Education for children with disabilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia : developing a sense of belonging

213 Pages·2017·4.91 MB·English

by  Schiemer

Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity 4
Margarita Schiemer
Education for
Children with
Disabilities
in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Developing a Sense of Belonging
Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity
Volume 4
Series Editor
Lani Florian
Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Advisory Board
Mel Ainscow
Emeritus Professor, School of Education, University of Manchester, UK
Petra Engelbrecht
Senior Research Fellow, North-West University, South Africa
Emeritus Professor, Canterbury Christ Church University, England
Humberto J. Rodríguez
Principal, Escuela Normal Especialización, Monterrey, México
Roger Slee
Professor, School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
This book series reflects on the challenges of inclusive education as a strategy for
improving educational equity, and includes in-depth analyses of disparities in
education and the mechanisms by which they operate. It studies the development of
educational processes and pedagogical interventions that respond to the tensions
between education policies that promote competition and those designed to promote
inclusion at individual, classroom, school, district, national, and international levels.
Finally, it presents research and development activities in teacher education that
respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the changing demographic of
schooling. Increasingly throughout the world, a broad concept of inclusive education
has begun to emerge as a strategy for achieving basic education for all learners
regardless of cultural, developmental or linguistic differences. Although considered
an important aspect of a global human rights agenda supported by the multilateral
Global Partnership for Education, basic education is a complex endeavour that is
subject to the forces of globalization, and the exclusionary pressures associated with
migration, mobility, language, ethnicity, disability, and intergenerational poverty.
The reciprocal links between these factors and educational underachievement has
led to an increasing interest in the development of inclusive education as a strategy
for improving educational equity. By addressing these and related issues, this series
contributes important advances in knowledge about the enactment of inclusive
education. This series: Offers a critical perspective on current practice Stimulates
and challenges further developments for the field Explores global disparities in
educational provision and compares developments Provides a welcome addition to
the literature on inclusive education.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13450
Margarita Schiemer
Education for Children with
Disabilities in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Developing a Sense of Belonging
Margarita Schiemer
Department of Education
University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria
This book is published with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB
468-Z29.
Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity
ISBN 978-3-319-60767-2 ISBN 978-3-319-60768-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-60768-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017943971
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017. This book is published open access.
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To Andreas, Levin and Ilja
Preface
With this book I want to put a focus on the cultural aspects of inclusive education
and its implications. For countries of the global South, inclusion and inclusive edu-
cation need to be discussed on different grounds compared to Western countries.
Aspects like feeling like a family and developing a sense of belonging may be more
important in Ethiopia compared to other cultural environments. In the book I anal-
yse these contexts. I look at how certain aspects influence inclusion, equity in edu-
cation and the life of children with disabilities in Ethiopia. The Appendix provides
details about the research process and the methods which were used.
The results of the study I am presenting were embedded in a study of a bigger
project1 initiated by the University of Vienna. This project focused on environmen-
tal factors that support or restrict activity and participation of school-aged children
with disabilities in the field of education in different societal and cultural contexts.
These different contexts had been given by including three capitals of different
countries, namely, Vienna (Austria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Bangkok
(Thailand), in the research design. The following discussion is based exclusively on
the data from Ethiopia which was collected from 2010 until 2012.
Vienna, Austria Margarita Schiemer
1 CLASDISA, project no. P22178, financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
vii
Acknowledgements
After having spent some years working on this study, the result can be presented.
During these years, I have met a lot of people with lots of stories to tell, be it people
related to the research or friends I made. I want to thank all those people who have
accompanied me on this journey through very valuable experiences, because they
made them so rich and meaningful.
Above all, I would like to thank all the participants of this research project, espe-
cially the children, parents and teachers who spared no effort to speak to us and
endow us with a small insight into their personal concerns, hopes and dreams. I am
also very grateful to all the other experts who shared a lot of their time to inform us
about the current situation of people with disabilities in Ethiopia.
It is amazing how many people one can meet in such a short period of time. I am
still overwhelmed by the cordiality and friendliness with which I was received in the
schools and in Ethiopia in general. I will always remember the conversations with
the children, not only the interviews but also the talks we had beyond. Seeing their
ambitions and their energy and motivation was refreshing. Yet, I was also accompa-
nied by other emotions throughout the field research. The interviews with parents
often came with feelings of sadness and despair. In situations where mothers started
crying during our interviews, it was especially hard for me. Conducting research in
this field of study can be a journey through many emotional ups and downs.
Fortunately, I always had people around me who supported me and who were there
to discuss experiences that were difficult to handle alone. In this respect I want to
give special mention to my family and my Ethiopian friends.
I want to say a special thank-you to my assistant, Yeshitla Mulat, who was a sup-
porter and friend throughout the process of the field research and beyond. He dealt
with all eventualities, problems and challenges in a very professional way, and it
was enriching and fruitful for me to work with him in the field during these last few
years. The colleagues from the Special Needs Department at the Addis Ababa
University also supported me with all their effort. Lani Florian supported me during
the revisions of the manuscript being published as a book. I want to especially thank
her for giving me the opportunity and trust to work on such an important project.
ix
x Acknowledgements
My supervisor Univ. Prof. Dr. Gottfried Biewer was the one who employed me
in 2009 and gave me the opportunity to participate in a big project that brought me
ample possibilities to learn and grow. I want to say a special thanks to him for this
and the appreciation he shows me continuously.
I also want to thank my colleagues from the Department of Education, Special
Needs and Inclusive Education Research Unit, at the University of Vienna for listen-
ing to my experiences from the field. The working group on international and inter-
cultural special needs education gave me important input during our profound
discussions on my texts. Last but not least, the Viennese core team was refreshing
and supportive as well as exhausting. I want to thank them for the experiences we
had together, which included everything from despair up to excitement and happi-
ness. I will never forget this time!
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1
References ................................................................................................. 6
2 How to Make Sense of “Developing a Sense of Belonging”
Through “Feeling Like a Family” in the Light of Cultural
and Societal Backgrounds ...................................................................... 7
Understanding the Context: Ethiopian History, Politics and Education ... 9
The Time Before “the Modern” Ethiopia ............................................. 11
History, Politics and Education During “the Modern” Ethiopia .......... 11
Relevant Legacies and Developments in Ethiopia Today ......................... 17
1994 : The Training and Education Policy of Ethiopia ......................... 18
Since 1996: “Education Sector Development Programme” ................. 20
The Ethiopian Education System Today .............................................. 21
Special Needs Experts in the Ministry of Education ........................... 22
The Department of Special Needs Education at Addis
Ababa University .................................................................................. 23
Disability and Poverty ............................................................................... 23
Belonging and Ethnicity ........................................................................... 24
Self-Concept, Disability and Collectivist Cultures ................................... 28
Family and Disability ................................................................................ 30
Special Needs Education, Teachers’ Attitudes and Community ............... 33
Religion and Belief ................................................................................... 36
References ................................................................................................. 38
3 Three Reasons for Dealing with Disability, Education
and the Majority World .......................................................................... 43
Reason 1: Scientific, Disciplinary and Methodical Relevance ................. 44
Research on Disability and the Majority World ................................... 44
Methodical Aspects .............................................................................. 47
Research Including Culture and Disability .......................................... 48
xi