Historical and Policy Perspective of the Current State of Inclusive General Education for Children with Disabilities in the Russian Federation

The chapter presents the main stages of the developmentDevelopment of the RussianRussian educationEducation system, considering the steps taken in different periods of RussianRussian history towards overcoming inequality in accessAccess to educationEducation for childrenChild with special educationalEducational needsNeeds and disabilitiesDisabilities (SEND). The long period of exclusionExclusion from the educationEducation of childrenChild with disabilitiesDisabilities was replaced in the second half of the nineteenth century by a stage when their educationEducation remained dependent on the efforts of individual enthusiasts-ascetics, who prepared the onset of stages of stateState control and supportSupport of special educationEducation, which over the century-long period of its developmentDevelopment passed the stages detailed in the first chapter. This periodisation is accompanied by an analysisAnalysis of educationalEducational institutions’ challenges at each stage and of the transformationTransformations of structural and methodological guidelines in response to these challenges. Thus, on the one hand, continuity is demonstrated, on the other—cardinal differences between the periods of “special”, “integrated” and “inclusiveInclusive” educationEducation are exemplified. In conclusionConclusion, the inclusiveInclusive stage is represented in more detail: the effects of grassroots initiatives and stateState programs to supportSupport educationEducation taking into account the special needsNeeds of studentsStudents are described, and the main barriersBarriers and largely innovative ways of overcoming them within the theoretical frameworkFramework and experimental educationalEducational practicesPractices are presented.