CREATING INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN MODERN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

It is emphasized in the paper that the idea of inclusive education reflects one of the major democratic ideas - all the children are important and active members of the society. Inclusive education involves creating educational environment which corresponds to the requirements and capabilities of every child regardless of his/her special needs. In this context, contemporary interpretation of the concept of inclusive educational environment is represented in the paper; its structural components are characterized: space and subject, content and methodical, communicative and organizational. The attention is paid to the necessity for using environmental approach to teaching children with special needs as well as to a number of requirements facilitating specific organization and implementation of this process. Specific environmental resources providing availability and optimization of different types of child activity are specified. In the process of creating inclusive educational environment, some restrictions are possible to arise (regulatory, financial and economic, organization and methodical, sociocultural). In that context, the criteria of analyzing inclusive educational environment are offered: the level of architectural access; the state of special facilities necessary for obtaining education by children with special needs; personnel required for implementing the general education programmes; experience in network cooperation of organizations performing educational activity for organizing inclusive practice. The author has noticed the lack of special skilled workforce for implementing the conception of inclusive education at educational institutions. It has been concluded that inclusive educational environment as a kind of educational environment which provides all the participants of educational process with opportunities for effective self-development. Implementation of the environmental approach in inclusive education will make it possible to highlight some new keypoints on the issues of teaching and educating children with special educational needs, to provide further creative development.