everyday life and taking care of yourself
b. skills for participation in the community and cooperation with the environment
c. skills that increase the quality of personal independence
d. skills relevant to occupation and work
e. skills that increase the quality of cooperation, interaction, and communication with others
f. skills of perceiving and experiencing the environment
g. quality of life for every child/student through training for maximum participation in the community,
independence, and individuality
7. Specialized services
a. Encouraging the development and improvement of speech and language
b. Occupational therapy
c. Encouraging the development and improvement of motor functions
d. Encouraging development and improving sensory functions
Table 1.
Individual support services overview.
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
same reason, parents and teachers often require this kind of support to be provided
for children and students in inclusive education.
. Discussion
. Individual support services—pros
The professional service of individual work with a child supports the child’s
capacities in inclusive education. It can be seen as imminent and strong support for
inclusive education or as a strong obstacle to setting up inclusiveness in schools. We
discuss arguments and counter-arguments for this thesis.
Professional individual work with children with disabilities is not a newspaper;
experts deal with decades, even longer, in this business and are educated to be in it. In the
current professional and laic dictionary, different terms can be found that all indicate the
same individual professional work with children who have faced obstacles in education:
• Inclusive education teachers;
• Leaning support teachers;
• Special educational teachers;
• SEN teacher;
• Inclusion teachers;
• Visiting teachers;
• Individual teachers;
• Individual support teachers;
• Support therapists;
• Individual special corrective teachers;
• Corrective-preventive special teachers;
• Therapists of different specialities, such as speech pathologists/therapists, or
occupational therapist, etc.
We present arguments that justify the application of individual support services as
support for inclusive education in mainstream schools for children and students who
need educational support. All such services are provided mainly by educated special
teachers or therapists.
5.1.1 Support in the local environment
The support of experts for the individual development and progress of children/
students in inclusive education, which is provided in their environment and settings,
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
without the need for displacement in any form and duration, is particularly signifi-
cant. Thus, it is stated in [22] that legislation and policy should focus on prevention
and intervention approaches to enable all learners to overcome barriers to learning
and participate fully, in line with the ultimate vision that all learners of any age are
educated in their local community, alongside their friends and peers.
The stay of children/students in education under the auspices of the family is
undoubtedly the best because it is the most stimulating social and emotional environ-
ment a child needs for development and progress. The family environment provides
opportunities and chances for emotional stability and the child’s development of
positive values and skills.
When children and students have such support from professionals in their school,
there is no need to leave their natural environment for such support and to learn and
live far away from their homes and families.
5.1.2 Personalized support
The gains and benefits of individual professional work in inclusive education are,
according to Šćepanović [21], the possibility of more precise planning and monitoring of
the effects of work, constant focus on the user/student, which enhances motivation, helps
to overcome difficulties in understanding, encourages perseverance and provides more
data in observation, the possibility of focusing on micro-changes during the implementa-
tion of orders and tasks, increased student/user activity, more vigorous encouragement
and encouragement to complete tasks, richer communication between process partici-
pants, as well as a better possibility of developing some social skills than is possible in a
group. Overall, the focus on one student/user, as given by the very nature of this type of
work, is not only a simple spatial orientation of a higher degree, but it is also a new type of
relationship, communication, and interaction that creates a unique quality and a shift in
the development, discovery, and experience of the world around these children/students.
5.1.3 Support within the specific context of the child’s/student’s education
Regarding the valuable aspects of individual work, we found opinions, i.e., studies
of several authors [23, 24] that speak of corrective work. Thus, some authors [24]
claim that “person-centered individual planning (or person-centered planning) is
a set of advanced principles and strategies that emerged … as a way to better under-
stand the experiences of people with developmental disabilities and to improve those
experiences with the help of associates.” Other authors [23] investigate the relation-
ship between individual work planning and quality of life; the results of their research
speak of the connection, i.e., conditionality of the observed variables.
Individual (and mandatory) support, which is provided to individual students
with developmental disabilities or for other reasons, is realized within the framework
of extracurricular mandatory individual activities and represents a model of direct,
personal support aimed at the very specific needs, difficulties, and abilities of each
individual student who individual support is provided.
In the educational context, it is important to point out that currently, the educa-
tional systems of European countries, in general, are faced with numerous challenges
that can make education not fair and highlight inequalities related to: … gender,
distance, wealth, developmental disabilities, ethnicity, language, migration, reloca-
tion, incarceration, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, and
other beliefs and attitudes [2].
