DESCRIPTORS: Special education, inclusion, integration, school mission statement, program descriptions, innovative programs, at-home instruction, students with disabilities, autistic students, emotionally disturbed students, learning disabled students, parental involvement, program development, medical-educational cooperation, state standards, testing, types of integration/inclusion, supplemental programs, extended day opportunities

SYNOPSIS: Natalya Borisova’s article provides the reader with a fascinating description of the possibilities available for every child in a school that is truly child centered. Parents, teachers, specialists, medical educators working together provide a unique opportunity for each child in The Kovcheg School. The school itself appears to be acting as a compass guiding the City of Moscow’s introduction of children with special needs into the schools of their community. Formerly isolated in special institutions, children with learning disabilities are now able to join society.

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Introduction

The state educational institution, “Wellness-focused,” 2 General Education School No. 1321 otherwise known as The Kovcheg School was created in 1990 in the very heart of the City of Moscow’s medical education center as a result of the initiatives of specialists from that institution and groups of parents whose children were receiving rehabilitational and educational services in certain non-state related educational institutions. The parents in these families basically are “white collar workers.” Many of the parents and specialists of the medical centers were sufficiently familiar with a variety of models of educational systems from a number of European countries in which children having untypical developmental paths have specially organized opportunities to learn together with peers of similar developmental levels. Such a model of school instruction was, undoubtedly, very attractive to both parents and specialists from the point of view of the future social and educational prospects for inclusion of “special” children in regular society, and in new humanistic and developmental plans for education and social integration in the post-soviet era.

From the very first day of its founding, the school got down to the business of creating innovative Russian models of instruction. As a result, children with special development, in particular, those with emotional disturbances, disorders along the autistic spectrum, and behavioral problems are educated in the midst of healthy peers. Throughout its first year, the school operated like a private school, and was managed by a council of volunteers composed of parents and specialists from the medical education center. In 1991 in accordance with a directive from the Moscow City Department of Education, “The Kovcheg School” acquired the status of a state-public school and from 1993 the status of a state-funded educational institution.

Thus, School 1321 or The Kovcheg School was created as a “parental” school developed in response to the new societal need to create educational environments which will be places of learning, not only for so called “normal” children but also for children with atypical developmental paths. It is a very important fact that these ideas were understood and received support in Moscow City’s Department of Education.

The Kovcheg School’s Mission

The educational scope of the school was conceived from the beginning to be a flexible one, teaching a wide variety of educational and social requirements to both “ordinary” students and “special” ones. Adaptability is an important quality of the educational environment of this new school not only in its attitude toward the social and educational needs of the child but also towards the family as a whole, especially the family that finds itself in a crisis situation as it comes to terms with the diagnosis of its child’s disability or with the disturbances and disruptions  connected with changes in the social status or structure of the family, or even with the difficulties involved with the seemingly unending rehabilitational and correctional activities connected with the child’s development.

As a result of their cooperative efforts, the school’s community produced a statement for School No. 1321 “The Kovcheg School” which declares their mission to be the “creation of the necessary conditions for successful education, social development, and adaptation into society of each child regardless of his level of psycho-physical development, of the condition of his health, or the origin and social status of his family.”

It is quite important to note here that the creators of this new kind of school clearly understood the limitations of special education that is its inability to provide access to higher education for some groups of children by virtue of its essential narrowing of opportunities for their social adaptation and chances for future attainment of an education. Despite all the work done in “special education” schools where special conditions and special methods of instruction are employed by uniquely prepared teachers, the children become more and more isolated from the world. Moreover, special schools that could successfully assist children with learning disabilities; provide psychological and pedagogical services; and instruct autistic children such as those with Asperger’s syndrome simply did not exist in Russia during that period.

The Accreditation Process

In December of 2008, School No. 1321 began the process of acquiring state accreditation for the purpose of attaining official recognition as a “general education institution” and be known as “Wellness-focused, General Education School No. 1321, The Kovcheg School.”

The concepts of educational and social integration were important components of The Kovcheg School’s foundational structure during the twelve years that a student would be in the school. It was essential to the entire educational development program of the institution. One of the most important directions for the school during the period leading up to 2013 would be the transition to an “inclusive” form of education. Such a transformational move was dictated not only by new educational policy from the Moscow City Department of Education but also by an internal, developmental trend within the school. However, it is necessary to mention that this transition is quite contradictory and is complicated by social change.
The concept of an “inclusive” school is a new type of educational institution for Russia. The creation of an “inclusive” school leaps over any incremental development of ideas that might have developed in special education in the nation’s schools. The Russian school environment has remained relatively unchanged for many decades. The idea that children with special educational needs can be educated together with their typical, age-peers; under common conditions; following state education standards; without hordes of additional teachers and assistants; in the regular school environment would appear to many people to be a fantasy.

