The Current State of Special Needs Education in Russia: Inclusive Policies and Practices

Modern educational system in Russia fully takes in only those who meet its specific requirements, i.e. those who can study on the program equal to everyone and thus those who can show expected progress. And the result is that children with special educational needs are often isolated from their healthy peers and drop out of the total educational process. Inclusive education is the way to settle this problem. This article focuses on inclusive education, providing an overview of the developments of inclusive education in Russia. The challenges and progress are being discussed as well as the main trends in policies and practices. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.