Inclusive Education in Ukraine and Romania: is it a Reflexive Spirituality or a Sign of Humanity of a Democratic Society?

Abstract

The article attempts to test the hypothesis of whether the transformation of European values into the social policies of the post-socialist states of Ukraine and Romania contributes to the strengthening of the reflective spirituality, humanity and democracy of their nations. There have been used the following methods: general scientific, historical, retrospective and comparative. The authors have analyzed the problem of inclusive education in Romania and Ukraine in two directions: as a sign of spirituality, religiosity of Ukrainians and Romanians; and as the expressed humanity of the democratic society of Ukraine and Romania. The analysis of the reflexive spirituality of Ukrainians and Romanians is carried out on the basis of philosophical understanding of spirituality and its connection with humanity, which are presented in theoretical researches of the end of the XIX - the beginning of the XXI century. The authors explained that inclusive education is a manifestation of society's humanity towards persons with disabilities, a means of reflexive and spiritual culture of Ukrainians and Romanians. The basic democratic values established in Ukraine and Romania are freedom, openness, tolerance. The space covered by inclusive education in both countries is determined by interdependent and interpenetrating processes of humanization and democratization. The humanistic approach is the basis for the functioning of a democratic society with its system of social ties, archaic values of spirituality, religion, and culture. The values and principles declared by inclusive education are recommended and follow from the content of international documents. The approval of a number of regulatory documents on the introduction of inclusive education indicates that the Ukrainian and Romanian social policies have reached the level of norms declared by international and European legal norms. It has been found out, that the transformation of European values in both countries takes place on the basis of the international human rights instruments. This circumstance has intensified the actualization of the development of inclusion and the manifestation of reflexive spirituality, humanity and democracy.