Must Inclusion be Special?

Must Inclusion be Special? examines the discord between special education and inclusive education and why this discord can only be resolved when wider inequalities within mainstream education are confronted. It calls for a shift in our approach to provision, from seeing it as a conglomeration of individualised needs to recognising it to be a conglomeration of collective needs.
The author examines the political, medical and cultural tendency of current times to focus upon the individual and contrasts this with the need to focus on context. The theoretical perspectives often associated with either special or inclusive education and the broad range of interests which depend upon their ongoing development are identified and analysed. This examination leads to a problematisation of mainstream education provision and our understanding of why social inequities emerge and how additional support can overcome these inequities.

Jonathan Rix is Professor of Participation and Learning Support at the Open University, UK

Part 1: 1. Inclusive and special 2. Why do we need special and inclusive education? 3. The structures and processes of inclusion 4. Thinking and talking about special and inclusive Part 2: 5. Our focus upon the individual and the context 6. Confronting the mainstream challenge 7. Challenging the contadictions within a community of provision