Inclusive Education: Availability of Support Outside The School in Front-Line Communities of Ukraine

Abstract

Inclusive education in war conditions depends not only on the resources of the educational institution, but also on the availability of a wider system of support for the child and the family. The aim of the study was to compare inclusiveness profiles of five frontline communities in Kharkiv Oblast, to identify differences between parents' and professionals' assessments and to identify barriers affecting children with disabilities and/or special educational needs' access to education and socialization opportunities. The study had a mixed design and combined a questionnaire survey of 993 respondents — parents of children with disabilities and/or special educational needs, parents of other children and professionals — with 10 focus group interviews involving 62 people. Comparisons were made between communities and between three groups of respondents. The most balanced inclusiveness profile was found in the Pisochyn community, the highest estimates of target families — in the Kegichiv community, while the largest intergroup differences were recorded in the Lyubotyn community. In all communities, experts rated inclusiveness higher than parent groups. The institutional and social dimensions were generally rated higher than the spatial security and participatory dimensions. Qualitative data showed that the main obstacles are fragmented support, the difficulty of finding information, transport and security barriers, limited socialization opportunities for children and insufficient participation of parents in decision-making. The results show that inclusive education is appropriate to consider as part of a local support ecosystem in which education, social and rehabilitation services, transport, safe infrastructure and parental participation mechanisms should be linked in a family-accessible route.