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
5.1.4 Support from highly qualified experts
The need to develop better quality work with children and students in an inclusive
environment with different educational needs, including the need for additional
educational individual support, has been discussed since the beginning of the devel-
opment of inclusive education since not all participants are competent to support it.
This increasing recognition of learner diversity and complexity calls for greater
collaboration. It will also require a changed role for education professionals, who
must be prepared to provide more personalized pedagogies, increased use of digital
technologies, and more varied learning pathways. School communities will increas-
ingly be required to engage in the process of re-conceptualizing the notion of a school
as an institution that offers more than curriculum content delivery [22].
That is why the support of existing highly qualified experts for the inclusive
education of all children is welcome and should be used as an available resource in
all circumstances for the benefit of children/students rather than forcing teachers to
continue their education and seek new knowledge about working with children of
different abilities and educational needs.
In the example of the Republic of Serbia, additional individual educational
support services provided by specialists in special education and rehabilitation,
are financed by the relevant ministries as a service that is a direct aid to inclusive
education in Serbia. The service was introduced a few years after the introduction of
inclusive education because it was shown that teachers are not sufficiently prepared to
work with students with developmental disabilities and other students with a need for
educational support and that without the help of special educators, there cannot be
established inclusive education [21].
5.1.5 Continuous support during schooling, with monitoring of development and progress
Adequate individual additional educational support can be provided to a child/
student as much as there is a need for it, and it can be continuous during schooling
and at different levels of education, from preschool to high school. Continuity of
work with the child/student ensures monitoring of their progress and development
while recording all crucial moments and facts related to the child/student’s education
in their portfolio. Other known forms of support are mostly one-time or repeated in
a shorter period, so they cannot be a source of monitoring the progress and develop-
ment of the child/student in the true sense of the word.
5.1.6 Teachers’ opinions
The research that we are citing [25] had the character of action research because
it was supposed to be carried out in parallel with the observed process of inclusive
education, following the changes that occurred in the process. This type of research
has a participatory character because the researcher actively participates in the
process being investigated and gives his subjective view of the situation, and finally, it
requires a change in the educational situation.
The archival method, individual interviews, and focus group interviews with the
immediate participants of the process being investigated were used to conduct the
research. The research was conducted in 2020 with the participation of 200 teachers
from Southeast European countries online. The results of the study speak in favor of
teachers’ need for diverse support, and especially the need for professional support
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
from experts who can give them instructions on how to work more successfully in an
inclusive environment, since they do not have enough such knowledge and compe-
tencies acquired during their studies. In terms of support for children and students,
teachers most often, in a considerable percentage (96%), point out that, among other
things, children/students need professional, individual support in the school environ-
ment. These findings are significant primarily because they come from teachers who
work with children and also because of the high percentage of responses, that is, the
significance of the answers.
. Individual support services—contras
5.2.1 Segregation in providing additional individual educational support
The most frequently mentioned argument for not including experts who provide
additional individual educational support services to children/students in an inclusive
environment (and these are usually special educators) is the reference to the fact that
individual work with a child/student is actually a form of segregation of children and
that as such must be considered discriminatory and unacceptable. The term “separa-
tion of a child from a group” has become a synonym for segregation and, thus, for
discrimination, as stated in some sources. Interestingly, separating a child from a
group is not considered segregation when a school pedagogue or psychologist works
with him, and even less when a music or ballet expert works with him in a specialized
environment. What’s more, in working with gifted children and students, segrega-
tion is considered one of the very successful measures to support the education of the
gifted since their segregation and grouping give excellent results on the progress and
achievements of children and students with giftedness. In this situation, too, no one
talks about segregation or discrimination. To be completely clear, we will ask you, the
readers, a question: if your child had difficulties speaking difficulties, would you take
him to a speech therapist for individual treatment or a throat and voice specialist? Is
that also singling out a child based on some of his personal characteristics, or segrega-
tion? Of course not, since it is applied to the benefit and progress of the child.
Legal segregation is present in schools all over Europe thanks to the inconsistency
and imperfection of legal regulations in education, while real segregation does not, in
our opinion, have that much foothold in practice and is increasingly being overcome
through the enrichment of diversity among the population, and its needs in general,
including in the field of education.
Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the apparent differences between real and
legal segregation and discrimination on the one hand and the procedures of singling
out children for their well-being and progress within the process of education and
schooling on the other hand.
5.2.2 Absence of unique work standards
So far, a general framework with contents that should fully define this form of
work has not been built: plan and program, goals, tasks, documentation, methods,
means, techniques, conditions for performing work, implementers, users, etc. That is
why it is now necessary to create protocols for handling and implementing corrective
individual work that will describe the procedures for assessing abilities, applying,
and evaluating the effects of support on children and students with developmental
and learning disabilities and other children who need educational support. Some
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
countries define such services. For example, according to the same source, in the
Republic of Serbia, it is prescribed that the implementation of educational work, as
well as the provision of additional support in education and upbringing, through
programs of corrective and stimulating exercises for students who, due to develop-
mental disabilities and disabilities, specific difficulties in learning, social deprivation
and other reasons for needing support in education and upbringing, the school can
implement individual teaching through support programs for children and students
with disabilities and others [21].
5.2.3 Individual and direct support as therapeutic treatment, not an educational support
Individual or direct work with children who need support, which professionals
of various specialties carry out, is recognized as therapeutic work, that is, work that
is not in the domain of education. Like most medical services provided by individu-
als—professionals, work that takes place in person with one recipient of services
does not necessarily have to be in the field of medicine; such work can and is carried
out in the field of education, in the form of specific skills (such as learning to play an
instrument) or as the work of professional associates in schools—pedagogues, psy-
chologists, and others. So why not work on providing professional individual support
services for inclusive child education in such a way?
For a clear idea of the responsibilities and tasks of a special educator in inclusive
education, we list only some mentioned by other authors [26], which clearly speak
about the educational role of special educators in school.
As an SEN teacher, you’ll need to:
• teach either individuals or small groups of pupils within, or outside, the class,
• prepare lessons and resources,
• develop and adapt conventional teaching methods to meet the individual needs
of pupils,
• use special equipment and facilities, such as audiovisual materials and computers
to stimulate interest in learning and aid concentration and understanding,
• use specialist skills, such as teaching Braille to pupils with visual impairments or
sign language and lip reading to students who have hearing impairments,
• collaborate with the classroom teacher to define appropriate activities for the
pupils in relation to the curriculum,
• assess children who have long- or short-term learning difficulties and work with
colleagues to identify individual pupils’ special needs,
• organize learning outside the classroom in activities such as community visits,
school outings, or sporting events,
• carry out administrative tasks, including updating and maintaining records of
pupils’ progress,
• manage behavior, etc.
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
5.2.4 Individual therapeutic providers (or special educators) are opponents of
inclusive education
In some countries, special educators are sometimes blamed for the slow progress
of the development of inclusive education, due to their alleged fear that the need
for their work will cease with the progress of inclusive education. The truth is quite
the opposite. The support of special educators is increasingly needed as children
with different educational needs are included in general education, where they need
additional educational support. Special educators are the only experts whose entire
university education is dedicated to acquiring skills and knowledge about work-
ing with children of different abilities and educational needs. Their services are,
therefore, of the highest quality, unique, and specific. It is an unjustified aspiration
that it is necessary to “abolish” an entire profession because of unargued accusations
of obstructing the development of inclusive education. At the same time, teachers
and other professionals who do not have the competence to work with children of
different abilities are forced to acquire additional knowledge and skills in order to
work with children successfully. Is it difficult to imagine that all experts work for the
welfare of children in collaboration and cooperation? As authors [27] say: “Productive
professional collaboration between different parties is required to realize both visions
of inclusive education.” Also, the results of the study [28] show the need for enhanc-
ing collaboration between special and mainstream teachers in knowledge, readiness,
and attitude for effective implementation of inclusive education in schools.
Fortunately, there are positive examples all over the world, and we can only hope
that such a trend will continue. The best examples of collaboration are the transfor-
mation of special schools into resource centers, which serve as strong support for
the inclusive education of all children in the local environment, deal with assistive
technologies, and support both schools and families, as well as young people and
adults with different abilities in their development and life. The backbone of the work
of resource centers is special educators with their specific knowledge, experiences,
and skills.
