Insights into government initiatives

Insights into government initiatives concerned with building inclusive schools in Jordan and Lebanon

Dr Maha Khochen-Bagshaw, Senior Inclusive Education Specialist Maha is an international consultant specialising in inclusion and equity in education. She is interested in promoting access to and quality of education for all children with focus on those at risk of exclusion. To this end, she researches, trains and advises on inclusive education related policy and practice. Her work covers a range of countries in Europe, the Middle East, North and East Africa as well as Central Asia.

Project Outline

This research will investigate government inclusive education initiatives in four mainstream schools in each of Jordan and Lebanon, and the extent these schools promote equity and inclusion principles. The ultimate goal is to use the findings from these countries to conduct cross country analysis to understand the similarity and differences in approach and provision. It will use participatory, quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Persons with disabilities, those working for and with them, from the two countries will act as co-researchers, supporting the development of research instruments, data gathering, analysis and reporting. Methods of data gathering may include: drawing, performance, photography, storytelling, questionnaires and in-depth interviews.

For this, the experiences of teachers and students with disabilities in ‘inclusive schools’ will be explored. By engaging and consulting concerned individuals in each country, this research will produce context specific and culturally sensitive evidence of barriers to and enablers of equitable and inclusive education there, which can then be used to make recommendations for high impact, sustainable future developments in inclusive initiatives.

Project Objectives

This research project aims to:

  • Assess the effectiveness of existing inclusive provisions in government lower secondary schools, that are part of a government inclusive schools initiative, in Jordan and Lebanon on the equitable access and participations of their learners with disabilities and the extent these schools promote equity and inclusion principles generally. Lower secondary is the last three schooling years of basic education in Lebanon and the last four schooling years of basic education of Jordan and is within mandatory education in both countries.
  • Explore the extent learners with disabilities are supported to be equipped with the necessary skills to become independent individuals in the future.
  • Identify and present examples of inclusive related interventions on government, community and school levels to highlight the extent they promote inclusion on the school level in the two targeted countries.
  • Support the formation of policy development on schools, communities and government levels in support of moving forward with equity and inclusion in policy and practice. In doing so, the ultimate aim would be for this research to contribute to:
  • Advocacy campaigns associated with listening to the voices of concerned individuals i.e., persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
  • Build the capacities of local researchers with disabilities and researchers working with and for persons with disabilities on equity and inclusion in education through acting as co-investigators in this proposed research project.

The research will seek to answer the research question: “Do current lower secondary government inclusive school initiatives reflect a model of an inclusive teaching and learning environment for their learners, parents and communities?” More specifically,

  • What are the prevalence and experiences of educators with disabilities involved in these schools?
  • Do learners with disabilities believe that they are having equitable opportunity to progress educationally, and do they believe that they are provided with the skills they require to become independent in the future?
  • Who is included in these schools?
  • What disability related data do these schools gather in support of their ministries monitoring and evaluation initiatives?

This research project is concerned with equity and inclusion in education. It intends to explore how inclusion is understood and applied in government lower secondary mainstream schools in Jordan and Lebanon. It also intends to explore the extent these schools are able to reflect a model of inclusion for their learners and communities and hence contribute to building inclusive societies. Furthermore, it intends to explore the extent existing curriculum and teaching and learning practices are supporting learners with disabilities to learn (boys and girls attending lower secondary government ‘inclusive schools’), that are part of government inclusive school initiatives.

By exploring inclusion in government mainstream schools in these two countries, the research will highlight similarities, differences, successes, and wider experiences. These will be used to identify and reflect on the groups that may not be present in these ‘inclusive’ schools, as well as the approaches required for these schools to become inclusive for all. Having identified the groups that are not present, the extent those who are present believe that they are experiencing equitable access to the teaching and learning opportunities   as well as identifying existing gaps towards building whole school approach to inclusion, the research will conduct cross country analysis to draw on similarities and differences between these two countries and reflect on developing and strengthening South-to-South collaborative approach.

This research project is of great relevance to the objectives of the Disability Under Siege Network in terms of promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in lower secondary education, building local expertise and collaborating with concerned individuals to advance efforts and capacities of inclusion in the region. It nicely corresponds to its themes namely:

  • Lower secondary and out of school children with disabilities
  • Disability, refugees and war
  • Gendered dimensions of disability
  • Supporting research training for early career researchers, disability activists, and disability-led organisations

There is a limited amount of research providing rigorous evidence related to inclusion of persons with disabilities across the Arabic speaking countries. This research project is expected to contribute to existing empirical evidences and to offer evidence that may inform the quality of education available for children and young people in mainstream schools by providing policy makers with the evidence they need to advance inclusive practices whilst inclusion is being piloted in numerous government schools, and as part of the governments initiative to build inclusive schools. This may include evidence-based recommendations on curriculum and the enhancement of inclusion strategies and policies.

