Complete a written assignment that will demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the legal requirements and policy relating to inclusion. Critically analyse the issues surrounding Special Educational provision and disability in school.
During the ten years that I have worked in primary education inclusivity has played an increasingly important part when considering how the curriculum can be delivered and how a classroom can be managed to ensure that it is accessed by all children. Experience of working within a primary classroom has shown that the accommodation of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and the delivery of inclusive lessons have had a vital part to play when determining classroom practice. Historically however, an inclusive solution to supporting students with additional educational needs has not always been explicit in teaching pedagogy and an educational policy of segregation, then integration (rather than inclusion) was usual prior to the research and findings of Warnock in her report of 1978:
Thus we are proposing a general framework of special education which is much wider than the present statutory concept, and within that, though an integral part of it; the means of safeguarding the interests of the minority of pupils whose needs cannot be met within the resources generally available in ordinary schools. This framework is intended to establish once and for all the idea of special educational provision, wherever it is made, as additional or supplementary rather than, as in the past, separate or alternative provision. (Warnock, 1978, p.49)
The Warnock Report came at a time when the disability movement had gathered considerable momentum. The civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s offered a platform from which the movement might take advantage. The protestations of the movement gave rise to disability studies as a credible academic discipline and the parents of children with SEN became more vocal,
References: AINSCOW, M. (1995). Education for All: Making it Happen, Support for Learning,10, 4 pp. 147– 155 ARCELUS, J BRIGGS, J. (2004) Inclusion and How to Achieve It: Meeting SEN in Secondary Classrooms. London: David Fulton Publishers CORBETT, J DFEE (1997) Excellence For All Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs. London: HMSO DFES (2001) Special Educational Needs: Code of Practice DFES (2003). Every Child Matters (Green Paper). CM 5860. London: Stationery Office. DFES (2004). Removing Barriers to Achievement: The Government’s Strategy for SEN. DFES 0117/ 2004 Nottingham: DFES Publications FREDERICKSON, N, and CLINE, T FULCHER, G. (1993) Schools and contests: a reframing of the effective schools debate In: R. SLEE (1993) Is There a Desk With My Name on It? The politics of Integration. London: Falmer p.125 JOHNSTONE, D MARKS, D. (1999). Disability: Controversial Debates and Psychosocial Perspectives. London: Routledge METCALFE, J OLIVER, M. and BARNES, C. (2010). Disability studies, disabled people and the struggle for inclusion. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 31(5), pp. 547-560 OUVRY, C RICHARDS, G. (2010). Managing Current Developments in SEN and Inclusion: Developing Confidence in New Teachers. Management in Education. 24(3), pp. 107-110 TDA (2010) THOMPSON, G. (2002). Forum SENCO Integration/ Inclusion. Saturday 20th July 21:38 http://lists.becta.org.uk/pipermail/senco-forum/2002-July/024373.html (accessed online 1st January 2011) WARNOCK, M