INKLUZIVNA DIMENZIJA CJELOŽIVOTNOG UČENJA

Abstract

The article analyses the relationship between lifelong learning and inclusive policies for persons with disabilities. The first part analyses the concept of inclusiveness in lifelong learning and the application of this concept in educational policies. The emphasis is on the educational obstacles faced by persons with disabilities and the opportunities that the concept of lifelong learning provides for their inclusion in various forms of education and learning. In doing so, dispositional, situational and institutional obstacles for persons with disabilities and different dimensions of inclusivity are distinguished. The second part of the article analyses the validity of this conceptual framework for describing the educational inclusion of persons with disabilities in Croatia. The difficulties in ensuring the coherence of the policy towards persons with disabilities and the importance of the time dimension in the implementation of these policies are described. Special attention is paid to the final results of inclusive policies. This refers to the lower inclusion of persons with disabilities, their earlier school leaving, and lower overall educational achievements compared to the general population. The analysis is based on data from research on the education of persons with disabilities on obstacles to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the process of lifelong learning, which were conducted as part of the Academic Network of European Disability Experts and within the thematic network Lifelong education available to all.