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Inclusive education in Colombia, educación inclusiva - Coggle Diagram
Inclusive education in Colombia
PIAR
Barriers in the implementation of PIAR
Number of students, lack of training and support for both pre-service and in-service teachers, resistance to change from institutions, as well as lack of family support.
What does a teacher need to implement PIAR?
Implementing PIAR requires assessment, teacher training, the use of technological tools, the application of UDL, and assertive pedagogical strategies.
It is necessary to understand how a topic affects students in different ways and to develop self-awareness of how learners learn best.
Barriers in the Colombian education system
:
Structural barriers
Institutions lack suitable spaces, and thinking tends to be homogeneous rather than differentiated.
Curriculum barriers
The school curriculum, especially in English Language Teaching (ELT), does not recognize the needs of students with special educational needs (SEN).
Attitudinal barriers
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From students, teachers, and from a cultural perspective, there is a focus on the limitations of students with special educational needs (SEN), which generates negative attitudes that affect the school environment.
TAC
A hybrid approach is required (García Macías, Yoon García, & Solórzano Alava, 2025), which evaluates how ICT can be very useful, but recognizes that many students learn better in other ways.
The implementation of TAC addresses different needs and learning styles among students.
According to the findings of García Macías, Yoon García, and Solórzano Alava (2025), difficulties in language production persist.
Strategies such as video calls and face-to-face meetings highlight the importance of this approach, as learning and knowledge technologies (TAC) are a great ally, but they are not everything for all students.
Articulation among different educational institutions
Disability is not an individual problem, but the result of the interaction between the person and environmental barriers” (Ministry of Education, 2017).
The perception of inclusive education has evolved; however, there is still a focus on the limitations of students with special educational needs (SEN), rather than on their strengths.
Each type of disability must be recognized, and it is essential to know how to act and interact with the student, maintaining flexibility and understanding their way of seeing the world.
ELT and inclusive education in Colombia
Challenges in aligning English Language Teaching (ELT) with inclusive education (R.D. & K., 2022)
The absence of a universal definition of what truly constitutes inclusive education.
Colombia has strong laws on inclusive education, such as Law 115 of 1994 and Decree 366 of 2009; however, there are no clear guidelines from the Ministry of Education (MEN) on how to apply UDL in school curricula. This, combined with schools that have insufficiently trained staff, creates a false sense of understanding of inclusive education.
Additionally, these laws are supported by international frameworks such as the Salamanca Statement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
PIAR emerges as a strategy to address students’ individual needs while maintaining a UDL-based, flexible curriculum that challenges them.
Figures in Colombia
According to Carrillo Cruz, Ramos Garzón, and Hernández Gutiérrez (2023), by 2014, 33.8% of students with special educational needs (SEN) did not pass any course
37.9% completed primary education
20.5% finished secondary education
Only 1.7% continued to higher education
Lack of teacher training
ELT teachers have had little to no training, often applying very general teaching theories that do not include UDL or the recognition of the needs of students with special educational needs (SEN).
In educational institutions, “inclusion” is often associated with “specialized personnel.” Many schools deliberately avoid this due to legal, economic, social, and other concerns.
Types of disabilities
Physical disabilities
Intellectual disabilities
visual disabilities
Hearing disabilities
Sistemic disabilities
Deaf-blindness
Physichosocial disabilities
Permanent voice and speech disorders
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
