Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special and Inclusive Education in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (Vuca) World: Volume 20

The educational systems of countries around the world have attempted to move towards a more inclusive approach. While the passage to inclusive schools can be justified from various viewpoints, as enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the most important one emerges from the 1994 Salamanca Statement. However, the future world will require different human characteristics and capabilities for economic development. This chapter gives particular attention to how the educational principles and values that were underlined in the original Salamanca Statement clash with the contemporary ones in the peculiar future world.

When it comes to special education, teachers are the cornerstone of children's development. A special education teacher (SET) who possesses correct perceptions to teach students with special education needs (SENs) in inclusive education and ability to maintain balance that works best for children with physical and emotional disabilities are expected to thrive. This requires several skills that are entirely different from traditional teaching, often depicted as ‘chalk and talk’ – keeping control and making decisions about what is the right thing to do for students. This trait is just an illustration of many myopic characteristics that will no longer work well for both SENs and regular students. An effective SET in the twenty-first century must be able to adapt and respond rapidly to the changing society and is more likely to be open to learning. These character qualities are typical among millennials and Generation Z or Alpha, who are more prone to be digital native, that will future-proof them in the upcoming era of ubiquitous technology. As such, new generation SETs are significant precursor to create a new special education system that responds well to the challenges encountered by the pervasive future ahead.

This chapter highlights why, with the current situation in a VUCA world, governments should consider to ‘leave alone’ the educational policy for the prosperity of special education. One possible way is that governments should let the ‘economic invisible hand’ take on the arrangement of inclusive education and proceed without interference to induce educational competition and the effectiveness of inclusive education.

The current situation is changing rapidly in terms of technology, politics, economy and society. Every child could become a child with special educational needs should they no longer be fit to join a future world. In this sense, to survive in the world of next normality, an era in which the playing field for all children is levelled, it is thought-provoking to consider how the new way of special and inclusive education should be designed to close the inequality gap and create an equilibrium. This chapter focuses on describing how special and inclusive education in the next world with the inevitable high inequality gap should be designed.

With the increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand, the unfamiliar living and educational environments are barriers and challenges for immigrant children in inclusive schools. This is because schools are not well equipped to respond to the challenges faced by these children and their parents. At the same time, on the students' side, their parents are grappling with unfamiliar educational and social systems, as well as a language barrier. Although inclusion has been defined by the international declaration, The Salamanca Statement on Special Needs Education, 1994, to ensure access to quality education for all children, national inclusion policies are still only slowly incorporating children from different linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. This study is based on VUCA circumstances and aims to find out what the perceptions of teachers and marginalised students are about the future of inclusive education. A case study was used as an approach to obtaining information in a primary school in a province in the Northeastern region of Thailand with a high density of immigrant workers. Results of the study indicate that changes must be made by policymakers, stakeholders, schools and teachers if classrooms with marginalised students can be truly inclusive.

Students with special needs in Indonesia can access education in either a special school or an inclusive school. In both systems, there are still many obstacles to ensuring the quality education for students. During the current pandemic crisis, these obstacles are getting worse. Some dramatic changes have been applied to national policies and daily learning practices at schools. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the current situation of special and inclusive education in Indonesia. The study will be focussed on the ideology about special and inclusive education development, the strength and weaknesses of inclusive and special education programmes, and the strategies or models with which the Indonesian educational system will proceed in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world.

The world is changing rapidly and unexpectedly. COVID-19 is a warning sign that future generations need to be prepared for the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world where more complex situations remain to be seen. Students from all walks of life should have equal access to quality education that can equip them with skills to cope with new challenges. Although the inclusion of students with special needs in Thailand has allowed them to have academic and social interaction with non-special needs students in higher education institutions, little is known regarding how COVID-19 has impacted them and how they have navigated online learning. What are the learning challenges that college students with special needs face? Digital learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic can be an even more significant challenge for students with special needs. However, some of them may feel online learning is a lifeline and a nice learning accommodation. Is it possible that they may want to continue to stay in remote accommodations, even if face-to-face classes resume? Would any of the practices return to normal and be fruitful for the VUCA world? Using data collected through in-depth interviews, this chapter identifies learning challenges confronting special-needs college students through the lens of a right-based approach and how inclusive digital learning can turn these challenges into opportunities and help these students flourish in a VUCA future. This chapter begins with a brief historical background of inclusive education policy in Thailand's higher education institutions. The chapter then, using a case study of KU, Thailand, identifies and discusses existing challenges and problems currently facing special needs learners and analyses how universities can help them to deal with and overcome such challenges. Finally, the chapter discusses the opportunities and challenges of how inclusive digital learning can play a pivotal role in elevating the learning experience and outcomes of Thai college students with special needs in the VUCA World.

The recent outbreak of Coronavirus disease has caused significant disruptions around the world. The global pandemic severely affects the education sector. However, amid the crisis, educators are resilient and resourceful and develop innovative ideas and learning designs to engage the students as much as possible. Educators in the special and inclusive education sector face more challenges due to the nature of students. The effective use of technology and mindset are the keys to success in this endeavour. This chapter discusses the institutional policies, good practices and practical ideas to overcome the difficulties in inclusive and special education students.

