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inclusive education, also known as "inclusive education", emphasizes providing "normal, non-isolated" education and environment for children with disabilities, and advocates that all children receive education suitable for them in an equal and inclusive environment. in 2019, the cpc central committee and the state council issued "china's education modernization 2035", which clearly stated in the strategic task that "comprehensively promote inclusive education".

today, preschool inclusive education has achieved initial development in my country, but there are still practical problems such as weak foundation, unbalanced development, and insufficient coverage. according to relevant statistics from the ministry of education, the proportion of children with disabilities in kindergartens and kindergartens in my country is less than one in ten thousand children of school age, which is far lower than the actual proportion of children with disabilities in the same age range.

qi se hua welfare kindergarten in guancheng hui district, zhengzhou city, henan province (hereinafter referred to as qi se hua) was established in 1991. since 1996, it has accepted children with special needs in ordinary classes at a ratio of 7:1, including autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, etc. so far, qi se hua has served more than 3,150 ordinary children and their families, and more than 379 children with special needs and their families.

wenfang, 42, is a teacher at qisehua kindergarten and has worked in the early childhood education industry for more than 20 years. in 2013, wenfang joined qisehua and began to integrate education practice. she was one of the first explorers of the "gaokuan model". in 2016, qisehua encountered a relocation crisis. there were only 45 children in school and wages could not be paid for a time, but wenfang and more than 30 other teachers chose to stay.

"in the past ten years, i have never thought about leaving qisesehua. i believe that inclusive education is the trend of the future," said wenfang.

why do we need inclusive education? what are the starting points and end points of integration?on the eve of teachers' day, phoenix.com held a public welfare dialogue with wen fang, a teacher at qi se hua fusion.

the following is her own statement:

every kid is a star

at qi se hua, the teachers’ day starts at 7:30, and we are even busier recently because of the start of school.

before the start of the school year, teachers will visit each child at home. for ordinary children, two teachers will visit their home to learn about their daily routine, diet, and family situation, and establish initial contact with them. for children with special needs, all teachers in the class will participate in the home visit. in addition to basic information, they will learn about their accustomed communication and social methods, bring them kindergarten toys, and help them adapt to the environment in advance.

a day in the life of a kid from qi se hua (photo source: qi se hua)

this year i am teaching a small class. because it is the first time for the children to enter qi se hua, the anxiety of starting school will be more serious. for example, xiao tangyuan (pseudonym) in our class is very attached to her mother. when she first came, she cried very hard and loudly. children's crying is contagious. in this case, we will let two teachers take her to the cloakroom to calm her down. we will not say, "don't cry", but empathize with her, "the teacher knows that you are very sad and miss your mother. you can cry for a while, but the teacher is worried that if you cry too loudly, your voice will be hoarse and you may get sick. can we cry a little more quietly?" in the small class, we will also let each child bring an "attachment object" to school. with the company of "abeibei", they will feel more secure.

in order to fully support children with special needs, we usually invite children with special needs to enter the kindergarten one to two weeks after ordinary children enter the kindergarten. before that, the class will organize an introduction meeting. we will use ppt to introduce, "next week, our class will have two new children", with very simple photos and descriptions, so that everyone can form a preliminary impression of the children with special needs. for example, "this child will be taller, just like an older brother or sister", because many children with special needs are placed in classes below their actual age. we will also explain in advance what ways children with special needs can express themselves and how everyone can make friends with them.

most of the children with special needs currently studying at qi se hua have received early intervention and have adapted to the inclusive environment. at the same time, qi se hua has also made barrier-free renovations in terms of physical environment, information exchange and cultural construction. for example, for children with visual impairments or hearing autism, we will set up auditory prompts such as tambourines, music, and audio books in each teaching link. teachers will also communicate with children with needs through pictures or stick drawings to help them better understand and express their needs.

using sound to help hearing-impaired children identify directions (photo source: qi se hua)

in the actual teaching process, although children with special needs have certain gaps in cognition and ability compared with ordinary children, in an integrated environment, you will find that children will not think that i am strong and you are weak because i helped you. they naturally like to be older brothers and sisters and like to take care of others.

we also use some picture books (such as "the rabbit without ears", "you are special", "owl owl") to let children realize that some people around them just look different. in fact, each of us is different.

we also set up some experience activities to explain to the children, for example, in which environments visually impaired children may be inconvenient, in which links everyone can help them, and whether everyone may have inconveniences. subtly, through the influence of these teaching activities, the children will be more active in helping each other.

