A range of interventions work to improve educational outcomes among people with disabilities, but these are mostly targeted at people with disabilities. More systemic approaches are needed to improve rates of access to, and likelihood of successful engagement in, education.
What is this review about?
People with disabilities often fall behind in education compared to their peers without disabilities. This is true for enrolment, retention, and completion of education. These inequalities in education contribute to people with disabilities being less likely to gain employment and earn as much as people without disabilities. The gap in educational attainment between people with and without disabilities is largest in LMICs. There is an urgent need to address barriers to the inclusion of people with disabilities, and test approaches to improve their access to and the success in formal and non-formal educational programmes.
What is the aim of this review?
For this Campbell systematic review, we wanted to analyse and then summarise the findings from research studies that evaluated interventions to improve the educational outcomes of people with disabilities in LMICs.
What are the main findings of this review?
The review shares findings from a range of interventions and outcomes that were identified across 28 studies. Most of the studies included were aimed at children with disabilities, with a few targeting family members or service providers. People with intellectual or learning and developmental impairments were most frequently targeted by interventions. Eight of the included studies were from India, four were from Iran, two were from China, two were from South Africa and two were from Egypt. One study from each of the following countries was also included: Brazil, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Romania, Turkey, Malaysia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia. Few studies reported whether their setting was urban or rural. Most commonly, interventions were delivered in classrooms in mainstream or inclusive settings, followed by specialist school and resource rooms of inclusive schools.
The category of interventions most commonly represented across studies were those aimed at providing support for educational attainment, followed by those focused on improving the accessibility of learning environments. Educational attainment (including skills for formal learning in schools and skills for life) was the most commonly reported outcome. This was followed by more accessible learning environments, such as strengthened learning/social environment(s) and improved social inclusion.
All but one study received an overall rating of low confidence in study findings. However, low ratings were mostly due to the use of low-rigour study designs and was not always reflective of weakness in the actual study. Generally, methodological details were poorly reported.
What do the findings of this review mean?
Many included interventions were effective at improving children’s functioning, skills, and competencies, but did not focus on institutional (i.e., systemic or school-level) changes. In terms of expanding the research evidence available, strong methodological procedures should be followed and reported on to allow for thorough assessment and comparisons across interventions. Where possible, interventions should be evaluated in terms of concrete outcomes like school completion. Larger sample sizes that include and track outcomes for diverse demographic profiles would help to increase the rigour and reliability of findings, as would the use of standardised measures.
It is well established that a twin-track approach is needed to improve inclusion and outcomes for people with disabilities, meaning a focus both on targeting their specific needs but also ensuring they are included in mainstream activities. However, this review showed that most included interventions tried to improve children’s functioning, skills, and competencies, but did not focus on efforts for mainstreaming through institutional (i.e., systemic or school-level) changes. There is a need for evaluation of interventions which target not only the individual with a disability, but also ensure inclusion in their broader environment(s). Efforts should also be made to integrate measures of disability within mainstream education impact evaluations and other demographic/household surveys that include education outcomes, and existing non-targeted government programmes should evaluate whether they are effective in improving educational outcomes for people with disabilities.
How up-to-date is this review?
The review authors searched for studies up to March 2022. This Campbell Systematic Review was published in February 6, 2025.