Special Needs Students Analysis of Legal and Ethical Issues

SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS’ RIGHTS

Analysis of Legal and Ethical Issues of Special Needs Students

There are special needs of special education children, and the educational institutes, and the parents have to work in collaboration with each other for the delivery of the free and appropriate educational environment to special needs students. The state laws encourage the placement of educational services for this very purpose so that the rights of special needs students are protected in a place where they are studying. This paper aims to identify a legal or ethical rights issue of special needs students and provide recommendations for addressing it. The paper research would conclude by providing a communication plan that can be carried out by the school faculty for building support for social needs’ equity and diversity.

Identification of a Legal Issue with Ethical Implications

When talking about ethical rights in special Education, religion is the first and foremost of all rights. Special children and their parents have an ethical right to receive religious education within the school. Religion provides the basis for life and all the activities taking place. Special needs students are closer to their religion since they are deprived of certain physical or mental abilities. For that, they prefer to remain close to God, who is responsible for giving them health and well-being.

The legal one might face in a special education institution is the inclusion of religion of the special needs students and their parents. Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 does not emphasize spiritual Education; rather, it focuses more on instructions in the development of behavioral skills, community-based intervention, the involvement of parents, promotion of friendship among disable or normal students, etc. (Ault, 2010). The four goals included in IDEAS’ plans are the participation of special needs students, economic self-efficacy, independent living, and equal opportunity. They have been compared with eight quality-of-life outcomes, which include improvement in the life quality of special needs students and their parents. If this outcome is not perceived under the influence of the type of education these schools provide, which might exclude spiritual Education, then the quality of life would be adversely affected as their equality for diverse needs would not be met.

Current Practices and Evaluation of Moral Issue

The selected school for the study of legal and ethical issues showed that religious Education was not much emphasized. Since religion provides the appropriate way of life and an opportunity for human development by following certain rules provided by the respective divine entity whom the students or their parents worship, the school should have included a part of the curriculum which have been dedicated to the special needs’ students religious activities and beliefs. The early years of a child’s life are critical ones since this is when the foundations of religious beliefs are to be set, and the developmental impact would remain with him the rest of his life (Abror, Widiyanto & Fadli, 2018). Parents play an integral role in this regard, but when the child is exposed to other environments, such as those in the school, the special needs child would demand special care in this area. It might be because the children come from diverse backgrounds, and the institute thinks that it would consume a lot of time if separately all the religions are to be addressed. Therefore, the school needs to allot special timings within the school timetable for the religious sessions for these children. It is also because the special needs children would feel a sense of belonging with the school if the institute considers them equally special.

Current Legal Guidance and Alignment with It

The current legal guidance was presented in section 32 of the Education Act 1990 that elaborates on the time allocation for the religious education of special needs students in their respective educational institutes (State of NSW Department of Education, 2016). Also, the students' parents have the right that their children are provided religious Education within the school premises in ethics classes. Authorized teachers should be appointed for this purpose so that special religious instruction with special teaching procedures should be given to special needs students. The law also states that parents have the right to exempt their children from the school if ethically and morally does not obey these rules and does not provide spiritual Education along with meaningful activities. The parents even have the right to know what special Education in ethics would be organized in events each year and special education options available to choose from.

The current school does not explicitly follow these religious laws and has no particular directions in this regard. It mentions in its prospectus that it has concerns for diversity and religious backgrounds but does not seem to practice it. No particularly allocated time slots for ethnic or religious classes were noticed, although students do say a prayer in the morning assembly; however, it does not specify what religion they are addressing and what is not.

Strategies to Address the Issue

Strategies need to be devised when dealing with accommodation of religious beliefs of special needs students and their families. In the light of Education Act 1990, it is suggested that:

· Early childhood special educators can contact people from the community or any of the parents whose children are already studying in the school to provide insights on their respective religious backgrounds that can serve as a cultural guide. This would help in depicting the school’s attempts to highlight equity and catering to each special student's diversity by promoting his or her particular religion. This strategy would also be in line with the Education Act 1990 that said it is ethically right to provide spiritual guidance for special needs students within their educational institutes. That would also deter their parents from expelling their children when they would know that the school now meets this criterion. The advantage of this suggestion would be it would strengthen the school’s image as ethically and morally right and being considerate enough to include the religious belief of special needs students. As an educational leader, the implication would include the provision of appropriate Education that would help in the children's personal development as they would be able to create a connection with themselves and the world in a spiritual manner (Zhang, 2010). In the beginning, “quality of life” was mentioned; hence, Education is not about just gaining knowledge but also self-realization to the fullest.

· A study indicated that teachers explained special students’ interest in their school in extracurricular activities organized by local churches and church youth groups (Ault, 2010). This can provide an opportunity for another recommendation to ask local churches to come to the school for promoting religious activities that the special needs students like to have interest in. the advantage of this would be an improvement of social skills of special needs students since special needs students are socially awkward and usually have fewer friends. Enhancement in self-esteem and gaining confidence through extracurricular activities with a linkage to spirituality would better their social skills, leading to better academic performance (Cassaday, 2000). As an educational leader, the implication would be the school’s undertaking of the special needs students and their parents' religious beliefs and creating a market image that would be ethically strong for new admission to consider this school as a priority.

Plans to Monitor Implementation

For monitoring the implementation of the strategies as mentioned earlier, monthly meetings would be held with teachers and other managerial staff of the school. It would be ensured that teachers are aware of their own religious and cultural backgrounds to connect with the religious diversities of the special needs students. The cultural differences of the families and their biasedness towards religions should be noted so that their inclinations towards respective spiritual beliefs could be catered to better. If teachers and staff are more knowledgeable of the cultural and ethical religious approaches, they would address the special needs students’ concerns appropriately. These meetings would bring in ideas from the teachers and staff, who themselves would belong to different backgrounds so that their insights about a certain religion could be incorporated within the school’s strategies for religious inclusion along with ethical and moral principles.