Liventseva. [Challenges of implementing inclusive education in the United States and Europe]

Abstract:
The article represents an analytical review of empirical studies covering the problems of inclusive education in the developed countries: the USA, Great Britain, Scandinavian countries. The article examines 18 scientific publications on inclusive education in psychological periodicals of the USA and Europe issued in 2006—2011. They give coverage to empirical findings concerning the implementation of inclusive education and are subdivided into two thematically different groups. The first one includes investigations focused on the study of professional training for inclusion educators. It means the organization of the effective system of training for educators which can make them ready to provide inclusive education in classrooms; problems of educators' attitudes to inclusion as factors providing its successful implementation; development of educators' basic skills in their interactions with special children and their families. The second group of studies focuses on the problems of adaptation, namely, the way children with special needs adjust in a group of nominally healthy peers.