An Integrated School

Our school was created as an “integrated” school and for many years carried out the concept of integration since the preconditions for the development of an “inclusive” education process during all these years simply did not exist. As a result of integration, all the children in the school received certain advantages, not just some special group. They all received instruction that utilized new approaches. Children with needs could find themselves in a class full time or part-time, learning with additional support according to an individualized educational plan. The regular classroom teacher not some special education teacher holds responsibility for the special needs child placed in the class. An inclusive education school operates more flexibly and adaptively: in planning options for the program of its students; in its form and method of instruction; in the school’s sufficiency of resources of all types in order to meet the needs of those students with special educational needs; as well as providing for the equality of all the pupils of the school community.

At the present time, Russia is essentially in a transitional state regarding the implementation of the “pure” concept of inclusive education in many of its vital parts:

• Legislatively, Moscow City Law No. 16 of April 28, 2010 “concerns the education of persons with disabilities in the City of Moscow,” where the official norm is “inclusive education” but since the federal law concerning education does not have amendments or separate statutes concerning inclusive education the Moscow law is essentially limited by the framework of the federal legislation.
• Financially, the money usually allotted for a child with special needs does not follow that child into a general education school. The finances are allotted according to the type of educational establishment. This means that a school with no interest in the instruction of special children would often be required to create from its usual budget an additional category of expenditures for their special conditions of instruction. This means less money for the traditional categories.
• Professionally, the educators are not always prepared to work in an environment of diversity where “students with special needs” work alongside students of normal development.

Lately in Moscow considerable effort has been exerted towards the solution of these problems and the elimination of limitations: the creation of resources for inclusive education; the launch of teacher certification programs by the Institute for Problems of Integrative and Inclusive Education; the creation of  strategies for the development of inclusive education in the City of Moscow; and the financial resources necessary for the introduction of additional staff for implementing inclusive forms of instruction in general education schools. The Kovcheg School functions as a resource center for the city as it develops its system of inclusive education, and also collaborates with regions throughout Russia to share experiences in integrated and inclusive types of education. In our view, the basic inconsistencies of the current transitional period in the Moscow educational system appear to be the “political” and ideological” declarations of principles put forth in the field of  education for the purpose of maintaining a considerable degree of  inertia in the area of development of educational technologies necessary  for successful integration. An example of this can be clearly seen in the national perception of integrative education.

The authors of the integrative education concept, director of the Institute of Special Education of the Russian Academy of Education, N.N. Malofeyev and special education head, N. D. Shmatko, have highlighted several types of integration in the education process in those pre-school and regular educational institutions where there are both traditional classes and groupings as well as special (correctional) education subdivisions as listed below:

1. Combined integration. In this situation, one or two children with standard psychological, physical, and speech development are educated in appropriate, large-group classes close to their age norm. Within this large-group setting, they receive continuous correctional and special assistance from a teacher or from a specialist in mental or physical disabilities.
2. Partial integration. In this situation, one or two children who are still not fully capable of fully functioning on a level with normal peers in order to master the educational standards are brought into the larger class for a part of the day (for example, during the afternoon.)
3. Temporary integration. In this situation, children from the special education class, depending on their levels of psychological, physical, or speech development are combined with regular class children several times a month for a variety of activities specifically designed to foster character development.
4. Mixed integration- in this situation, pre-school institutions suffering from cutbacks in the educational and general staff create mixed classes with a proportionate ratio in the groups of regular children and children with special development of not less than 2-1. With this type of group integration the special education teacher necessarily works as a “specialist-leader” in the educational and formational process.

The authors of the concept also point out a type of “full integration” in which a “special” child with high levels of psychological and physical development who is near the norm for the grade attends a pre-school institution or general education school at a level with his peers of normal development but also receives specialized help in an external institution such as the Center for Psychological-Pedagogical Medical and Social Support or at centers for the hearing impaired and speech therapy.

