Inclusive Education Essay

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Essay: Position Paper on Inclusive Education Inclusion is…being in the ordinary school with other students, following the same curriculum at the same time, in the same classrooms, with the full acceptance of all and in a way which makes the student feel no different from other students. Bailey, (1998, p. 173) Consider the above statement and reflect on your own position and views of inclusion. Defining Inclusion In the 1980s integration was the term used to describe students with additional needs who went to mainstream schools. This term integration was soon replaced with inclusion. Farrel and Ainscow (2002) argued that the main problem with integration as a term was that it did not tell us a whole lot about the quality of education that students were receiving. Integration helped and supported students with additional needs fit into the mainstream progamme, however no real changes were being made within the programme itself. Rationale Human rights are believed and seen as the most crucial rationale for inclusive education. Everyone has the right to be treated equally and not discriminated against. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948) preserves, protects and respects our human right, that everyone is entitled to an education. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989)…show more content…
Exclusion is seen as morally wrong. Drastic changes have taken place in a lot of countries, as a result of discontent and unhappiness with the progress towards inclusion (Slee 1996). Research has shown that in first world countries, around 115 – 130 million children do not attend school. As well as that, there are many students who leave school and there are also those who do not receive a high quality education (UNESCO, 2005). Inclusive education tries to help and supports these students’ educational rights by preventing them from being excluded or

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