Education systems should develop policy actions to improve the quality and number of teachers equipped to teach students with special education needs (SEN), as they are increasingly enrolled in mainstream schools and classes. Ensuring that teachers and school staff more broadly understand the needs of students with SEN, and how to address them, is key for developing more inclusive systems. Additionally, education systems may need to address the shortage of teachers with the relevant skills. These include recruiting more teachers with the skills to teach students with SEN, targeting training in this area and addressing over-reliance on part-time, non-permanent positions for teachers who work with higher shares of student with SEN.
Special education needs
Special education needs is a term used in many education systems to characterise the broad array of needs of students who are affected by disabilities or disorders that affect their learning and development. There is a wide range of policy responses to provide support to students with special education needs.
Key messages
School-level interventions refer to the distribution of financial and human resources to support students with SEN, learning strategies, the use of assistive technology, and engagement of families and the local community. Students with SEN can be enrolled in different classes within and outside mainstream settings. They can receive one-to-one or small-group instruction, with the additional support of assistive technology. Schools can also provide additional services, such as counselling and therapy, to respond to diverse needs of students and promote their well-being. They can provide these through partnerships with networks of specialised centres.
Inclusive education policy monitoring and evaluation is crucial in determining whether education systems meet inclusive education goals set at local, national or international levels. These processes are important tools that can help enhance student outcomes and drive continuous development in the delivery of education services. This goes beyond evaluating and monitoring students’ learning alone; it also refers to the processes of data collection and assessment of systems, programmes, materials, resources and processes.
Context
Special education needs identification and distribution vary among countries
Some education systems classified few students as having special learning needs. This occurred mostly in middle-income countries and economies where the means to identify and support these students were probably limited. In other education systems students with special learning needs were more concentrated in certain schools than in others, even if there were similar proportions of these students.
Variation across schools in the share of students with special learning needs (2022)
More than 20% of teachers needed professional development in teaching students with special education needs
On average across the participating OECD countries, 22% of teachers indicated a high level of need for professional development in teaching students with special education needs in 2018. This topic also displayed a relatively low level of participation, with 43% of teachers reporting that it was included in their professional development activities.
Participation in professional development for teachers and need for it (2018)
