An international systematic review of the ICF and Education. Comparisons from German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and South African publications

Abstract

This study is the outcome of a systematic literature review on the use of the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (World Health Organisation, 2001, ICF) and its Children and Youth version (World Health Organisation, 2007, ICF-CY) in the field of education and specifically education for children with disabilities, special educational needs and those requiring additional support in school. In 2010 Moretti, Alves, and Maxwell (Maxwell et al, 2012; Moretti et al., 2012) carried out a similar ground-breaking review and set the scene for how the ICF is used in the education field. In the intervening decade much has developed with the ICF and it is time for another measure of the situation. Throughout this paper we will refer the “ICF” as both the ICF (2001) and the ICF-CY (2007), unless otherwise specifically indicated.