Inclusive Education Performance Audit Report

Education is a constitutional right of all human beings, regardless of their different abilities. Full integration of students with special educational needs into the educational process is a major goal of inclusive education and one of the major challenges for the state. To achieve the given goal, the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia is implementing an “Inclusive Education Support Program”.

The State Audit Office conducted a performance audit of the inclusive education system, which revealed the results and shortcomings that affect the effective implementation of inclusive teaching in secondary schools, in particular:

Nationwide, there are schools adapted to the goals of inclusive education and they do not have students with special educational needs. In contrast, some schools have students with special educational needs, including wheelchair users, whose environment is inconsistent with inclusive education goals, which, on the one hand, increases the risk of inappropriate spending of financial resources and, on the other hand, restricts equal access to education for students.
Inadequate consideration of the importance of enhancing teacher qualifications through trainings, both for special teachers and subject teachers who teach students with special educational needs, impedes the conduct of the teaching process at the proper level. There are cases when a school has teachers trained in inclusive education, but there are no students with special educational needs in the school and vice versa-in most schools where there are students with special educational needs, there are no trained teachers.
The calculations for determining the amount of additional funding allocated to secondary education for the purpose of teaching students with special educational needs are not developed. The amount of funding is not tailored to the individual needs of students with special educational needs and is distributed disproportionately to the number of students in schools, which increases the risk of inefficient disposal of financial resources.
The Ministry does not have relevant, complete and accurate information on program beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries to properly plan and implement inclusive education in schools. In addition, members of the multidisciplinary assessment team of students with special educational needs do not have an education related to the inclusive sector. In addition, mechanisms for assessing achievements of students with special educational needs and measures to promote inclusive education have not been implemented, which impedes the proper assessment of indicators of effective implementation of the program.

Given the circumstances and shortcomings identified, the State Audit Office has made appropriate recommendations, from which it is possible to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the system functioning, which will facilitate the proper introduction of inclusive education in secondary schools.

Recommendation N1:

To increase access to education and spend resources effectively and efficiently, the division and relevant structural units of the Ministry should elaborate an action plan and implement control mechanisms, according to which the school environment will be assessed before enlisting students with special educational needs, and schools will be selected based on priorities and fully adapted gradually.

Recommendation N2:

To improve the quality of education for students with special educational needs, special and subject teachers who teach students with special educational needs should upgrade their skills in the field of inclusive education through training. The process of delivering trainings should be scheduled, according to which the period of gradual training of all teachers will be determined.

Recommendation N3:

To increase the motivation of special teachers to enhance their qualifications, it is important for the system to create relevant incentives and to recognize them as teachers, which will have a positive impact on the process of integrating students with special educational needs into the school environment.

Recommendation N4:

To increase access to proper quality education for students with special educational needs, it should be properly adapted to the system, given the deficiencies of the existing funding model. In particular, calculate the amount of funding where variable and fixed costs will be separated, considering the situation and individual needs of students with special educational needs.

Recommendation N5:

To properly plan and implement the program, the Ministry, in cooperation with the various responsible structures, should obtain all necessary information on potential beneficiaries of the program. It should also ensure the completeness and accuracy of the database of program users, considering the needs of the students with special educational needs, the state of infrastructure and appropriate teacher training in schools, and all relevant information based on the goals of the program.

Recommendation N6:

When selecting multidisciplinary team members, it should be considered the compliance of their qualification to inclusive education goals, as the importance of the issue, to minimize the risks of inappropriately identifying the needs of students with special educational needs.

Recommendation N7:

To assess the indicator of the effectiveness of the program in schools, appropriate assessment mechanisms need to be in place, namely: a) by the decision of the multidisciplinary team to determine the monitoring period for a re-evaluation of the student with special educational needs and results achieved; b) introduce an evaluation mechanism for effective implementation of the program in schools and share the results and best practices among schools.