Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
In order to assess whether students with SENs should be included in mainstream educational provisions, one must first understand what SEN means. Under the 1944 Education Act, children with special educational needs were categorized by their disability defined in medical terms. This meant that some children were considered to be ?uneducable? and pupils were labelled into categories such as ?maladjusted? or ?educationally sub-normal? and given ?special educational treatment? in separate schools.Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The Warnock Report in 1978, followed by the 1981 Educational Act, radically changed the conceptualization of special educational needs. It introduced the idea of special educational needs (SEN), ?statement? of SEN, and an ?Integrative? ? which later became known as ?inclusive? ? an approach based on common educational goals for all children regardless of their ability or disabilities: namely independence, enjoyment and understanding. For purpose of this paper the definition proposed by The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2002) is taken into account stating that children have SEN if they have a learning difficulty that calls for special educational provisions to be made for them. However, the difficulty with such definition, and the issue arising from The Warnock Report, was the unforeseen consequence that the term SEN has become to be the name of a single category which has led to some conflicting issues. Quarmby (2006) reiterates that government has been using it as if it is the same problem to include a child in a wheelchair and a child with Asperger?s, and this is conspicuously untrue
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This category within the SEN umbrella help to understand students with special needs, and ascertains the fact that certain students may need different special educational provisions to be made for them. But whose responsibility is it to provide the necessary provisions for students to learn?Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The paper asks a deliberate straight forward question ? should all students with SENs be included in mainstream education? If yes, does this mean mainstream schools would be expected to include pupils with Cognitive and Learning Needs; Behaviour, Emotional and Social Development Needs; Communication and Interaction Needs and Sensory and/or physical needs? At what level do we need to include them? Is it just sharing time, socializing, sharing tasks or is it the active participation in-class activities following the same curriculum. This leads to the unenviable task of evaluating inclusion.
3.0 Inclusion
Over the last 30 years, policies about ?integration? and subsequently about ?inclusion? have been the subject of much controversy. Much has been written about efforts to include pupils identified as having special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools and classrooms. Inclusion reflects the idea that it is not for SEN children to be somehow fitted in or integrated into the mainstream but that education as a whole should be fully inclusive of all children (House of Commons Report, 2006). Until the 1990?s the term inclusion was rarely used and instead we referred to ?integration? or ?mainstreaming? meaning the placement of pupils with disabilities or special needs in mainstream schools. Integration was the term first introduced in the 1978 Warnock Report referring to the concept of integrating children with SEN into a common educational framework. There were different integration, from full-time placement in a mainstream classroom (functional integration) to the placement of a pupil in a special class or unit attached to a mainstream school (location al) (Hegarty, 1991). The aim to end ?segregation? was gathering momentum and from a human rights approach, it was certainly a requirement.Special Educational Needs and Disabilities However, there was often little difference between location al integration and a traditional special school, which can be seen as equally segregating experiences (Jupp, 1992). Indeed, even pupils placed in mainstream class may be isolated from their peers, particularly if they work with a support worker in one-to-one sessions for the majority of each day. ?Integrated? placements, therefore, still leave many pupils ?segregated? (Harrower, 1999).
Partly for this reason, the term ?inclusion? came to describe the extent to which a school or community welcomes pupils identified with special educational needs (SEN) as full members of the group and values them for the contribution which they make. Their diversity of interests, ability and attainment should be welcomed and be seen to enrich the life of the school. In this sense, as Ballard (1999) argues, inclusion is about valuing diversity rather than assimilation.
This general movement towards inclusion was also (In addition to The Warnock Report) strongly influenced by the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) which had a major impact on shaping policy developments in many different countries. In England this is evident in various government initiatives since the late 1990s including, for example, the statuary Inclusion Guidance (DfES, 2001a), the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (DfES, 2001b) and the ?Removing Barriers to Achievement? strategy (DfES, 2004) each providing a further impetus towards inclusion (Hick et al, 2009).
Overall, after an extensive literature review it was evident that three main strands have developed relating to inclusion. One is about equal opportunities and right to education for all. It argues that any form of segregation on the basis of disability or learning difficulty is morally wrong (Jordan and Goodey, 1996; Lindsay, 2003). A second strand is based on a re-conceptualization of the special needs issue as part of the process of school improvement (Ainscoq, 1999). This idea is based on the argument that it is the structure of schools as organizations rather than differences between individual pupils that creates special educational needs (Tomlinson, 1982). The third strand of literature has been concerned with questions of pedagogy. Though some have focused on the development of inclusive practice from the outset (Forest and Pearpoint, 1992), others have considered whether or not teaching practices and methods can be implemented in mainstream schools and classrooms in order to meet the challenge of inclusive education (Cook and Schrimer, 2003). Inclusive practice? is therefore concerned with actions and activities that staffs in schools do that give meaning to the concept of inclusion. These 3 main strands will be used as a framework in deciding whether students with SEN should be included in mainstream education provision.Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
In addition it is essential to understand and apply the SEN Code of Practice principles that support inclusive education as a framework in achieving inclusion. The five fundamental principles that support inclusive can be observed in Table 2:
As with any change, the inclusion of all students with SENs in mainstream education provisions may bring both ?positive? and ?negative? impacts within schools and pupils.
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3.1 The ?Good? and the ?Evil?
Although inclusion is seen as a very positive strategy by some, it is considered idealistic and impractical by others. Some critics have argued that inclusion happens at the expense of good and appropriate education for the other children in the class; in other words, if a student with special needs is taught within a mainstream class, they might need extra attention from the teacher, or may be disruptive or difficult in class, and this could harm other children?s education. On the other hand it can be argued that the other children in the class benefit a great deal from working with students with special educational needs and that inclusive education helps to remove stereotypes and ignorance.
It is also argued that children with SEN are better off in segregated classrooms as this enables them to gain social support from others with similar difficulties. It also allows opportunities to concentrate specialist teachers and resources in one place. The objection to this is that the disadvantage of keeping children with certain difficulties together is that it makes it harder for them to integrate fully into society once they leave school.Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
3.2 Inclusion in Practice
The Government recognized the barriers to inclusion that exist in schools in its statement in 2004(DfES, 2004) and set out a proposal about how the barriers should be tackled. OFSTED, in its report in 2004, found that more mainstream schools saw themselves as inclusive, but only a minority met special educational needs very well. Members of the SENCo Forum responded to the Government?s Special Need Action Plan by stating that schools would have to provide much higher level of flexibility in the way that learning and teaching take place, if the aims of inclusive education are to be realized (SENCo Forum, 2003). In addition, MacBeath et al (2006) concluded that some of the problems in schools attempting to implement inclusion were that the current education system itself made it difficult to implement inclusion.
Gillinson and Green (2008) argue that it is essential to regard children and young people themselves and their parents as normal practice. They conclude that the issue is not about treating everyone as the same- what is important is that everyone should be treated equally. Gross (2001) also comments that what young people most want is the right to belong. Belonging brings along a morale issue with regards to inclusion. It is therefore imperative to understand what characterizes these pupils with SEN and understand better what makes them unique. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
