Quality of Special Education: Parent Perspective

Abstract1. IntroductionThe issue of quality education has been often activated in nowadays social life processes. Since the end of the 20th century, when the national education systems of several European countries, the USA and Australia started to apply the tests like PISA, TIMSS, IGLU, experts in education, politicians, employers as well as wider society have taken part in discussions of their results in relation with the quality issues of educational achievements.In the context of this dispute special education has been considered as a segregated sphere, where the education theory and practice for children with special educational needs (abbreviated as SEN) has made its way from the psycho-medical paradigm, based on the assumption that deficits are located within individuals (Mitchell, 2010) towards development. It is difficult to change the patterns of thinking, therefore the process of enrichment or change of paradigms that place more emphasis on the environment is very slow.The reason for segregation in this sphere could be exactly the specific character of target audience with special educational needs. In these cases the developmental process of a child is characterized by individual features caused by the particular character of general development process and evoked by limited psychophysical resources that become apparent in insufficient social abilities for independent life. Consequently the educational needs of children with SEN are considered to arise primarily from the problems attributable to disabilities that result in delayed acquisition of knowledge and skills (Mitchell, 2010; Speck, 2005). Naturally, in these cases it is ineffective to apply the method of generally adopted tests for clarifying the effectiveness of education process.However, nowadays the process of education for children with SEN is associated with some challenges. One of them refers to educational provisions for children with severe disorders. In these cases the specific developmental potential has to be taken in consideration and a pedagogical activity has to be oriented towards harmonious personality development and inclusion into social environment of every single child. Often it is a long-lasting process and there is no possibility of using objective methods to evaluate its effectiveness. Other essential challenge is connected with inclusive education provisions that means promoting optimal development of every child by using the basis of individual resources in mainstream school environments (Theunissen & Schirbot, 2006). Consequently such conditions cause a necessity of applying individualized evaluation system for education quality indicators.In the education system of Latvia both tendencies mentioned above proceed almost simultaneously. Since the end of the past century children with severe and multifunctional developmental disorders have been provided with possibilities of acquiring special education programmes in accordance with the requirements of the Education and the Children`s Rights Protection Law. Correspondingly the educational provisions for the group of children mentioned above have been widened during the past decade also in inclusive environments. Simultaneously these tendencies have activated discussions on advantages and disadvantages of special or inclusive education. Also parents of children with SEN engage in active discourse on possibilities to provide for quality education through nongovernmental organizations (abbreviated as NGO). Parental involvement has a significant effect on educational achievements, therefore it is an opportunity that has to be used to evaluate the quality of educational provisions. Elowever, parents and professionals do not always agree on what would be the best for the family and the child. Also the concepts of parent participation and quality education can mean different things to different people (Parent Participation: Improving Services for Disabled Children, 2004). …