The ‘parents’ choice’: the recent perceptual changes in special education law in israel and its implementation in the field

Abstract

The Israeli educational system is dealing intensively for the last two decades in the assimilation of the inclusion approach of student with special needs (SwSN) in general education. The first part of the article presents the historical development of special education in Israel as a background to the presentation of the new amendment of Special Education Law – Amendment 11 (2018). The current stage of the Eleventh Amendment implementation aims to ensure the inclusion of SwSN in the general education by an allocation of budget for his needs according to a standard assessment of his functioning level, in addition to his disability. The SwSN parents’ will decide about their child placement according to the model of “The Parents’ Choice”, and the student’s budget will be transferred to the chosen educational framework according to the “Funding Follows the Child” principle. The second part of the article presents a case study of special education school in Israel for students with intellectual developmental disabilities that gradually assimilate the spirit of the law amendment from both aspects – standard assessment of the students functioning and parental partnership, as part of professional work processes carried out at school in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) field.