. Conclusion
As a fundamental principle of the present civilization, the ethical universal posi-
tion on human equality, freedom, and fraternity deduces a general relationship based
on everyone’s equally respected personality and its needs, abilities, and affinities. And
so in education [21]. Not only the rights of all children to the same conditions and
quality of education but also to the support they need in education determine us to
choose and provide the highest quality support services, following personalized plans
that we build on each child’s personal needs. In the context of inclusive education,
personal educational needs determine personally needed support and fully justify
the application of individual professional support services to every child/student who
needs it. Professionals who provide this kind of support cannot be seen as opponents
of inclusion. Still, on the contrary, they are the most vital support because they enable
children/students to attend classes with their peers in their natural environment,
parents to understand their children’s needs, and teachers to adapt their work to the
needs and abilities of each particular child and student. The potentials of individual
professional support in an inclusive school are: constancy and continuity in work,
quality of work, knowledge of opportunities, daily possibility of cooperation with all
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
Author details
MarinelaŠćepanović1*, SnežanaNikolić1 and NebojšaMitrović2
1 Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of Belgrade, Belgrade,
RepublicofSerbia
2 Faculty of Education Bijeljina, University of East Sarajevo, EastSarajevo,
BosniaandHerzegovina
*Address all correspondence to: mscepanovic@gmail.com
participants in the process, and better monitoring of the effects of work. The benefits
of individual educational professional support services are proven and significant,
and the service providers are highly qualified experts. Strict emphasis on segregation
as a negative environment for the education of children/students, in the case of pro-
viding services of individual educational support, is not justified. From the example
of work with the gifted, where the separated (segregated) environment proved very
supportive for children/students, we learn that we are not right in insisting that
segregation is wrong at all levels of education. All the stated reasons are arguments
for the preservation and development of individual educational support services in
the future and for the cooperation of all providers of education support services for
children/students who need support.
Acknowledgements
Authors created this chapter in the project “Creating a protocol for assessing the
educational potential of children with disabilities as a criterion for the development
of individual educational programs,” No. 179025, supported by the Ministry of
Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.
© 2023 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original work is properly cited.
Inclusive Education – Recent Advances
References
[1] UNICEF. Inclusive education
[Internet]. 2023. Avalilable from:
https://www.unicef.org/education/
inclusive-education
[2] UNESCO. Global Education
Monitoring Report, 2020 – Inclusion and
Education: All Means All. 2020. Available
from: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/
query?q=Corporate:% 20%22Global%20
Education%20Monitoring%20
Report%20Team%22&sf=sf:*
[3] UNESCO. Inclusion in Education
[Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://
www.unesco.org/en/inclusion-education
[4] United Nations. Department for
Economic and Social Affairs [Internet].
2023. Available from: https://unstats.
un.org/sdgs/report/2021/goal-04/
[5] Ćirković MM. Zašto je epikurejstvo
bolji model za današnji svet od stoicizma?
[Why is Epicureanism a better model
for today's world than Stoicism?]
2019. Available from: https://talas.
rs/2019/11/08/zasto-je-epikurejstvo-bolji-
model-za-danasnji-svet-od-stoicizma/
[6] Bogdanovski M, Nišavić I. Uživanje i
afektivne komponente mentalnih stanja
u antičkom i epikurejskom hedonizmu.
[Pleasure and Afective Components
of Mental States in the Ancient and
Epicurean Hedonism]. Theoria.
2020, 2020;:69-86. DOI:10.2298/
THEO2003069B
[7] Hack A. “Polemics”, in: The Brill
Dictionary of Religion, Edited by: Kocku
von Stuckrad. Consulted online on 07
October 2023. 2023. First published
online: 2006. First print edition.
10.1163/1872-5287_bdr_COM_00347
[8] Walker PE. Chapter 20 Ismaili
polemics against their opponents. In: The
Fatimids. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill;
2023. DOI:10.1163/9789004548626_022
[9] Roskam G. Chapter 12 Plutarch’s
use of myth in his anti-stoic and
anti-epicurean polemics. In: A
Man of Many Interests: Plutarch
on Religion, Myth, and Magic.
Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill; 2019.
DOI:10.1163/9789004404472_013
[10] ter Borg MB. The social
importance of religious polemics.
In: Religious Polemics in Context.
Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill; 2005.
