A mainstream education system with secialised support provision for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. A Swiss perspective based on the example of the Canton of Geneva

Abstract

Starting with rights, directives applicable in the mainstream education and trends towards inclusion, the author describes the system of specialist education, which is still non-inclusive in many aspects and in most of situations concerning children with special educational needs in Switzerland. Using the example of the Republic and Canton of Geneva the author explains changes standardizing pedagogical influencing by primary school teachers which are currently in progress. This canton offers a specific possibility of providing education to hearing impaired children, which consists in bilingual teaching (French and French Sign Language) in a specialist class, in which deaf and hearing teachers work. This is not the only way of educating hearing impaired children in this canton. The second possibility, which is proposed the most frequently to children with implants, is learning in regular classes in mainstream schools. In Geneva these children, their peers and teachers can also receive different forms of support, which the author lists and comments on