The third roundtable discussion took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from the 4 to 6 May 2005. The event was organised by the Disability Action Council (DAC) and Healthlink Worldwide.

Over 60 participants attended from across Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Laos as well as from Europe, Bangladesh and India. Representatives included disabled people's organisations, government organisations, policy makers, parents of children with disabilities, international non-government organisations, donor agencies, and other organisations working with disabled people.

The discussions aimed to increase participants understanding of Inclusive Education and its role in mainstreaming disability. The three days included a question and answer session with children from a local inclusive school as well as visits to schools for children with disabilities and mainstream schools in the Phnom Penh area.

The discussions and activities included:

• The concept of Inclusive Education
• A SWOT analysis of Inclusive Education (examining Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
• Strategies to overcome challenges identified by the SWOT analysis
• A step-by-step approach to implementing Inclusive Education
• Further research areas in Inclusive Education
• What to do when Inclusive Education is not appropriate

A number of presentations were made, which provided an opportunity for participants to share practical examples of working with Inclusive Education in resource poor settings. It also gave participants a chance to learn about strategies and activities from across the region. The presentations included:

• The background of Inclusive Education
• The Biwako Millennium Framework and the Draft International Convention on Persons with Disabilities
• The development of Inclusive Education in Cambodia
• The development of Inclusive Education in Laos
• UNESCO and its promotion of Inclusive Education in the Asia-Pacific region

Opening address
His Excellency Oeung Tea Siam, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour, Veterans and Youth opened the roundtable. He spoke of how the Royal Government of Cambodia was attempting to meet the needs of people with disabilities and include them in all development programmes.

He urged key players, from government officials and disabled peoples organisations, to parents and teachers to work together to overcome the challenges faced by people with disabilities. He looked forward to the time when: “People with disabilities are…seen as central to building an inclusive society.”

He explained how forums such as the roundtable gave an impetus for the promotion and implementation of disability legislation within Cambodia and the region.

Stakeholder groups – who wants to talk to who?
On the first day the participants identified eight stakeholder groups among themselves, which were as follows; parents, disabled people and disabled peoples organisations, national level coordinators, grassroots implementers, regional coordinators, donors, policy makers, and teachers and teacher trainers. Participants chose a stakeholder group to belong to and then spent some time deliberating over who they most wanted to talk to and why.

The nature of some of the hoped for interactions included:

From parents wanting to talk to teachers: “We want regular contact with teachers to encourage other parents to become aware of the difficulties disabled children have”.

From donors requesting information from grassroots implementers: “We want to talk about how they can and do mobilise the community and empower them”.

From regional coordinators questioning policy makers and their methods: “We want to assist them with developing policy, sharing good practice and approaches”.

Exploring the issues of Inclusive Education
The participants shared their views on a number of statements generated from the e-forum discussions (an email discussion group on Inclusive Education that ran for eight weeks as part of the roundtable event).

The issues raised in this initial debate focused on:

• How children with severe or multiple disabilities could be included.
• How Inclusive education is about more than disability, for instance it also has to include other groups such as street children, sex workers, girls, child soldiers, ethnic minorities.
• Although Inclusive Education began with schools legislation was necessary to reinforce practice.
• Disabled teachers were essential for Inclusive Education to be successful, but there were a number of challenges to achieving this, such as cultural prejudices or legislation that prevents people with disabilities from attending government teacher training colleges.

Climbing up the Inclusive Education mountain
The participants divided into their stakeholder groups and shared the challenges they had experienced. A SWOT analysis exercise (designed to examine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in any given situation or project) was organised. However to generate a more creative response the groups were asked to draw their findings as a mountain. At the top of the mountain stood the goal of Inclusive Education, below this lay boulders and rocks which represented challenges and obstacles to inclusion. Strengths and opportunities were illustrated as rivers, bridges, flowers, insects and other mountain landscapes.

• The teachers and teacher trainer group included a river which allowed for reflection on progress and gave a chance to learn from mistakes; while boulders represented the Cambodian government whose policies exclude people with disabilities from employment in the civil service. Opportunities such as changes in perception were shown as flowers on the path.

• The coordinators of national inclusive education programmes group drew a mountain bathed in sunlight which represented children who were the main link between all parts of the mountain. In their illustration the rocks which represented threats to Inclusive Education, such as limited support from communities and families, could be turned into strengths and thus used as stepping-stones to achieve the goal. NGOs were shown as both a strength and a weakness; they can provide a vital source of funding and knowledge but can lead to donor dependence.

• The parents group drew a pathway that included the parents’ warmth and commitment to their children as a strength. Threats, represented as boulders, included the difficulties parents faced in making decisions for their children and a lack of encouragement from governments and communities to send their children to mainstream schools.

• The grassroots workers and people with disabilities group took the approach of sharing problems and experiences to find ways to get around rocks and boulders such as a lack of policies to support Inclusive Education or a lack of awareness of the benefits of Inclusive Education. By working together with different stakeholder groups the journey to the top of the mountain would become easier and more rewarding.

• The regional inclusive education programme coordinators and donors group drew flowers which represented the opportunities to be ‘picked’, for example the support and commitment of NGOs and governments, forward thinking by some schools.

• The policy makers group drew ladders for strengths such as tax incentives, or the formulation of new policy. Threats to achieving Inclusive Education included government apathy and lack of coordinated legislation.

Overcoming the challenges and implementing Inclusive Education
Participants divided into five groups were asked to answer the question: “What has worked in Inclusive Education in your experience?”

Responses were deliberated upon in five groups, each group being seen to be fundamental to any Inclusive Education programme. The groups were:

• Policy development
• Curriculum development
• Teacher training
• Capacity building
• Community participation

Key points and recommendations included the following:

• Capacity development should not be limited to education. For example in Laos capacity development has involved the health sector enabling children with disabilities to access key health services.
• Life skills are essential to all children and should be included in the general curriculum. World Vision Cambodia was holding life skills workshops for children with disabilities.
• Awareness raising among teachers, parents and children should be done in conjunction with the development and implementation of any policy.
• Working with parents was essential to promote positive attitudes and perceptions about the abilities of children with disabilities.
• Teacher training should attempt to reach a variety of teachers with different backgrounds and experience.

Key outputs
On the last day the participants worked on a range of outputs:
These included:

• A framework of action for the implementation of Inclusive Education: a step-by-step guide
• Areas for research
• Ways to change community attitudes
• How to mainstream Inclusive Education beyond the education sector
• Good practice guidelines
• Checklist for when Inclusive Education not appropriate

Please see the ‘presentations & activities’ page on this website for further information.