There is a separate legislation on the affairs of the handicapped (1992) that stipulates that all individuals with handicap (defined as mental retardation, psychiatric illness, physical disability, blindness and/or deafness as well as handicaps resulting from chronic illness and accidents) shall be helped to live and function in a normal community along with other people. For this purpose, where a handicapped person's needs are not covered by general services within the fields of education, health and social services, special services, detailed in the law, shall be provided.
Compulsory school: the most important legislation which affects the provision of special education is the law concerning compulsory education passed in 1995. The law stipulates ten years of compulsory schooling for children and adolescents between the ages of six and sixteen. The term special education is, however, nowhere to be found in the law. The ideology is that the compulsory ‘basic school’ shall be inclusive, catering for SEN as well as other educational needs of its pupils. Since 1 August 1996, all compulsory schools, including special schools and units, have been run by local municipalities.
One article of the law (article 37) specifies that children and adolescents who need special education because of specific learning difficulties or because they have emotional or social problems and/or are handicapped, have a right to special support in instruction in their studies. The main policy is that such instruction should take place in their local home school. If a pupil's parents or guardians, teachers or other specialists feel that the pupil is not receiving suitable instruction in its home school, the parents or guardians may apply for the pupil to attend a special school. The instruction can be on a one-to-one basis or take place in a group within or outside the mainstream classroom, in special departments within schools or in special schools.
A regulation for special education is based on the law. The regulation for special education in compulsory education is the only regulation for this purpose at the four school levels. It deals with all special needs teaching at the compulsory school level. According to this regulation, special education involves changes of educational aims, curricular content and teaching context and/or methods as compared with what other pupils of the same age are offered. Special education is organised on a short- or long-term basis depending on the needs of the pupils, possibly lasting his or her entire schooling. The municipalities are obliged to ensure access to a special school or a special unit for those pupils whose disabilities make it impossible for them to take advantage of educational facilities in their local school.
The municipalities are also obliged to offer education for children who are in hospitals or are sick for a long period.
References: The law of the handicapped (1995) and the compulsory school act (1995).