When: 4.4.2023 | 13:00-14:30 Finnish time | 18:00-19:30 Chinese time
Children with disabilities are often overlooked in policymaking, denying them the chance to equality in daily life – whether that be financially, socially, or politically. Inclusive education strives to bridge that gap and to equip the estimated 240 million children with disabilities worldwide with the same access to education that any other child would have. With the help of two experts in the field, the 12th webinar of the GINTL-JoLII webinar series “Dialogues on Education and Society” invites the audience to reconsider education as they know it and to imagine how much more inclusive that education could still be.
Speakers and presentation topics
Ambilavence of inclusion as principled education practice in Finland
Juho Honkasilta, University lecturer, Department of Education, University of Helsinki
Dr. Juho Honkasilta has worked in the department of education of two universities in Finland since 2011, having held both researcher and teacher educator positions. Honkasilta’s research on inclusion in education draws from disability studies perspectives. His other research topics are psychiatrisation and therapisation in education.
In his presentation, Honkasilta will critically discuss the ambiguous nature of inclusion in education at the national level, focusing on how inclusion as a principle of educational practice is formed in education policy and governed to be implemented in practice. Finnish education policy is strongly committed to reducing inequalities and meeting diversities in basic education and to finding ways to change both the system and practice accordingly. This presentation focuses on this commitment to enhance the process of inclusion in education from the viewpoint of the core principles, values and ideologies of inclusion in education.
Development of Special and Inclusive Education in China
Deng Meng
Dr. Deng Meng is Professor in the Department of Special Education and Director of the Research Institute for Inclusive Education at East China Normal University. His research interests include inclusive education, education for children with visual impairment and developmental disability, curriculum and instruction of special schools.
Previously, Dr. Deng served as a professor in the Institute of Special Education as well as as Beijing Normal University’s Director of the Research Centre for Inclusive Education, among many other roles. Dr. Deng was awarded the “Excellent Personnel Support Plan of Ministry of Chinese Education” in 2010. He has published over 60 research papers in international journals and more than 200 papers in the key education journals of China and edited over 20 books related to special education.
Chair of the webinar
This webinar will be chaired by Sai Väyrynen, Academic Director at the Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning (GINTL), University of Helsinki.
Cover photo by marianne bos on Unsplash