As a part of the project SG54460 “Implementation of the functionality of the information system AS “IRC” to increase the transparency of the inclusive resource centers (2nd stage)”, which was realized by the SSI “Institute of Educational Analytics” in 2022, the implementation of the new functionality of the information system AS “IRC” was ensured to increase the transparency of the inclusive resource centers (IRCs). Also, taking into account the war challenges caused by the armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation, a range of measures was taken to support the continuous and safe functioning of the AS “IRC” under martial law.

The relevance and promptness of the implementation of the SG54460 project is determined by a host of factors, particularly, by the need to ensure the sustainable development of inclusive education and timely response to existing challenges in access to education for persons with special educational needs. It should be noted that the Government of Ukraine, represented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (MESU), persistently works to ensure barrier-free access to education for children with special educational needs. The development of IRCs is supported, their purpose was to realize the right of children with special educational needs (aged 2 to 18 years) to obtain preschool and general secondary education, in particular through the automation of the information gathering and processing by means of the AS IRC information system. Thanks to the efforts of the Renaissance Foundation project No. SG54116 dated 03/26/2021 “Modernization of administrative reporting in the field of inclusive education in accordance with the requirements of parents, teachers, management communities and its approval by the Ministry of Education and Science”, changes were made to the form No. 1-IRC and the corresponding procurement of services was initiated to facilitate the automation of the methodology in the system AS “IRC” (https://prozorro.gov.ua/tender/UA-2021-09-29-004497-c), which include the necessary revisions. The second stage of the research, initiated by the SG54116 project, offers support, control and testing of the implementation of the new functionality of the AS “IRC”, the development of the step-by-step role-playing text and video instructions for the users of the AS “IRC”, the substantiation of IT decisions regarding the automation of the gathering, processing, and dissemination of information through the AS “IRC” for the full implementation of the results of methodological and technical efforts to optimize IRC reporting. The operation of the AS “IRC” under the armed aggression of the russian federation was established including redundancy, “cold” backups, scenarios of the transfer to the “cloud”, the methodical approaches to the organization of the technical administration and support of the AS “IRC” under the armed aggression of the russian federation were investigated, the possibilities of the emergency recovery of the hardware ensuring the functioning of the AS “IRC” under the martial law were developed, a survey of users of the modernized AS “IRC” was conducted regarding the provision of technical and other means of rehabilitation to the persons with disabilities in the educational institutions (including displaced persons) under the martial law.

Among the main results achieved as a result of the project implementation, the following should be noted:

• increasing the level of awareness of the parent and teacher communities with the processes and trends in the field of inclusive education, as a result of which the parents will be able to make informed decisions about the place and conditions of education of their children with special educational needs, teachers will better understand parental requirements and general trends in the development of inclusive education;
• increasing the efficiency of the process management regarding inclusive education as a result of expanding the possibilities of the automation of the data gathering, increasing the amount and availability of the data for managers at the state and regional level, as a result of which they will be able to make more balanced management decisions;
• ensuring greater openness of the data in the field of inclusive education;
• ensuring the failure-free functioning of the AS “IRC” under martial law.

Publication date: 05/09/2022