Practically formable
The word field practically can be formed almost exclusively on schools in Hessen and their students (which practically formable applied), the mentally as strong hindered are that they would if the to 1962 relevant regulations would still valid today, certifying that they are not "school - and capable of education ".
The origin of the term in a historical context
The formulation "practical imaginability" goes back to lines of thought that were developed in special education after 1960. The special education teacher Theo Klauß clarifies the attitude of traditional neurologists on the subject of "severe mental disabilities" through a quote from a text published in 1972 :
- The nonsense of the extent of an idiocy practically results in an inability to educate and in need of care, but with great patience it is possible to achieve a certain degree of cleanliness and integration into a community even in severe cases.
From the 1960s onwards, reform pedagogues countered the thesis of the “educational inability” of “idiotic feeble-minded people” with the thesis that people with severe intellectual disabilities could also be practically educated . They criticized the limitation of the concept of education to the learning of cultural techniques such as reading, writing and arithmetic as well as the measure of the usefulness of people for the economy and society. The learning progress devalued in the quote is also a form of education. Originally, the term practically imaginable had no negative connotations, especially since it was initially rated as progress when people whose compulsory schooling had stopped and who had therefore not received any lessons were given educational support. It was not until the 21st century that criticism came to the center of criticism that the term can also be used in a practical way to ward off efforts to encourage disabled children and young people to attend mainstream schools.
Schools for the “practically educable” in Hessen
In Hesse, the “School for the Practically Formable (Special School)” was set up as a separate school form from 1962. The term “school for the practically imaginable” is still officially used in Hessen today. Classes and education at this type of school “aim at developing the personality, expanding independence and imparting intellectual, social and practical skills. [...] The aim of the graduation from the School for Practically Imaginable is to enable the self-determined way of life in a social community. " the term "school for the practically imaginable" is no longer appropriate.
The practice in Hessen and the UN disability rights convention
The assertion of the Hessian "Guidelines for Teaching in the School for Practically Formable (Special School)" from 1983 that pupils who attended a "School for Practically Formable" could "not receive appropriate support" contradicts Art. 24 of the Convention on the rights of people with disabilities of the UN, which the Federal Republic of Germany joined in 2009. The article stipulates that in the contracting states children with disabilities may not be excluded from free and compulsory primary school education or from secondary schools on the basis of disability. Inclusive education based on the Convention follows the motto: "The experts to the children and not the children to the experts!"
Defenders of teaching in special schools in Hesse admit that parents of severely mentally handicapped children also have the right to enroll their children in mainstream schools where they are taught inclusive together with non-disabled children . However, they emphasize that they are critical of what they believe to be the “purely cognitive educational understanding” of mainstream schools, and suggest that action orientation is particularly well guaranteed in special schools.
criticism
Language criticism
With the neologism of practical imaginability , terms such as “mental retardation”, but above all “(severe) mental handicap”, which always imply a deficiency or a defect in humans, should be replaced by a positive expression. A euphemism treadmill arises from the fact that “positive speaking” is often not accompanied by a change in thinking, so that the connotations that arise with listeners of the term “practically imaginable” are the same as when the term “severely mentally handicapped” was used would. In particular, many find it difficult to break away from the idea that people who will never be able to write, read and do arithmetic are “deficient” people.
For those who understand “education” to mean successfully completed schooling and vocational training , a euphemism is the promise contained in the term “practically educable” that every student in a “school for practically imaginable” can (and will) develop positively, that a process takes place there, at the end of which the student is “educated”, or at least has usable skills . In 2013, however, a survey by the “Federal Working Group of Supra-Local Social Assistance Institutions” among its members revealed that the proportion of those who were not admitted to a workshop for disabled people because they did not have a “minimum level of economically usable work performance” ( Section 219 of Book IX of the Social Code ) can reach more than 20 percent of those classified as disabled between the ages of 18 and 65.
Criticism of the categorization of people
The People First Movement - Network People First Germany demands that only the term “people with learning difficulties” should be used in connection with people who are assumed to have a lack of comprehension. This would no longer differentiate between people with an intellectual disability and a learning disability , and the severity of an intellectual disability would also remain unaffected.
The pair of terms "practically imaginable" and "practically gifted"
The technical-language attribute practically capable (as a synonym for so severely handicapped that the person concerned will probably not learn to read, write and arithmetic ) can easily be confused with the attribute practically gifted , which is used in a broader sense, e.g. B. to justify training courses such as that of the specialist practitioner . Such offers are aimed primarily at people who are unable to successfully complete the theoretical part of a standard vocational training course, i.e. people who have been or are still classified as " learning disabled " by traditional special education . But also z. B. Graduates of apprenticeships with a shortened training period.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Mosaic School Frankfurt am Main: 50 years of the Mosaic School . 2012
- ^ Theo Klauß: The development of the understanding of education in German education for the mentally handicapped . Lecture given on May 5, 2006, p. 2
- ↑ Guidelines for teaching in the School for Practically Formable (special school) from November 21, 1983
- ↑ City of Wiesbaden: School for the Practically Imaginable ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ homepage of the Heinrich-Hehrmann School Schlüchtern
- ↑ Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Authority for Labor, Social Affairs, Family and Integration: UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Text and explanations . Hamburg. February 2013, p. 45
- ↑ Dieter Katzenbach, Joachim Schroeder: “Being able to be different without fear”. About inclusion and its feasibility. In: inklusion-online.net. Journal for Inclusion, Issue 1-2007
- ↑ Schule am Drachenfeld Erbach (Odenwald): Schule am Drachenfeld ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Federal working group of supra-local social assistance providers (BAGüS): BAGüS position paper on the "Interface between workshops for disabled people (WfbM) and day-care centers" . November 20, 2013, p. 4
- ↑ Radio Bremen: Two-year training - an opportunity for the practically gifted? ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 5th August 2015
