Kagendo Mutua – författare

This is Book V in the series, Research on Education in Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. The series strives to encourage the presentation of evidence based investigations using data collected on site from the three world regions it considers. A strong focus is on data specific to a nation or to a region within a nation, as we recognize that nations are diverse, often encompassing regions with unique cultural and geographic characteristics. The data are rooted in the voices of individuals and communities. Such evidential data are analyzed and interpreted within the context of the complex human and natural environments from which they are derived. Chapters in the books within the series describe investigations that are part of an effort to continue the publication of an annual compilation of research studies in the three world regions upon which the series focuses. The series, therefore, indicates that the need to develop modern, self-sufficient, independent, and post-colonial societies is being balanced with the need to strengthen cultural values and identities within these three world regions. Book V in the series focuses on how the educational challenges found in these three world regions are addressed. The chapters specifically examine related recent research, identify useful investigative methodologies, identify accomplishments in meeting challenges, and consider unresolved challenges. The overarching questions presented below were derived from an analysis of the questions, methods, and conclusions presented in the studies appearing in this book. These overarching questions described here reflect the connections between educational issues that emerged in the 20thcentury and issues identified in the 21st century.

This edited volume explores various issues pertaining to the education of children with disabilities in Africa, the Caribbean and Middle East. As a group, persons with disabilities have been subjected to social, cultural and educational exclusions of various forms and for various socially-scripted reasons. In education, for instance, individuals with disabilities have been altogether excluded from educational participation in many parts of the developing world or they have been excluded from pursuing meaningfully beneficial higher levels of education in developed countries like the United States. One of the social responses/remedies to the widely-acknowledged exclusionary practices experienced by learners with disabilities has been the widespread implementation of inclusive practices in the education of individuals with disabilities across countries, in the west and the developing regions of the world. A distinctive marker of difference in the way inclusive practices have been enacted in western countries versus those in the developing world has primarily stemmed from the fact that majority of western countries operate under funded mandates that also regulate the provision of education to persons with disabilities. While the ideal of inclusion has been highly desirable, many of countries in the developing world have floundered in their implementation due to lack sound legislative framework to guide implementation coupled with socio-cultural factors related to negative perceptions of disabilities and limited funding sources. Chapters in this volume explore inclusive education from a variety of perspectives.

The 14 chapters in this book address education policy as it is being implemented in three world regions, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The diverse authors utilize original local data, interpreting it to describe policy development and implementation across a range of nations who share commonalities but also differences.

The chapters begin with the premise that policy must respond to the needs of the citizenry and to the challenges faced by each society internally as well as globally. Meeting the challenge of frequently competing existing needs while addressing educational development to prepare for future needs, is an ongoing task for policymakers.

The researchers authoring the book’s chapters are aware of competing challenges and of the need for frequent revision of educational policy as well as continuing support for its implementation. They base their conclusions and the implications offered on the data while taking into account the culture within which successful and appropriate policy must be implemented. The implications have relevance for any society in the world as diversity exists everywhere so all societies are experiencing challenges generated by our interdependence with each other.