Inclusive education is often associated with pupils with disabilities or with “special educational needs”. Actually, inclusion relates to the school education of all children and young people, according to the concept of “schools for all”.

What is inclusive education?
Inclusion is a process that can continuously increase the level of learning and participation for all pupils. Higher participation means more inclusion. An inclusive school is a school in motion.

Inclusive education involves:

• Equal evaluation of all pupils and staff
• Increasing the participation of all pupils in education and, simultaneously, decreasing the number of those excluded from the culture, curricula and community values promoted by general school
• Restructuring the culture, policies and practices in schools, so that they meet the diversity of pupils in the community 
• Reducing barriers in accessing learning and participation for all pupils (not just for pupils with disabilities or those with “special educational needs”)
• Learning from the attempts of some pupils to overcome barriers to school access and participation
• Understanding the differences between pupils as a resource for learning and growth, not as a problem to overcome
• Recognition of pupils’ right to education in their own community 
• Increase the level of inclusion in schools between staff and pupils
• Increasing the importance of schools in building communities and strengthening their values, contributing to better performance
• Development of mutual support relationships between schools and communities
• Recognition of the fact that school inclusion is an aspect of social inclusion
   

School participation is about learning with other children and working together by sharing learning experiences. It means being actively involved in learning and having a say in how education is experienced by each child. Furthermore, participation means recognition, acceptance and valuing as a personality.

In the context of the reform of the residential childcare system, more and more children with special educational needs will be placed in community schools in the coming years. Is our school ready to accept them? Although considerable progress has been made in the last two years, there is still a long way to go. At the level of intention, the government has shown that it is ready to accept children with special educational needs in community schools so that children can return to their families, but at the level of legislative regulation, much remains to be done. Teachers don't know how to work with these children, how to grade them, what kind of tests to give them at the end of the school year, and whether they do it - is it legal? A lot of unanswered questions at the moment, but hopefully in the near future many of them will be answered.

Nowadays, CCF Moldova supports schools and teachers in creating proper environment for inclusion of all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social and emotional conditions.

To facilitate the process of inclusive education for pupils with special educational needs, our organization provides the following services:
Educational assistance (private lessons, educational recovery, homework preparation support).

Psychological assistance (individual and group counseling).
Support staff assistance (support teaching staff, speech therapist, psychologist, psychopedagogue).

Specific therapies (psychotherapy, speech therapy recovery hours).

Results:
We helped 967 children integrate in schools in their community. 54 schools have become inclusive and child-friendly with our support.