INCLUSIVE AND SPECIAL EDUCATION: Inclusive andspecial education in the English educational system:historical perspectives, recent developments and futurechallenges
Alan Hodkinson
Article first published online: 16 JUL 2010
Keywords:
inclusion;special education;segregation;integration
Abstract
Special education in England has over the past 25 years been subject to rapiddevelopment, not least in relation to the emergence of inclusive education. AlanHodkinson of the Faculty of Education, Community and Leisure, John Moore'sUniversity, critically examines the development of inclusion in England and thebarriers that can stall the development of this important educational and societalinitiative. He discusses the journey towards inclusion from educationalsegregation to integration and describes the current Government stance on thisimportant subject. Alan Hodkinson suggests that many of the barriers to effectiveinclusion are in practice located within the loci of Government, local authorities aswell as that of schools. He concludes that it is now time to develop a new visionfor the education of children with special educational needs and disabilities that issupported by straightforward, co-ordinated and well-resourced policies. If educational policy is to achieve an inclusive consciousness, it must ensure thatthe views of children, their families and educational professionals are listened to,and that inclusion is by the choice of the pupils and their parents and not bycompulsion.
Introduction
Special education in England has over the past 25 years been subject to rapiddevelopment, not least in relation to the emergence of inclusive education.However, one might argue that the current push for the implementation of inclusive education is one example of an instance where policy development andphilosophical thought outpace practice. There is a danger that ‘the most
vulnerable learners’ (O'Brien, 2002) might be crushed by the weight of politicalpolicy, philosophical thought and ideological doctrine that seemingly dominatethe current educational discourse. This is a potential problem for the formulationof effective inclusive education in England.More worrying, from my perspective, is the heavy criticism (Barton, 2005;Frederick, 2005) to which MaryWarnock (2005) has been subjected for
suggesting that inclusion has gone too far and that some children are beingdamaged by the application of its principles. It would seem that the ‘tidal wave of inclusive intent preached with overpowering zeal’ (Hornby, 2002) for theevolution of inclusive education, coupled with the apparent unquestioningacceptance of the ideology of full inclusion might, in practice, be providing adisservice to some pupils. More than ever, I would suggest educationalistsshould pause to consider whether inclusion is, in reality, serving the needs of allindividuals.The first aim of this article is to examine critically the development of inclusiveeducation in England from its emergence within the latter part of the twentiethcentury. Secondly, I intend to elucidate the barriers which may serve to stall thedevelopment of this important educational and societal initiative.
The emergence of inclusive education
The ideology of inclusion should not be viewed as a new phenomenon. Indeed,its origins may be traced back to the early 1900s and the welfare pioneers whobelieved in a non-segregated schooling system (O'Brien, 2002). In its currentform, however, inclusion is the end of a journey which began in the 1960s, whenpolicies of educational segregation became subject to debate within the contextof the civil rights movement. This questioning of policy heralded the birth of anew integrated educational system which was legitimised by the Warnock Report(DES, 1978) and the subsequent 1981 Education Act. While it is observable thatthese events began a journey towards inclusion, the last years of the 1980switnessed criticism of integration as a policy that had failed to account for
individual need (Ainscow, 1995). There can be little doubt that the problematicnature of integration coupled with the statements made at the World Conferencein Special Education (UNESCO, 1994) led to the emergence of inclusiveeducation in England.The evolution of inclusive educational policy began with the election of NewLabour in 1997. The Government upon taking office acted swiftly and through theGreen Paper,
Excellence for all Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs
(DfEE, 1997), and the subsequent Programme of Action (DfEE, 1998), they set
the tone for the central thrust of education reform through the last decade of thetwentieth century (Judge, 2003). The Government further developed its inclusionpolicy by introducing a revised curriculum. Curriculum 2000 (DfEE, 1999), as itbecame known, was formulated upon three inclusionary principles: settingsuitable learning challenges, responding to pupils' diverse learning needs andovercoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals andgroups of pupils. It became quite clear to observers that the Government had putinclusion firmly on the political agenda.
Inclusion in the twenty-first century
The beginning of the twenty-first century witnessed the evolution of inclusivepractices being supported by a raft of governmental policies, initiatives andlegislation. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA, 2001)revised section 316 of the 1996 Education Act and so strengthened the rights of children to be educated in the mainstream. For the first time, institutions were notable to refuse access to placements based upon the contention that they couldnot meet the needs of individual children (Frederickson & Cline, 2002). Inaddition, the 2001 Code of Practice (DfES, 2001) confirmed the acceptance of inclusion by stating that the special educational needs of children would normallybe met in mainstream settings. It became clear, then, that inclusion was a policythat was not going to go away. However, it is important to note that whileGovernment documentation and legislation in England included a ‘strongcommitment to the principle of inclusion’ (Croll & Moses, 2003), it was still
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