Ethics, equality and inclusion for students with a chronic health condition

Abstract

Students with a chronic disease are often overlooked by education systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) characterizes chronic diseases conditions that "are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation or may require a long period of supervision, observation and care" [1]. Research data indicates that in many cases these students are at risk of dropping out of school. In order to redress the imbalance of access and equity for students with a chronic health condition, the Royal Children's Hospital Education Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has developed programs that based on an educational model designed to empower schools to support this cohort of students. In this paper the implementation and evaluation of two projects developed in response educational needs of students who are absent from school for extended periods because of chronic illness are presented. While both projects have been successfully implemented, a new research component in the second project has only recently commenced. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.