Theories of Inclusion, Theories of Schools: deconstructing and reconstructing the ‘inclusive school’

Abstract

The Government's recent commitment to inclusive education aligns English policy in special needs education with the international inclusion movement. One of the founding assumptions of that movement is that mainstream schools can and should develop structures and practices which will allow them to respond more fully to the diversity of their pupil populations. This article reports a study of four comprehensive schools seeking to develop in this more inclusive direction. It finds, however, that their attempts were beset by difficulties and ambiguities which call for an explanation. It considers, and finds inadequate, accounts within the literature in terms of theories of educational change, theories of inclusive schools and micro-political theories. These accounts, it argues, need to be supplemented by a perspective which sees responses to diversity as being beset by dilemmas arising from contradictory imperatives within mass education systems. Such a dilemmatic perspective suggests that movement towards inclusive schooling is likely to be more problematic and more complex than we have supposed.

L’intégration a des limites, pas l’école inclusive !

“…Dépassant un point de vue purement quantitatif qui ne ferait de l'inclusion qu'une forme particulièrement poussée d'intégration (les enfants sont plus souvent dans un milieu plus ordinaire), les chercheurs et praticiens défenseurs de la péda-gogie de l'inclusion ont progressivement pris conscience que cette approche suppose un changement paradigmatique, transférant à l'école la difficulté et les besoins particuliers de l'élève (clark, Dyson, Millward et Robson, 1999). Dans cette perspective, la difficulté et le handicap n'existent que par rapport à un contexte social.…”

Timely Intervention – Before It’s Too Hard

“…Successful mainstream inclusion practices are documented for students with physical and intellectual difficulties, but students with social and emotional needs, although initially included, have been unsuccessful due to inadequate administrative processes, which attempt to balance the competing rights of different student groups (Clark, et al, 1999). Students with social and emotional needs have been excluded due to the perceived and observed detrimental effects of their presence on the safety and welfare of other students (Visser, Cole, & Daniels, 2002).…”

“…In England, according to Clark et al (1999) integration had been the forerunner of including students with diverse needs within mainstream education in the 1970s and 1980s. Mainstream schools attempted to cater for more diverse student needs and reduce the amount of segregation.…”

Ethnic Minority Pupils in Indonesian Schools: Some Trends in Over-Representation of Minority Pupils in Special Educational Programmes at the Vocational

“…The first is the perspective of inclusive education within discourses on special educational research and provisions (Clark, Dyson, & Millward, 1995;Thomas & Loxley, 2001) and the second is a sociocultural perspective within Vygotskian as well as neoVygotskian tradition. In the first vein, the last two decades of research shows not only the lack of well founded and sound theories in special education (see, e.g., Clark et al, 1995;Emanuelsson, 1998Emanuelsson, , 2000aEmanuelsson, , 2000bPersson, 1998;Skrtic, 1991Skrtic, , 1995 but also the crisis in special education knowledge. In particular, the overrepresentation of minority pupils in special educational programmes has been a cause for concern and debateable issue.…”