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Enquiry Abstract As defined by UNESCO, inclusive education “involves changes and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision that covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all children.” In clearer language, this means that inclusive education is Education for All. Without the special focus of inclusive education on removing barriers to participation and learning for those now excluded, Education for All will simply not be achieved. But who are the excluded? They include those who have never enrolled in school or were enrolled but then dropped out (or were “pushed” out) – but who could participate if schools were more flexible in their style and welcoming in their approach; and those who are enrolled in school – sitting in a classroom -- but are excluded from learning. The problem is to get Ministries of Education to be as embarrassed by their system’s net non-enrolment rate as they are proud of its net enrolment rate – but this is not an easy task. Two types of programmes are particularly valuable in helping to achieve the goals of inclusive education: • Good quality early childhood programmes to enhance the health, nutrition, and cognitive and psycho-social development of young children; to promote initial enrolment in, and the smooth transition to, primary schools; and to help ensure early success and long-term achievement in school. • Mother tongue-based multi-lingual education to promote initial literacy in the daily language of the child and success in other school subjects, to value indigenous/minority cultures, and to help ensure eventual mastery of national and international languages. Speaker Sheldon Shaeffer was Director of UNESCO's Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok for over seven years, retiring at the end of 2008. A citizen of Canada, he was educated in history (B.A.), anthropology (M.A.), and comparative international education (Ph.D.) at Stanford University. He has taught, done research, and worked in development programmes in Southeast Asia for over 20 years – as a high school teacher in Malaysia, as an anthropologist and an education programme officer for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia, and as the regional education advisor for UNICEF in Bangkok. He was also for 10 years the Director of Education and Population Programmes for the International Development Research Centre in Canada and later was a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Educational Planning (UNESCO) in Paris. Before moving back to Bangkok with UNESCO, he was head of UNICEF's global education programme in New York for three years. Dr. Shaeffer sat on the drafting committees of the Jomtien and Dakar EFA declarations, pioneered work for UNICEF on the development of the framework for child-friendly schools, and has served as Chairman of the Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and Development. His current areas of interest include language policies in education, the EFA goals, child-friendly schools, teacher education, inclusive education, and early childhood care and development. | 