Working with researchers with and without disabilities from across the region as co-investigators may not only positively impact their research skills and enhance their knowledge in equity and inclusion across the targeted countries, but will impact the environments where they work in terms of widening knowledge in equity and inclusion in education. Given the diversity of the research team, it is expected that the impact would reach university students in Lebanon, Jordan, and across the Arabic speaking region as well as in the UK, and international organisations concerned with equity and inclusion for refugees and non-refugees.

In addition, the research intends to collaborate with diverse local co-researchers with and without a disability to support in the data gathering. Such collaboration would not only build the capacities of these researchers, but would also pave the way for more ‘insider-driven’ research in the future, whilst helping us gather data that may be difficult for international, or ‘outside’ researchers to obtain. Similarly, training and empowering researchers with disabilities may also serve as an example to what persons with disabilities can and are able to achieve when they are presented with the opportunity.

Findings

This research investigates government-led inclusive education initiatives in four lower secondary schools in both Jordan and Lebanon. It explores perspectives, experiences, policies, and practices related to inclusive education and the inclusion of students and teachers with disabilities in the targeted schools, aiming to identify similarities and differences between the two countries. A mixed-methods approach was used, incorporating qualitative and quantitative data from questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, and analyses of statistical and policy documents. Participants included school principals, lower secondary teachers and students, parents of children with disabilities, organizations of persons with disabilities, NGOs, and key government representatives from Jordan. Using the concept of ableism as an analytical lens, this research not only contributes to the fight against ableist biases but also advocates for dismantling structural barriers within education systems.

Findings reveal that inclusion is widely understood to encompass all children, with a focus on children with disabilities, though often framed by charitable or medical models of disability. Both countries exhibit negative attitudes and unpreparedness toward including children with severe intellectual impairments and autism, with special schools frequently perceived as preferable. Enrolment data show a low and decreasing presence of children with disabilities as educational levels rise, with Jordan showing more diversity in disability representation than Lebanon in lower secondary.

Both countries share similar government-led approaches, including specialised units within education ministries, international support, and teacher training. However, implementation varies, with gaps in coordination, school-level policies, and actionable plans for improving inclusion. Barriers include inaccessible environments, insufficient support for teachers, negative attitudes, and limited representation of teachers with disabilities, particularly in Lebanon.

This research investigates government-led inclusive education initiatives in four mainstream schools in both Jordan and Lebanon. Through the analysis of pre-existing and new quantitative and qualitative data, as well as relevant literature, it explores the extent these schools promote equity and inclusion principles and provide their learners, educators, and community members with a model of inclusion. It intends to illustrate how inclusion is understood, experienced, and practised in government schools in both countries, to reflect on the progress these countries have made thus far in inclusion and the similarities and differences between these two contexts. To this end, the research poses the following research questions:

  • What are the perspectives of learners with and without disabilities, parents, teachers, school principals, local organisations, and key individuals from the MoE towards inclusion and the inclusion of children with disabilities in the targeted lower secondary schools in Jordan and Lebanon?
  • What are the prevalence and experiences of children with disabilities in enrolling and remaining in the targeted lower secondary schools in Jordan and Lebanon?
  • What are the prevalence and experiences of teachers with disabilities involved in the targeted schools in Jordan and Lebanon, and what are the existing perceptions towards their inclusion?
  • How do government policies and practices impact the provision of inclusion in the targeted secondary schools in Jordan and Lebanon?
  • What are stakeholders’ recommendations to improve inclusion in schools that are part of the Jordanian and Lebanese government initiative to build inclusive schools?

This research project aimed to:

  • Explore the extent government schools that are part of the government initiative to develop inclusive schools in Jordan and Lebanon provide their learners with disabilities with equitable access and participation to lower secondary education and the extent these schools are contributing to promoting equity and inclusion principles.
  • Reflect on examples of interventions aimed at inclusion in education and the extent they promote inclusion in education at schools where persons with disabilities are enrolled in the two targeted countries.
  • Shed light on the perceptions of individuals such as students, teachers with and without disabilities, school principals, parents, and organisations of persons with disabilities as well as those on the government level to highlight their experiences with barriers and enablers facing the advancement of inclusion in these schools.
  • Contribute to available empirical studies on the topic of equity and inclusion in education with particular contributions to the literature related to the inclusion of students and teachers with disabilities in Jordan and Lebanon.
  • Provide evidence-driven recommendations to improve the quality and equity of the education provided and received in government schools that are part of the government inclusive initiatives.

