Benidorm will add two new classrooms next school year to promote the inclusion of students with special needs

The public education system in Benidorm will incorporate two new UECO classrooms for the 2026-2027 academic year to better serve students with special needs in the city during the Early Childhood and Primary Education stages. The Councilor for Education, Maite Moreno, stated that these two units have already been approved by the Regional Ministry of Education for implementation starting next September and that, with them, “we continue to move forward to guarantee the best education and services for all students; in this case, for children with special needs and their families, giving them the best opportunities to learn and continue their education on equal terms with everyone else.”

The new UECO classrooms will be located in the Miguel Hernández and Puig Campana schools, joining those already operating in the CEIP El Murtal, Mestre Gaspar López, Ausiàs March, and Gabriel Miró schools, as well as the secondary school classroom at the Mediterrània Institute and the integrated education program at the Beatriu Fajardo de Mendoza Secondary School. As the Councillor for Education pointed out, “there will now be six units available in Infant and Primary schools and two in Secondary schools in our city, with a maximum ratio of 8 students,” totalling 48 places.

Maite Moreno explained that the UECO classrooms are a resource for students with intellectual or physical disabilities or severe and permanent developmental disorders “who need individual and specific support, and which are provided in mainstream schools to promote the integration and inclusion of all students.”

Thus, these classrooms allow for a dual response to students: on the one hand, they offer intensive and specialised educational support, as they have specific personnel, material, and organisational resources. On the other hand, they facilitate this support within mainstream contexts, through their presence and participation in regular classrooms alongside other children of the same age.

“We recently visited the specialized classroom that opened this year at Gabriel Miró School with the Director General of Innovation and Educational Inclusion of the Generalitat, Xaro Escrig, and we were able to see how well it was working,” recalled Moreno, who thanked the Director General and the entire Ministry of Education for their “continued support in providing these resources to the children and adolescents of Benidorm who need them.”

The councilwoman concluded by stating that these types of classrooms "embrace a part of our student body and cater to their diversity," also highlighting that "they are an example of inclusion, which we in government must continue to promote to guarantee the principles of quality, equal opportunities, equity, and universal accessibility to education."

Additional information about UECO classrooms

Each UECO classroom is staffed by three professionals: a special education teacher, a speech and language therapist, and a special education teacher, in addition to specific technological and material resources.

In Benidorm, the number of places available in these classrooms has increased exponentially in recent years: from the first ones operating at CEIP El Murtal and Mestre Gaspar López schools, along with the integration program at IES Beatriu, to the opening in the 2024-2025 school year of the UECO classrooms at Ausiàs March school and Mediterrània high school; the one at Gabriel Miró school in the 2025-2026 school year; and the two that will be added in the 2026-2027 school year at Miguel Hernández and Puig Campana schools.