What is Inclusion?
Educational inclusion is the practice of educating students with special needs alongside their non-disabled peers. Inclusive Catholic schools welcome students with special needs to share in the fullness of the school community. Such schools offer high-quality, faith-based special education that is reflective of the excellence of the school as a whole.
In Catholic education, true inclusion is carried out in a student’s home parish school.
Why Inclusion?
- The presence of students with special needs contributes to the completeness of the school community
- Inclusion unites siblings and parish families within the parish school
- Inclusion is the educational best practice and offers demonstrated benefits to all students
- All Catholic students belong in Catholic schools
Inclusive Schools...
- Provide access to students with special needs across all settings of the school community
- Promote full participation in general education learning environments and activities
- Offer supports and services that allow students with special needs to progress and thrive
“Since all Christians have become by rebirth of water and the Holy Spirit a new creature, so that they should be called and should be children of God, they have a right to a Christian education…
…the duty of educating belongs to the Church, not merely because she must be recognized as a human society capable of educating, but especially because she has the responsibility of announcing the way of salvation to all men, of communicating the life of Christ to those who believe, and, in her unfailing solicitude, assisting men to be able to come to the fullness of this life.”
Pope Paul VI
Gravissimum Educationis