Master of Psychological Science Program held an online opening lecture for this new semester with inclusive education topic on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 1.00 – 3.00 PM. This event is series of orientation activities for Master of Psychological Science students year of 2020/2021. So this session was attended by them and also Master of Professional Psychology and Doctoral students.
This opening lecture aims to provide information about inclusive schools from the point of view of children, psychological and educational perspective. In addition, the learning objectives were (1) reflecting on the impact of inclusion label on society, emotional and learning aspects of children; (2) reflecting on the interpretation of inclusive education using a social constructivism point of view; and (3) reflecting on the children’s voice as supporter of mental health in schools.
The speaker for the session was Elga Andriana, S.Psi, M.Ed, Ph.D, one of the lecturers at Faculty of Psychology UGM. The title of the topic called, Why Am I Chosen To Be Inclusive Child? In the presentation, she shared her experiences during doctoral studies at University of Sydney, NSW, Australia, where inclusion was the topic of her dissertation. Besides, she also share her experiences as practitioners inclusive education field.
In addition, Elga inform that inclusive education in western countries has already been applied for decades, whereas in Indonesia it is relatively new. That is why sometimes the acceptance in Indonesia is not as positive as in western countries.
The discussion session on this public lecture is expected broaden the perspective about inclusive education. Especially for prospective practitioners, both for educational psychologists and scientists in the future.