No major changes were introduced to the aims of the research from the original application though they were slightly reworded to better align with the posed research questions. Similarly, the research questions were rephrased to become clear and concise in terms of their focus on the population they target.

The last research question was not included in the original application but added later to ensure the research reflected the recommendations of participating stakeholders. This was deemed necessary given that each group of participants were asked about the improvement required from their perspective.

The research sample comprised of:

  • Four lower secondary schools, in each of Lebanon and Jordan, that are part of government-led inclusive initiatives.
  • School principles of the four targeted schools of each country.
  • Lower secondary teachers with and without a disability from the targeted four schools.
  • Students with and without disabilities attending first and last grade of lower secondary in the targeted schools.
  • Non-governmental organisations for persons with disabilities supporting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the targeted schools.
  • Parents/carers of persons with disabilities from same geographical locations as the identified schools of those whose children with disabilities are enrolled in education and those whose children are out of school education.
  • Key individuals from the ministries of education in charge of the inclusion in the targeted four schools.

The main research activities comprised a literature review, instrument development and piloting, data gathering via questionnaires, interviews and focus groups, and data analysis. The outcome was the production of two country-level reports, and a comparative report reflecting on government inclusive education initiatives in both countries.

The deadline for this comparative research was initially set for April 2024. Two extensions were awarded to complete the two country-level reports and a further three-month extension awarded to complete the work on the comparative report after that. This meant that the deadline for submitting the finalised country-level reports was extended to July and then to September 2024 and the deadline for the comparative report to 31 December 2024. The final version of Lebanon country-level report was submitted on 28 October 2024, the Jordan country-level report on 30 November 2024 and the comparative report on 5 January 2025.Given that the priority was for the two country-level reports to be completed, dissemination events planned in both countries were cancelled to ensure that these two reports were completed in time for the comparative report to also be completed and submitted by the new deadline.

The country-level investigator of Lebanon was not able to be in Lebanon during the data collection phase. Therefore, to avoid any possible delay in the progress of the research in Lebanon, a local country-level investigator was appointed to take over during this phase. The local country-level investigator did not take part in the analysis of the research which was conducted by the initial country-level investigator. However, it would have been useful to involve the local country-level investigator in the data analysis given her proximity to the participants and the visited schools, as well as her ability to carry out analysis in the local language which could have enriched the outcomes of this research. this is considered to be a lesson learned in future research projects.

One other challenge was the time that coding and analysing the qualitative data took, which was resolved by the additional time the project was provided with.

This research explores the inclusion of students and teachers with disabilities in government-led inclusive education initiatives, an area of research that is considered to be under researched, hence it contributes to making empirical findings towards the experiences of students and teachers with disabilities in government-led inclusive education initiatives. Comparative research pertaining to inclusive education for children with disabilities in the Middle East region is particularly Scarce which would further demonstrate the relevance and timeliness of such research. To compare inclusive education culture, policy and practice in Jordan and Lebanon, two researches were conducted, one in each country.

The core research team included a Principal Investigator (PI) and two country-level investigators—one for Jordan and one for Lebanon. Each country-level investigator was supported by four diverse co-researchers who contributed to data collection, data cleaning, data entry, and initial analysis. Additionally, the research benefited from the guidance of four academic advisors from Jordan, Lebanon, the Arabic-speaking region, and the UK, who provided support at key milestones.

This research followed a collaborative approach across all phases of its development, engaging diverse contributors at different levels. Persons with disabilities, as well as individuals working with and for them in both countries, actively participated throughout the research process.

Research Outcomes

The primary outcomes of this research were the production of three research reports, each was made available in both Arabic and English:

  1. A research report on Jordan and its findings authored by Dr Asmaa Al-Mallah, the country-level investigator of Jordan.
  2. A research report on Lebanon and its findings authored by Dr Bassel Akar, the country-level investigator of Lebanon.
  3. A comparative research report analysing inclusion in both countries authored by Dr Maha Khochen-Bagshaw, the research project principal investigator.

To ensure consistency and suitability for conducting comparisons between the two countries, data collection in Jordan and Lebanon followed the same sample selection methods as well as the same instruments to collect data while considering country-specific contexts. For example, the research targeted students in their first and last year of lower-secondary education, which in Jordan corresponded to Grades 7 and 10, while in Lebanon, it corresponded to Grades 7 and 9.

