The Individualised Education Programme
Dario Ianes, Heidrun Demo
The Individualised Education Programme (IEP) represents an essential tool in Italian school inclusion policies.
It is based upon the idea that, in a school which welcomes everybody under the same roof, there must be a single common curriculum that can be adapted using an IEP and that attempts to find points of contact between the class and pupils with disabilities. This prepares the way for quality integration. That is not to say that individualised programmes do not carry any risks; indeed, they could bring about isolation and forms of micro-exclusion. This article maintains that the use of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) as a source of reference in drafting the IEP can — thanks to the relational vision of disabilities that it offers — form a precious safeguard against these risks, especially if it is enriched with the voice of people with disabilities, an expression of their freedom of choice and of self-determination.
Keywords
Individualised Education Programme, life project, ICF, capability approach, school integration, school inclusion
