Students with special educational needs and educational inclusion in Chile: Progress and challenges

Since the late 20th century, educational inclusion has been seen as an efficient way to address special educational needs from a perspective of the students acute accent rights. Namely, the right to proper education and full participation in school culture. Nevertheless, the implementation strategies are diverse and differ in practice and with regards to the social and political grounds that support them. In this article, we review the current state of inclusive education in Chile and compare it to foreign models of inclusion. In Chile, the access to inclusive education is conditioned by a tag given to students with special educational needs after a diagnosis process by specialists. Moreover, inclusive education is thought of exclusively for students with special educational needs and is, consequently, a segregator system. Therefore, it becomes necessary to reinforce initial teacher training and consider implementing a system that supports the diverse educational needs of all students. Finally, it is of great importance to assess the efficacy of inclusive systems for students who, due to their disabilities, are situated in a different cultural context, as are students with hearing impairment.