This paper compares the Special Education Systems form Chile, Spain and Finland, from the perspective of the UNESCO Salamanca Statement on Special Education Needs (SEN). The following issues create a dialogue about the agreement reached in 1994: the general context of the educational systems of each country, their epistemological orientation regarding Special Education, the regulatory framework of each system, the procedures to detect and refer children with SEN, and the structure of the diversity services. This paper will cover the main differences between the systems, highlighting the great diversity in the definition of Special Educational Needs and the strategies for the inclusion of SEN students into the regular school system. The results of this research show mayor differences on the fulfillment of objectives established by the statement on all three countries covered by the study, Chile being well behind on having a diversity system that can be considered truly inclusive. The challenges that remain for our country are that we do not have an integrated regulatory framework for diversity work; we have very limited technological and human resources for students with SEN, and there is not enough coverage of SEN in the early stages of teacher training.

Educational system; Special education; Comparative education; Inclusive education; Salamanca statement.