Key Findings

  • In both countries, inclusion is broadly understood to apply to all children, with a particular emphasis on children with disabilities.
  • While there was widespread agreement that children with disabilities have the right to be included in government schools, this right was often framed through a charitable lens and remained conditional on the type and severity of the impairment.
  • Negative attitudes toward including students with severe intellectual impairments and autism in mainstream settings were common.
  • Many participants reflected a medical model of disability, expecting persons with disabilities to “normalize” themselves for equitable treatment.
  • The perception that special schools might be better suited for children with disabilities was prevalent in both countries.

Enrolment Patterns

  • One of the four targeted schools in each country did not have children with disabilities enrolled in their lower-secondary grades.
  • In Jordan, the enrolment rate of children with disabilities remained consistent throughout lower-secondary education, whereas in Lebanon, it declined as students progressed through school.
  • In Jordan, less than 2% of lower-secondary students were identified as having disabilities, while in Lebanon, there were almost no children with disabilities enrolled beyond Grade 7.

Student Profiles

  • Jordanian inclusive schools enrolled a diverse range of students with disabilities, including those with hearing, physical, visual, and intellectual impairments, as well as learning difficulties.
  • In Lebanon, most students identified as having disabilities were categorised by school principals as having learning difficulties.
  • The Washington Group questions confirmed a broader diversity of disabilities among students in Jordan, whereas, in Lebanon, students primarily reported challenges in reading, numeracy, and writing.

Additional Findings

  • In Jordan, some children with disabilities were enrolled in homeschooling programs and attended school only for assessments and exams. These students were not counted as out of school. Further investigation is needed to understand who is referred to these programs and the barriers they face.
  • In Lebanon, further research is required to explore the educational status of children with disabilities who cannot physically attend school.

Dissemination and Future Research

Following the completion of the research reports, several engagement activities took place:

  • The Jordan country-level investigator presented findings to the Ministry of Education, the High Council on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and GIZ in Jordan. The research and its findings were very well received by attendees and the set recommendations were discussed.
  • The Lebanon country-level investigator plans to present findings to Lebanon’s Ministry of Education as well as to the Education Partners Group are ongoing.
  • The PI presented the comparative findings at the Disability Under Siege of the University of Birmingham final conference on 5 February 2025.
  • Discussions are ongoing regarding journal article submissions, with each country-level investigator leading publications on their respective countries, while the PI leads on publications related to the comparative findings.

Planned contributions include:

  • A presentation at the University of Jordan (April 2025) on teachers’ perceptions of inclusion by Jordan country-level investigator.
  • A paper submission to the conference proceedings by the Jordan country-level investigator.
  • A submission to the British Journal of Special Educational Needs, co-authored by the Jordan country-level investigator and the PI, examining perceptions and prevalence of students with disabilities in Jordan’s government schools.
  • An abstract submitted to the UCL Institute of Education’s International Conference on Inclusive Education by the PI, with a focus on teachers with disabilities. If accepted, this will contribute to a special issue of the Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs.
  • A planned article on inclusion in Lebanon by the Lebanon country-level investigator, to be submitted to the International Journal of Special Needs Education.
  • Two additional comparative articles on inclusion policies and practices, to be led by the PI and co-authored by the two country-level investigators, and the PI of the Disability Under Siege Network.

Impact and Next Steps

The research project had a significant impact on those involved:

  • It offered the PI of this research the opportunity of leading a research project for the first time, gaining valuable experience to build upon in future work. This included managing a team, implementing two pieces of research and conducting the comparative analysis. All of this contributed to enriching her experience, knowledge and skills. As a woman with disabilities, acting as the PI on this comparative research provided her with a unique opportunity to research the inclusion of students and teachers with disabilities in government schools, and to be able to reflect on the exclusion and normalisation approach to the inclusion of students and teachers with disabilities practised in both countries from her perspective as an insider to the field of disability inclusion.
  • The country-level investigators further developed their expertise in disability inclusion research. For example, the Jordan country-level investigator is an early career PhD graduate of the University of Jordan with a PhD in Education. Taking part in this research presented her with an opportunity to take her skills and knowledge to the next level.
  • Co-researchers acquired new skills and interest in disability inclusion, positioning them as advocates for better support for children with disabilities. For example, in Jordan, one co-researcher is now engaged in training initiatives for inclusive schools.

Future Initiatives

As recommended by nearly all participants, this research highlighted the need for an online training module for teachers on inclusive classrooms. However, limited funding and a lack of expertise in module design within the Arabic-speaking region have delayed progress. The PI remains committed to exploring opportunities to develop and distribute this resource to teachers in Jordan, Lebanon, and beyond.