INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS IN EUROPE AND THE BALKANS

Abstract

The paper is a result of a research of education systems, systems of support, legislation and evaluation of positive practice in the nine countries of the European Union and three countries in the Balkans: Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo. The condition for the research countries to be included in the sample is based on the population number not being larger than 8 million. Because of the relevance of the comparative analysis, two older state members of the European Union were chosen (Austria, the Flemish and the French region of Belgium), fourrecent EU member states (Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia and Slovenia), three Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Finland and Norway) and three countries in the Balkans: Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. The aim of the research, besides defining the currentand basic definitions in exploring the description of the education systems of individual countries, is to present practices of inclusion of children with disabilities and multi-lingual children to carry out the processes of inclusion. The aim was achieved through the tasks of including children with SEN and multi-lingual children in individual countries in Europe and in the Balkans, through the analysis of the legal framework andthe organization of the education system in the individual countries enabling inclusive processes, by determining differences in relation to the systems of individual countries which are inclined to mainstream or special education, by identifying the support the particular groups of learners: children with SEN and multi-lingual children receive within the school system, by bringing out examples of good practices.