DOI:10.1163/9789004495302_028
[11] Speyer W. Polemics. In: Cancik H,
Schneider H, editors. Brill’s New Pauly,
Antiquity Volumes English Edition by:
Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition
volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester,
English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
2023. Consulted online on 07 October
2023. First published online: 2006. First
print edition: 9789004122598, 20110510.
DOI:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1000100
[12] Peterson J. Critique and catharsis:
Jain-Vaiṣṇava polemics in early modern
Karnataka. Journal of South Asian
Intellectual History. 2023;(1):94-123.
DOI:10.1163/25425552-12340038
[13] Markl D. Chapter 2 polemics against
child sacrifice in deuteronomy and the
deuteronomistic history. In: Intolerance,
Polemics, and Debate in Antiquity.
Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill; 2019.
DOI:10.1163/9789004411500_004
[14] Nisula T, Laato AM, Irizar P.
Religious Polemics and Encounters in
Late Antiquity. Leiden, The Netherlands:
Brill; 2021. DOI:10.1163/9789004466845
[15] van Kooten GH, van Ruiten J.
Intolerance, Polemics, and
Perspective Chapter: Individual Support Services in Inclusive Education – Pros et Contras (Polemic)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114080
Debate in Antiquity. Leiden,
The Netherlands: Brill; 2019.
DOI:10.1163/9789004411500
[16] Weisser S, Thaler N. Strategies
of Polemics in Greek and Roman
Philosophy. Leiden, The Netherlands:
Brill; 2016. DOI:10.1163/9789004323049
[17] Ministry of Education and Ministry
of Health UK. Special Educational
Needs and Disability Code of Practice:
0 to 25 Years – Statutory Guidance.
2015. Available from: https://www.
gov.uk/government/publications/
send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
[18] Learning Disabilities Association of
America. Core Principles: Evaluation and
Identification of learning Disabilities
[Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://
ldaamerica.org/info/core-principles-
evaluation-and-identification-of-
learning-disabilities/
[19] European Agency for Special Needs
and Inclusive Education. EASIE Guide to
the Data Tables and Country Background
Information [Internet]. 2022. Available
from: https://www.european-agency.
org/sites/default/files/2022-10/
EASIE%20Guide%20to%20the%20
data%20tables%20and%20country%20
background%20information.pdf
[20] European Agency for Special Needs
and Inclusive Education. Changing Role
of Specialist Provision in Supporting
Inclusive Education: Mapping Specialist
Provision Approaches in European
Countries. EASNIE; 2021. Available
from: https://www.european-agency.org/
sites/default/files/CROSP_Synthesis_
Report.pdf
[21] Šćepanović M. Corrective
defectological work in the context of
inclusive education (the perspective of
service providers). Sinteze. 2019;:
17-38. DOI:10.5937/sinteze8-20552
[22] European Agency for Special Needs
and Inclusive Education. Agency Position
on Inclusive Education Systems. 2nd ed.
EASNIE; 2022. Available from: https://
www.european-agency.org/sites/default/
files/ Agency-Position-Paper-2022-EN_0.
pdf
[23] Adams L, Beadle-Brown J, Mansell J.
Individual planning: An exploration
of the link between quality of plan
and quality of life. British Journal of
Learning Disabilities. 2006;(2):68-76.
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3156.2005.00356.x
[24] O'Brien J, O'Brien CL, Mount B.
Personcentered planning has arrived…
or has it? Mental Retardation.
1997;:480-488
[25] Šćepanović MN, Nikolić SJ. Inclusive
education of children with disabilities
in the online environment. Exceptional
Children: Education and
Treatment. 2020;(3):275-289.
DOI:10.677267686395626395.weebly.com/
[26] AGCAS Editors. Special educational
needs teacher. Prospects [Internet].
2023. Available from: https://
www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/
special-educational-needs-teacher
[27] Leijen Ä, Arcidiacono F, Baucal A.
The dilemma of inclusive education:
Inclusion for some or inclusion for all.
Frontiers in Psychology. 2021;:633066.
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633066
[28] Razalli AR, Hashim AT,
Mamat N, Ariffin A. Collaborative
teaching between special education
teachers and mainstream teachers
in inclusive education program.
International Journal of Academic
Research in Business and Social
Sciences. 2020;(8):1055-1065.
Available from: https://hrmars.com/
papers_submitted/7713/collaborative-
teaching-between-special-education-
teachers-and-mainstream-teachers-in-
inclusive-education-program.pdf
