ITE Students' Attitudes to Inclusion

Abstract

This, in the wider context of schools, 'pampered mainstream providers' (Thomas and Loxley, 2001) by offering an alternative that allowed society to exclude particular children under the guise of offering something better that was separate. Increasingly, disabled people have challenged the assertion that segregated provision has any part to play in any vision of inclusion (Oliver, 1998; Tomlinson, 2000), indicating a difference in ideology from that of the UK government (DfE, 1997; FEFC, 1997). These differing views give rise to tensions for those attempting to understand fundamental issues around the inclusion of disabled people. Often, non-disabled people's views predominate in professional practice with disabled people, and in consequence attitudes to inclusion may be derived from historical acceptance that 'special needs' are better met in 'special places' (Hall, 1997). This could be particularly argued in the field of education, where special schools are uncritically accepted as part of the continuum of provision (DfE, 1997). They also lead to the contradictory perspectives described by Croll and Moses (2000) as education professionals struggle with the compatibility of aspirations of excellence and inclusion Many argue (Oliver, 1998; Mittler, 2000; Stewart, 1990) that attitudes are the critical variable in the success, or otherwise, of inclusive practice. Oliver suggests that even 'the most enlightened and "right on" teachers who would have no trouble in recognising oppression on the basis of class or race or gender would be happy to say, "I'm not taking a deaf child into my class, and that's not a political issue, it's a resource issue''' (1998, p. 28). He subsequently argues that oppressive attitudes have changed very little in the last twenty years (p. 28). The importance of this is further highlighted by Murphy (1996), whose research led him to assert that if teachers emerged from initial teacher education (ITE) programmes without a positive attitude to inclusion then those attitudes would be difficult to change, particularly when exposed to 'information-based courses rather than greater contact with disabled people on an interpersonal level' (p. 25). Research into ITE has indicated a continuing concern about student teachers' lack of preparation for inclusion (Bender, 1985; Murphy, 1996; Croll and Moses, 2000). This despite the fact that 'NQTs will be increasingly expected to form the vanguard of inclusive initiatives in education' (Garner, 2000, p. 111) in response to government directives. Such preparation is further hampered by a training programme centred on government-driven standards which expect student teachers to become conversant with their responsibilities under the Code of Practice (DfE, 1994) rather than engage with the intrinsic concept of inclusion (Garner, 2000). Critics such as Garner (2000) and Slee (2000) argue that the quality of curricula content in relation to inclusion is impaired, as it has failed to keep pace with developments and thinking: courses often adopt a permeation appro...

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