qi se hua has an activity called "star moment". at the end of each class, we will spend ten to fifteen minutes, and the children will take turns to be the "little star of the day". the little star sits in the middle, and other children share his advantages. things that are particularly small in the eyes of adults, such as "eating quickly" and "folding clothes neatly during lunch break", can become the shining points of classmates in the eyes of children. in this process, children with special needs will also become little stars. everyone will not only see that he does not speak or cannot fold paper, but can explore what he can do from another perspective. there was a child with autism in our class before. he likes to put children's shoes and chairs. in the eyes of children, they don't think this is a stereotyped behavior. they will only say that this is his way of helping others.

image source: qi se hua

in an inclusive environment, by interacting with ordinary children, children with special needs will naturally develop a sense of rules, and their language skills will be stimulated and developed. if they only receive one-on-one rehabilitation training in an institution, they will not be able to learn to use language. the experience of interacting with their peers will also help them better integrate into society in the future.

for ordinary children, growing and learning in an integrated environment is also conducive to cultivating their "pro-sociality". people always say that "morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor" and "morality" come first, but it is also unteachable. in qi se hua, children will practice such values ​​in daily life. when "drinking water and going to the toilet", ordinary children will help teachers remind special needs children, lead them to find water cups, and hold their companions' hands to queue up in an orderly manner.

image source: qi se hua

if a child can understand the diversity and differences of the world from an early age and can get along with others in different ways, when he grows up, he will better understand the value and significance of cooperation rather than blindly pursuing competition, and his heart will be more open and happier.

there was a moment that made me proud. that day, a little girl in our class kept crying, and a kid from a larger class took the initiative to comfort her, saying, "do you miss your grandma? we will have two meals and three snacks today, and grandma will come to pick you up at five o'clock." seeing that the little girl was slow, he took the initiative to help her change her shoes.

becoming an inclusive teacher is a journey of growth

i became an inclusive teacher by chance.

at first, i was a teacher in an ordinary kindergarten. in 2001, when i was 19 years old, i graduated from zhengzhou kindergarten teachers college. from my class on, the school did not provide job placement, and i did not pass the exam to become a regular employee, so i went to work in the kindergarten of my parents' company, and worked there for more than ten years.

in 2013, because the kindergarten was not profitable and there were several child safety incidents in the society, my previous kindergarten was closed. at that time, i happened to see that qi se hua was recruiting, so i sent off the last batch of graduates in june and joined qi se hua in august.

when i first went there, i was shocked and felt that the children here were too free. i used to be a strict and high-control teacher. i couldn't stand chaos and was very strict about discipline and rules.

image source: qi se hua

when i encounter unruly children, i used to communicate with their parents first, saying, "you need to find a way to change your children." i would also use methods like "temporarily canceling your activities" to make unruly children realize that they are wrong. in the past, when we organized meals, we would ask the children to line up and everyone could eat after they had all been served. before the meal officially started, we would also ask everyone to chant "ploughing the field at noon" in unison.

but at qisehua, children can start eating as soon as they get their food, and teachers will not strictly restrict people from talking. after all, people can talk when they eat at home. as long as they don't shout loudly and talk quietly, the teachers' work will not be affected too much.here, the teacher is more like a supporter and companion, rather than a controller or leader in the traditional sense.

image source: qi se hua

in addition, teachers at qi se hua have slightly longer working hours. in the past, the kindergarten i worked in had a "two teachers and one assistant" system, with two teachers working together in the morning and afternoon classes. i usually taught classes for half a day and prepared lessons for half a day, so i didn't need to stay in the class all the time. but at qi se hua, although we have "three teachers and one assistant", teachers need to stay in the class all the time. in addition, we have to adopt different support methods for children with special needs, so i need to spend time learning a lot of things. when i first went there, principal cai lei gave me a lot of support. she would talk to me about why the children's routines didn't seem to be very good. as time went by, i slowly learned to think from the perspective of the children, and realized that our simple "control" in the past could not be called real education. i even feel that in my more than ten years of teaching career, i have brought trauma to some children.

although i was a little nervous and uncomfortable at one point, the environment of qi se hua has been helping me integrate and grow. the leaders are not arrogant, the management model is very flat, and everyone has a harmonious relationship. in addition, because of the contact with children with special needs and the concept of barrier-free, the awareness of "reasonable convenience" has also subtly influenced everyone. for example, considering that many female teachers have the responsibility of raising children at home, qi se hua allows employees to bring their own children to kindergarten, and employees can also flexibly adjust their working hours according to their needs.

american education experts at qisehua (photo source: qisehua)

although working at qi se hua is sometimes very tiring, teachers also get more opportunities to practice. for example, in the years i have been here, experts from various countries have come to train and exchange ideas, and there are also various opportunities for outbound observation. teachers even learn thinking models such as pdca cycle and swot analysis. with these experiences and knowledge, our vision and ability have also been improved.

