Activity report

The research is focused on the resources and perspectives for developing the policy of inclusive education as a factor of social equity in today's Russia. The main objective of this project is an analysis of conditions, elaboration of the ways for implementation and proposition of social consequences of integrative/inclusive education in a contemporary Russia' society.

The activity I undertook during the fellowship period consisted in conducting research, communicating with mentors and policy makers, public discussion of findings at the conferences, seminars and in the teaching process. A sociological study of education for children with disabilities still appears quite rarely within the sociological conferences agenda, even in sessions and panels devoted to sociological research of education. In Russia, the silence around the problems of social inequality in education is gradually being broken down. At the same time, the issues of education services for children with disabilities gradually become more discussed among social scientists, educators, medical professionals and policy makers.

During the first two months of the reported period, I have studied literature, elaborated questionnaire and interview guide and discussed them with colleagues and mentors. I have red Comparative data of policy reform in area of inclusive education in cross-cultural and international perspectives. The case-study materials collected at special school since 2001 through the first months of 2002, have been systematized and analyzed. Case studies at the special school for segregated education and mainstream school where the disabled child is enrolled. In-depth interviews with selected parents and students are collected. In March-April, the first stage of the survey took place (N=250 school students from mainstream schools). Pilot survey of non-disabled children, survey of parents and teachers and other professionals involved.

The preliminary results of the project work have been discussed at the Ministry of labor and social development of Saratov oblast, at the Saratov committee for education, Russian and international conferences, lectures and seminars at university where I teach and at specially arranged trainings and workshops. The results have been published in an article and collective monograph. A workshop on inclusive education is planned to be held in November 2002. Students with disabilities and their families will be involved into these discussions and their voices will be presented in publication. Survey instruments have been modified, improved, and new survey of children and parents took place. Now the rest of the data have been collected, including survey of school teachers and students’ parents. The data are being processed using SPSS. The interviews with experts are conducted and the transcribing has started.

In May 2002 I have been involved into organizing and participating in two summer schools that have been held in my city – Gender-sensitive social work (supported by Women Network Program of OSI-Russia) and Social Research of Education(Spencer Foundation and European University at StPetersburg). Both schools had an emphasis on studies of social exclusion and search for inclusive practices, with a particular attention to the issue of disability. The second school had a section on inclusive education, which included one lecture, two reports and round table discussion. On the 1^st of June I have participated in the seminar on the issues of accessibility of higher education for vulnerable social groups held at the Independent Institute for Social Policy Research, Moscow.

Three PhD students, two undergraduate students, three graduate students have chosen different aspects of special education and inclusive education for their research work. Two seminars at local Rehabilitation center have been held on the issues of Conductive Education, Social Integration, and Children’s Rights. The application for a grant to train volunteers has been developed in collaboration with Rehab Center and NGO, submitted to the foundation. However, this application was not supported.

Right now I am going to take part in the World Congress of Sociology in Brisbane, Australia, 7-13 July, 2002 under financial support of IPF and International Sociological Association. The participation in the World Congress of Sociology furthers the objectives of myfellowship. I am going to present two papers – one on the critical analysis of segregated school system for children with disabilities in today’s Russia, and another one – on the matters of marginalization of a new profession of social work in contemporary Russian social services. Both presentation are based on the discussion of research conducted recently me in a big provincial Russian city – Saratov. The abstracts have been approved by session coordinators and included in congress program.

During the second stage of the project I continued to collect the data and discuss my findings at the conferences and seminars. The survey was completed: the sample N=825, including 276 teachers, 289 school students, 260 parents. The data have been processed with SPSS. The interviews were collected with school administrators and officials of the city committee of education and regional Ministry of education. A case study of a disabled child in a regular school setting was conducted.

I have presented at the World Congress of Sociology in Brisbane, Australia, 7-13 July, 2002 under financial support of IPF and International Sociological Association. I presented two papers – one on the critical analysis of segregated school system for children with disabilities in today’s Russia, and another one – on the matters of marginalization of a new profession of social work in contemporary Russian social services. Both presentation were based on the discussion of my research conducted recently in Saratov. The abstracts have been approved by session coordinators and included in congress program. I have also presented at Russian speaking forum of Russian sociologists as well as at the session of Russian sociological society. I talked about the development of sociology, disability studies, educational policy studies and gender studies in Russia.

In September 2002 I initiated a competition among the high school and university students to write an essay devoted to the topic “From tolerance towards cooperation. Disability in Russian Society”. The best essays have been awarded with the prizes and gifts on a plenary session of the Conference “Education for All: Ways to Integration”, that we have organized on the 9-10^th of January with collaboration with the Lyceum of Saratov State Technical University. People with disabilities took part in evaluation committee of the competition and in organizational committee of the conference. This conference attracted much attention. Teachers from special residential schools, university students with disabilities, leaders of nongovernmental associations, and parents of children with disabilities have attended, as well as students, graduate and postgraduate students, professors of universities, journalists and officials. A collection of papers “Education for All: Ways to Integration” is being published right now. Another collection of papers “Inclusive Education: Problems and Perspectives” is being edited now.