Despite an enormous growth of the literature and research on inclusive education during the last two and a half decades, theory and practice on inclusive education are still inconsistent across the education systems worldwide. It is defined, conceptualised and practised differently across diverse socioeconomic contexts and groups of scholars and practitioners. While some promote educating all students in a mainstream classroom setting irrespective of their abilities and physical, emotional and behavioural challenges, others emphasise improving the overall quality of education for all children from diverse backgrounds. Given that education is a multidimensional social enterprise, promoting a single perspective at the cost of others or merely emphasising the role of schools and teachers may hardly result in improved education outcomes and guarantee equal learning opportunities for all. This chapter will critically review the relevant theory and discuss the different approaches to inclusive education. Then it will discuss the potential challenges to inclusive education across the education systems. Finally, the chapter will offer an inclusive way forward for improving the quality of education for all children, irrespective of their backgrounds, in mainstream schools in multicultural contexts.

Internationally, and more specifically in South Africa, education is regarded as a guiding force to achieve a more humane and inclusive society by ensuring that human rights and social justice principles are embedded and implemented in all educational practices. Inclusive education policies encourage a growth mindset in asserting the belief that all children can learn. However, the implementation of a successful inclusive education system continues to be a challenge. Through an autoethnography, I have identified three main concerns that I believe contests the conceptualisation, philosophical framework and practice of inclusive education. These include understanding inclusion, a fixed mindset and curriculum inflexibility, i.e. stuck in a fixed mindset. I also make some suggestions on how to address these concerns.

India is a diverse country in which the development of services for children with disabilities presents many challenges. There is evidence that progress towards the provision of educational and therapeutic services has been considerable in the metropolitan cities, with reports of many examples of good and innovative practice. Rural communities are often less well served, and families living in some areas continue to face challenges when attempting to gain support for their children with disabilities. This chapter interrogates the situation for families in districts in southern and central India. The authors draw upon recent research to consider how the challenges of providing a multi-disciplinary support mechanism can be delivered to those living in these areas. Issues related to co-ordination of services, recruitment and retention of professionals and allocation of resources are considered through an examination of the socio-economic conditions confronted by families and professionals. Case study evidence from projects aimed at providing effective services are presented and discussed.

Significant progress towards the provision of a more equitable and inclusive education system in Ireland has been made in recent years. National policy initiatives have been supported by the implementation of new assessment and resourcing models and procedures that aim to ensure appropriate support of children described as having special educational needs. A focus upon teacher training and professional development and consideration of education in the post-compulsory years have resulted in changes aimed at improving access and quality of services. This chapter through an interrogation of the research that has influenced changes in national policy and practices, and a scrutiny of associated literature, discusses both the successes achieved towards addressing national inclusive education priorities, and those areas which remain a challenge and in need of further investigation. Building upon a method for reviewing the literature developed by the authors and applied in Ireland as part of a major longitudinal study (Rose, Shevlin, Winter, & O'Raw, 2010) a discussion of the current situation is presented in relation to progress towards the Education for All Goals and key issues for further scrutiny are proposed.

Many autistic students have been struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic situation for years. Special and inclusive education experts collaborated with multi-disciplinary experts to address and solve the problems that have arisen. This chapter presents some examples of using serious games and applications to help autistic students to study and improve their quality of life in a VUCA world. Mobile device platforms are practical for online learning and provide many interactions to support inclusive design. Three serious games showed how to bring interactive content to special education, and two mobile applications demonstrated inclusive designs to solve autism problems.

Inclusive education is about welcoming diversity, and improving the quality of education for all learners, where no one feels excluded and everyone receives support. Inclusive education is not about meeting one child's needs at the expense of another child; instead, it aims to provide full participation for all learners, both special and regular students (UNESCO, 2005). It has been stated that countries cannot progress in isolation. They must build an overarching educational strategy, which means that educational advancement will be linked to new social and economic policies. A considerable school change is required and, as a result, inclusive schools emphasise diversity as a key function, which helps students learn and caters to individual needs. Objectives and key results (OKRs) are one of the management tools that can be used in schools that focus on inclusive education. They also allow a school's activities to be aligned with its core inclusive education objectives. Furthermore, OKRs can assist a school in setting a challenging goal that will motivate it to grow beyond its current capabilities.

This chapter presents the Readiness Approach of Educational Administration for Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Learning Management in the VUCA world by summarising Inclusive Learning Management in Thailand and analysing the challenging situation in the VUCA world to discuss about the Readiness Approach of Educational Administration to face the unexpected. The chapter describes the possibilities in three parts: Part 1: Summarising the literature reviewed of Inclusive Learning Management in Thailand. Part 2: Analysing the challenging situation in the VUCA world from the following four concepts: (1) Framework for twenty-first-century Learning Concept; (2) Hard Skill and Soft Skill Competencies Concept; (3) Thailand National Education Standards (2018) and (4) A Commission Report on Education Reform through Competency-Based Curriculum & Instruction. Part 3: to propose Data synthesis of The Readiness Approach of Educational Administration for Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Learning Management in the VUCA world.

With the arrival of various assistive technologies (ATs) such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality and others, we can enhance support in a classroom with special educational needs students. The role of teachers in the new era will be switched to finding ways to develop the full potential of all students, rather than traditionally classified dull tasks, e.g. filling out forms, physical observation of children's behaviour etc. This chapter focuses on elaborating how AT can help to improve the efficiency of special education in the future, and how schools should restructure to accommodate this disruptive change to ease teaching in a classroom with a diverging group of students.