it is the starting point and the end point

the characteristic of qi se hua is “integration”, but when we first started to explore inclusive teaching in 1996, we were attacked and questioned. i was not there at the time, but i heard that many parents opposed inclusive education because they were afraid that their children would be infected and become stupid, and they were afraid that their children would be beaten. at that time, director cai lei was threatened by parents.

the early qi se hua kindergarten (source: qi se hua)

but since we started working, when qi se hua was explaining our philosophy to parents, we have gradually changed from emphasizing "integration of the disabled and able-bodied" to "respecting the special needs of every child." now, parents are worried about whether their children will imitate the behavior of children with special needs, and whether the teachers have enough energy to take care of every child.

at the qi se hua concept promotion meeting, teachers will respond to these concerns and questions. we will tell them that the beneficiaries of inclusive education are every child. we respect individual differences, so we will conduct a comprehensive assessment and support for each child. at the same time, we will also instill this concept in parents - when children have behavioral problems, we should not only look at the problem itself, but explore the reasons behind the behavior together, and support the growth and improvement of children through continuous communication between home and school.

we will also tell parents that when qi se hua uses "behavioral support" in the sense of special education to carry out teaching, it supports all children. children will learn to express their demands better, and when encountering conflicts and problems, they can also respond and solve them more proactively. because the environment is more accepting, qi se hua's teachers will also show more patience and gentleness.

because it is a private kindergarten, the biggest problem of "qisehua" was housing. since its establishment, it has moved seven times. each time, the renovation costs of hundreds of thousands of yuan would put the school in trouble. i still remember the crisis i experienced in 2016. at that time, there were only 45 children and 38 employees, and everyone’s salary could not be paid. at that time, we moved to sunshine city no. 5 courtyard. at the beginning, we did feel some doubts, "why do such a group of children want to come to our community?"

but as time went by, people in the community began to realize that these special needs children just spoke unclearly or walked unsteadily, and at most they would cry out when they were emotional. they were really not that scary. later, we also began to organize activities, such as moving large building blocks out so that children in the community could play with the children of qi se hua. during festivals, we would also let the children make small gifts for the sanitation workers and uncles and aunts in the community. everyone gradually realized that because of the existence of qi se hua, life in the community has become richer. later, we concluded that every move was an opportunity for us to promote the concept of "integration" in the local area.

in fact, "inclusive education" is not a specific course after all. when an educational environment respects and understands differences, can see the needs of different children's own development, and gives them the support they need, it is inclusive education. the so-called needs are not limited to a child with special needs who cannot see, hear or express himself, but also include communication and self-care problems that ordinary children may also have. "integration" should be the starting point and original intention of education.

image source: qi se hua

however, we have to say that, returning to the situation of children with special needs, although the country has been implementing relevant policies and the enrollment of children with special needs is also protected by laws and regulations, there are still many worrying aspects when looking at the career development of these children.

there is an autistic child named nan nan (pseudonym), who attended primary and junior high schools in regular schools, and now returns to qi se hua to do volunteer work during holidays. nan nan's cognitive ability is already very good, but in the end you will still feel regretful that his ceiling seems to be only a vocational high school.

except for a few very capable children, when they reach primary and junior high school, they will still encounter great setbacks when it comes to knowledge-based learning. qi se hua has been doing an exchange activity for old graduates to return to school, called "old friends", and some parents have reported that although their children have entered regular schools, they are always ranked last every year.

"friends" graduates return to school for a visit (photo source: qi se hua)

even so, facing the question of "is inclusive education stuck in kindergarten?", i am still optimistic. people think that inclusive education in preschool is good because it is easier to carry out integration at this stage. take guancheng district of zhengzhou city where we are located as an example. due to the influence of the strange-colored flower, the educational ecology here is slowly changing, and the concept of integration has begun to penetrate into the basic education stage. guancheng district no. 2 experimental primary school, which is very close to us, started inclusive education very early, and now there are more than ten primary schools with special education resource classrooms in the district.

we hope this will be a starting point, and in the future more and more schools can start with campus culture construction to create a diverse and inclusive environment and atmosphere. when we have such an environment that accepts differences, the situation of school bullying that is getting younger and younger will also be improved accordingly.

i think that whether it is promoting inclusive education or becoming a teacher, it is a process of "waiting for flowers to bloom". when a person's needs can be seen, he can grow at his own speed and in his own way, and he can have his own bloom.

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author: li xunqi editor: she yunqing