In November 2002 a group of scholars at our Department has started a research project “Access to higher education for people with disabilities” under the financial support of the Ford Foundation.

Two diploma students at the department are doing their projects in sphere of disability – one about medical-social assessment of the disabled children, another – about social partnership in a field of employment of the disabled. Two Master students are writing dissertations on the issues of disability – one on rehabilitation practices and children’s rights, and another – on IT in rehabilitation of the disabled children. A postgraduate student has defended her Candidate dissertation on educational policies of secondary school in gender dimension. Another postgraduate student is writing her dissertation about the family of the disabled people. We have written together with this student an article which is accepted for publication in a Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology this year.

In February 2003 me and my colleagues established an independent policy analysis and advise organization –a Center for Social Policy and Gender Studies. This Center is a founder of a newly established Journal of Social Policy Studies. The first issue of the Journal will appear in March 2003, and one of the next issues will be devoted to the issues of Inclusive Education.

We have held two seminars with school teachers and officials of education on the matters of inclusion, disability and school social work. A manual “Social Services for the Disabled” has been issued by the Saratov Ministry of Labor and Social Development. This manual will include a session on inclusive education and will be published in April to be used by social workers and social pedagogues.

The research and policy papers have been written and uploaded on the website www.policy.hu/iarskaia

Pesentations at conferences:

“This isn’t a male business…”Gender dimension of social services in Russia

XV World Congress on Sociology, Brisbane, Australia 6-14 July 2002

Producing disability in post-Soviet Russia

XV World Congress on Sociology, Brisbane, Australia 6-14 July 2002

Inclusive education as the right of the child with disability

Conference “Children’s rights in today’s Russia”, Saratov, October 2002

Hidden curriculum in gender and disability dimension

Seminar on gender and education Krasnodar, Russia28^th October – 1^st November

Perspectives for Inclusive education in Russia – a plenary speech

Conference “Education for All: Ways to Integration”, Saratov, Russia 9-10 January 2003

Gender sensitive approach in social policy and social work – a plenary speech

Conference “Family policy in the region”, Saratov, Russia, 27-28 February, 2003

Publication report, January 2002 – March 2003

·Social Policy and Social Work in Changing Russia. Edited by Elena Iarskaia-Smirnova and Pavel Romanov. Moscow: INION RAN, 2002.In Russian.

·“A salary is not important here…” Professionalization of Social Work in Contemporary Russia, in: Social Policy and Administration, 36(2), 2002 (in collaboration with Pavel Romanov) In English.

·«This isn’t a male business…» Gender analysis of employment in social sphere. In:Sociological Research. № 8, 2002. pp.74-82 (in collaboration with Valentina Iarskaia). In Russian.

·Integration under the conditions of differentiation: problems of inclusive education for atypical children. Saratov: Pedagogic Institute SSU, 2002. In Russian.

·Inclusive education as the right of children with disabilities. In: Education and Law. Voronezh: Voronezh State University, 2003.

·Gender, disability and social policy. Recommendations for social workers. Saratov: SSTU, 2003

·A concept of inclusive education. In: Children’s Rights in Toda’s Russia. Saratov, 2003

·Social Work in Russia, in: Social Work in Five Countries. Professional, Educational and Social Policy Context for Social Work in Australia, Canada, Norway, Russia and USA. Edited byGunn Strand Hutchinson, Lisbet Lund, Rolv Lyngstad and Siv Oltedal, Hoegskolen I Bodoe Report , 2002.In English. P.159-210.

·Social change and mobilization of resources: life stories of Russian people with disabilities. In: Interaction. Interview. Interpretation.№1, 2002. P.39-50.

·Stigma of “disabled” sexuality. In: In search of sexuality, Edited by Elena Zdravomyslova and Anna Temkina. SPb: “Dmitri Bulanin”, 2002. P.221-243.

·Gender identity of the disabled people. Gender socialization in education. Gender in social work. Gender division of labor. Discrimination in sphere of labor. Domestic labor. Women’s employment. International Women’s Day. Sexual harassment. Soviet state politics towards women. Feminist cinema criticue. Feminist criticism of social policy. Feminist social work. Feminist text analysis, in: Gender terms dictionary / ed.by A.Denisova. Moscow: Informaion – XXI century, 2002.

·Social policy and gender in a rhetoric of electoral campaigns. In:Sociological research. №11, 2002. P.55-61.

·Feminist approach to social work. In: New approaches in social work and opportunities for life-long learning. SPb: Semantika-S, 2002. P.123-129.

·Integration of academic learning with the tasks of professional practice: opportunities of block system. In: Problems of academic and organizational provision of educational process. Saratov: SGTU, 2002. P.133-139. (in collaboration with Natalia Lovtsova).

·Feminization of social work. In:Social Policy of Social State. N.Novgorod: NISOTs, 2002. P.417-424

·Gender ideology and social policy in official discourse of International Women’s Day,1920-2001, in: Women in history: a possibility to be seen. Misnk: BGPU, 2002. P.261-289. (in collaboration with Galina Karpova).