It is important to mention here that in all the separate types of integration (with the exception of “full integration”) that are supposed to be available in educational institutions, there are no special divisions (special education classes) with their own staff of trained special education teachers. A broad educational integration in the “combined or full” integration variants is only available to small groups of children who are close to their age norm and who are prepared to master the state, general educational standards without any alterations. The “mixed” ( and along with that, the “partial” and “temporary”) variety of integration is meant to be employed with children who are approaching or corresponding to the norm and “mixed” integration, absolutely, provides for the possibility for a more broad approach to the system of general education for  large groups of children with uncharacteristic development. Furthermore, under the conditions described above, those children receive supplemental support which is “conventionally typical,” but in practice, some face definite difficulties, such as: children from families where the parents are deaf; children from bi-lingual families; refugee families; and immigrants. The authors of the integrative education concepts described above neglected to mention that they have actual examples of “mixed” integration of instruction currently operating in some of the pre-school institutions of Moscow (at Public Education Institution No. 1365 of the South-eastern Moscow Administrative District, at PEI No. 1513 of the Southern Moscow Administrative District or at PEI No. 1537 of the North-eastern Moscow Administrative District). Within the framework of experimental work however, these practices have become sufficiently stable and model designs.

School No. 1321, “The Kovcheg School,” in its very own mission statement, without conditions, expresses the philosophy of inclusion by promising to “create optimal conditions for the successful education, social development, and social adaptation of each child independent of his psychological and physical development, or the condition of his health, his origin, or the social status of his family.” According to this statement, the school exists within the framework of an integrative education process and therein contains a sufficient number of contradictory situations. The structure and essence of the school reflects distinctive types of educational integration and definite transitions to an inclusive form of education. This is expressed in the following:

• Contingent instruction: The school educates 446 students. Among them are typically developed children, children having diverse singularities in their development, as well as 96 “disabled” children including some not officially identified and labeled as such. Among the children demonstrating untypical development, most fall into various categories of emotional disturbance (disorders of the autistic spectrum, hyperactivity syndromes, and attention deficit disorders, as well as a series of other peculiarities) as well as organic disturbances of the central nervous system. 
• School structure: Three distinctive types of classes function within the school: integrated general education classes; general education classes with compensatory instruction; and individual or small group instruction in the home. This last structural subdivision is one in which children with disabilities are instructed on the basis of their particular medical diagnoses. Instruction is conducted in diverse forms yet still in accordance with the general education program. The students can be instructed both at home and in school. The option for the form of instruction (in a small group, or individualized) for the child is chosen during a meeting of the school medical-educational team. The average class size for general education classes is 21 students; compensatory education classes average 11 students; in the home/school instructional option, from 2 to 8 students form a small group. A total of 58 students receive individual or small group instruction at home.  From among these, seven are instructed individually at home because of their health conditions. The remaining children receive individual instruction at school. The Kovcheg School operates on a single shift, full day schedule with some “extended-day” groups in the elementary and main school [Note: Russian general education schools contain grades 1-11]. The school has a well developed system of clubs, activities, and studios to supplement academic education which all students may utilize, regardless of their forms of instruction.

In other words, the educational purview of our school includes its own “Cascade of Services”: from group and fixed –class forms of separate, “in-the-home instruction,” in which students with individual and special educational needs are in “partial (social) integration”, participating together with their own normally developed peers in the various systems for supplementing academic education found in the second half of the day’s “extended day activities.” A portion of the “compensatory education” class is considered as one variant of “mixed” integration. As is the case in such classes, the contingent instructed approximately corresponds to higher types of integration. Classes of the “combined” type of integration are very near to the “inclusion” form of instruction and at present they can be considered as such. We consider the presence in our school of a psychological-pedagogical component to be quite important. It guarantees that the necessary specialized help for children with untypical development is provided. Separate “in the home” instruction presupposes a staff schedule that provides for a considerable quantity of specialist assistance in the form of psychologists, speech therapists, and special education teachers who work with all those children who have psychological-pedagogical needs. Students who receive individualized instruction are partially integrated and are guaranteed help from all the specialists of the school’s supportive services.

There are no specially assigned teaching assistants in the school. Parents or even specialists brought in by the family also provide additional assistance for many of our needy children. In some cases, even the extended day teacher who works with clubs, studios, and other non-academic groups plays a significant role.

The educational atmosphere of The Kovcheg School offers opportunities for expanded educational and social integration for all its children as it transitions to an “inclusive” form of education. Its ability to make adaptations is the key to the creation of the necessary conditions for successfully understanding the individual child’s cultural experience as well as taking into full account the characteristics of his age group, internal resources, state of his health, and his individual abilities.

Accountability

The educational programs which are employed in the school correspond to this type of educational institution. All the sub-units fulfill the general education program standards but through different approaches to instruction. In the individual, “at home” sub-unit, study plans for home instruction are developed and implemented on the foundation of Moscow City’s Basic Study Plan. In connection with that, the normal number of hours spent in this form of instruction is subject to modification, accordingly, as the child’s dependence on home instruction decreases. Students of the graduating class involved in individualized home instruction and also disabled students from the general education classes sit for the state graduation exams in the traditional form, or the Unified State Exams at the Secondary School Graduation Level (after finishing 11 grades) according to their choice.

