During the period from July 30 to November 30 of the year 2020, the SSI “Institute of Educational Analytics” (hereinafter – SSI “IEA”) implemented the Project SG53767 “Development of the module of inclusive education indicators for informing parents, teachers, and management (Stage 1: Creating the technical design specification)” to facilitate the creation of the technical design specification, its public discussion and approval by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Last year, using the support of the International Renaissance Foundation (project GSG53429 dated November 6, 2019), the SSI “IEA” achieved an increase in the level of competence of IT specialists of the SSI “IEA” as a part of professional training; managed to intensify the implementation of the Automated system Information and resource centers (hereinafter – AS “IRC”) (developed regulations for the system, approved by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science; was certified by the Integrated Information Security System) and preserved the consistency of the team of IT specialists of the SSI “IEA”, their interest in the results.

This year, the project SG53767 for developing the module of inclusive education indicators to inform parents, teachers, and management is objectively urgent, given the actual lack of tools to provide the public and managers with detailed and user-friendly statistical information on inclusive education considering its social significance for Ukraine. The development of educational information resources became especially relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic when the issue of “online” (as of today) information and analytical support of managers became a direct need.

The first and the most important stage that precedes the creation of the system is the creation, public presentation, and approval of the technical design specification for the development of this module by the Ministry of Education and Science.

Due to the timely and high-quality preparation of its terms of reference, prompt consideration of the proposals of the educational community (representatives of the IRC, education departments, parents), which were received during public discussions (Webinar program within the framework of the project SG53767, dated 12.11.2020), the technical design specification was not only approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine but also approved by Order No. 1408 of November 13, 2020.

In pursuance of this order and with the practical application of the developed technical design specification, the SSI “IEA” made a corresponding purchase. First of all, the implemented compliance with the general architecture of the AS “IRC”, certified by the Integrated Information Security System, and the use of the open-source solutions that do not contain a license part, are among the main advantages of the obtained software product.

Implementing the project, we managed to achieve the following results:

• Raising awareness of parent and teacher communities of the processes and trends in inclusive education, as a result, the parents will be able to make more informed decisions about the location and conditions of education for children with special educational needs, the teachers will better understand parental requirements and general trends in inclusive education.
• Improving the management of the processes in the field of inclusive education by increasing the availability of data for managers at the state and regional levels, they will be able to make more informed management decisions based on reliable information.
• Ensuring the openness of data in the field of inclusive education to the general public, strengthening the presence of the topic of inclusive education in the media space.

Date of publication: 30.11.2020.