Abstract

Educating refugee children with special educational needs (SENs) is often impeded because of obstacles associated with their displacement. United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or the UNRWA, are often required to address the absence of government infrastructure by providing educational opportunities for children in conflict and fragile areas. However, in reviewing the literature on the education of Palestine refugee students in UNRWA schools, the extent to which this includes a focus on those students with SENs is limited. Accordingly, a comprehensive case study of inclusive education in three UNRWA schools was conducted in 2012–2013 during the author's tenure at the agency. The following study examined the perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with inclusive education in schools operated by the Jordan field of UNRWA. Through multiple embedded case studies, interviews and observations were conducted with internal and external stakeholders, respectively, to explore inclusive education. The results indicate that stakeholders identified challenges to inclusive education three times as much as benefits. As the UNRWA implements a new inclusive education policy, attending to the concerns of local stakeholders, including students with SENs and their families, will be imperative to the successful provision of inclusive education. Therefore, leveraging the benefits to inclusive education as described by study participants will be an important catalyst toward fully including all students in UNRWA schools.