Compensatory education classes and general education classes fulfill the Moscow Basic Study Plan in its entirety and take the state final attestation in various forms- the traditional form or the State Final Attestation (9th grade) [It is similar to the Unified State Exam only a little easier.] or the Unified State Exams at the secondary graduation level (after finishing 11 grades).

The system of additional or supplemental education, created in our school, is quite diverse and guarantees the possibility of providing a very wide range of integration opportunities both in the second half of the day (the “extended day”) where clubs, studios, and other non-academic activities are available and in numerous sports and field trip opportunities. Furthermore, our system is open to distinctive supplementary rehabilitation and art-therapy opportunities such as therapeutic horseback riding and therapies in the musical, theatrical, and physical arts.
Our school provides such an atmosphere which allows every student to develop his/her potential; we have a number of music halls, workshops, a puppet theatre room, exhibition hall, etc. – everything which integrates intellectual images our students hold into different knowledge spheres.  This kind of atmosphere can work wonders: it provides a child with a true home feeling and it also changes a position of an educator who is not just a teacher but a true master who literally opens for them a door into a new world, who loves his work and makes it attractive for his students. This is radically different from a traditional school setting where students often study just to receive a good grade; here students are interested in receiving true knowledge, and the teaching process is stress-free.

The school is using a number of innovative forms of organizing teaching among which there is research and project-oriented activities (students are involved in developing projects for new Moscow locations, design houses for the future, prepare projects in health care, philology, etc.). We are also using distant learning for children who are ill, or for those who are away from school participating in research ecological or folklore trips to Tver or Yaroslav regions which happen twice a year.

Due to a variety of students in our school, many of who experience health issues, we have a Health Center which supports and strengthens children’s health. We use horseback riding, travel-therapy, and art-therapy. At the end of every school year we organize international art festivals. Regardless of 40% of our students having certain chronic health issues, a number of children missing classes because of common cold, flues, or other contagious diseases decrease with every passing year.

The school pays a lot of attention to physical development of our children, along with physical training we also provide different forms of gymnastics for every student under 12 years old based on a unique course developed by L. Alexeeva. The school also provides a service called psychological-educational support arranged by a team of psychologists, psychotherapists, speech specialists and special education teachers. This team works closely with regular teachers and increases the effectiveness of the teaching process, arranges for diagnostics and consulting for students, their parents, and teachers. By the way, many Moscow and other Russian schools are using many of our art-therapy, didactic and methodological strategies, devices and instruments.

A new time brings along new challenges and new developments, one of which is new approaches to teaching foreign languages. We increase a number of languages studying at school together with changing approaches to the teaching process. This is achieved due to numerous international cooperation programs with schools from different countries. The communication in different languages is arranged not only via Internet but also directly during expeditions, festivals and mutual theatre performances. As an example, I can mention an international project “Water Challenge” together with American, Georgian, and Jamaican students. The British Council allows our students to participate in another international project “Connecting Classrooms in Europe” which brings together Russian and British inclusive schools.

Twenty years of experience have allowed us to make some observations about the most critical challenges, one of which is after-school (life and labor) adaptation for young adults with disabilities. The school mission and philosophy, the whole school culture is oriented towards preparing every school graduate for an active adult social life and professional involvement, regardless of their disabilities.

The ability to provide for such social and professional involvement is one of the best criteria for the school success. To better serve this mission, in 2008, we started a Leaning Center “Kovcheg-Volkonsky” together with a confectionery  “Volkonsky-Keizer.” The Center was initiated by the confectionery’s owner, Mrs. Stephanie Gares and under the supervision of Mr. Laurence Boursie, one of the best French chefs, and now our high school students with disabilities can study how to become a confectioner. Teaching is organized using the original French equipment and technologies. After graduation, those of the students who passed their qualification exams can receive a position at the confectionery. Currently eight school graduates work there, and twelve more are studying at the Center.

This Leaning Center helps us to solve a number of important issues of socialization and social adaptation of the students at our inclusive school. We realize that mastering a certain profession while still at school increases the quality of living for our graduates with health issues and learning disabilities, and it also allows them to fully integrate into a social life and strengthen their self-esteem. 

 Education Pathfinder for All Children

As can be seen from the description above, The Kovcheg School reflects the current state of development and provides valuable direction for the concept of educational and social inclusion within the educational system of the City of Moscow as it progresses through the development, implementation, and transformation of educational integration.