Abstract:
This qualitative research aims to 1) study situations and problems of educational policy implementation for the development of disabled childrens quality of life, 2) analyze educational policy implementation mechanisms for the development of disabled childrens quality of life, 3) propose guidelines for the implementation of the educational policy for the development of the disabled childrens quality of life. Methods employed in this research include 1) review of literature and relevant research; 2) in-depth interviews with ministry executives, school executives, professional level teachers, sub-committee members involved with people with disability, and networks for people with disability involved in policy implementation; and 3) focus group discussion to propose guidelines for the implementation of the educational policy for the development of the disabled childrens quality of life. The study finds that there are sufficient and adequate policies and plans on education for people with disability to a certain extent. However, there are several problems on educational policy implementation for the development of the disabled childrens quality of life, including the lack of personnel on special education, different mindsets in policy implementation, reshuffling of executives, and lack of academic knowledge supporting policy implementation. Through analysis of educational policy implementation mechanisms for the development of the disabled childrens quality of life, management mechanism, aid and support mechanism, and policy implementation mechanism are identified. Proposed guidelines for the implementation of the educational policy for the development of the disabled childrens quality of life include: 1. Provide learning experiences coherent with the needs of people with disability, and support education for career. Knowledge, teaching techniques and media production appropriate with disabled children are provided to teacher; 2. Support learning mechanism by forming knowledge of people with disability and create a central database system for practical application for the establishment of special education centers for people with disability; and 3. provide sufficient resources to organizations involved with policy implementation, distribute knowledge to those involved with policy implementation, and establish a system for policy supervision and evaluation.