Inclusion Is Exclusive

Persistent inequalities of gender, class, race, caste and ethnicity are evident in education systems worldwide, whether at the stage of enrolment and attendance, in outcomes and achievement, or in terms of the consequent opportunities to which education is expected to give rise. The writer is going to discuss that inclusion is exclusive. The key terms inclusion and exclusive are going to be described first.

A concise definition of inclusive education is provided by Lipsky & Gartner (1996, 1999), who described it as students with disabilities having full membership in age-appropriate classes in their neighborhood schools, with appropriate supplementary aids and support services. To Antia et al. (2002), inclusion denotes a student with a disability unconditionally belonging to and having full membership of a regular classroom in a regular school and its community. They contrasted this with integration, or mainstreaming, both of which imply that the student with a disability has the status of a visitor, with only conditional access to a regular classroom, but primary membership of a special class or resource room.

Exclusion is a process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially excluded from full participation in the society in which they live.( Gillborn and Mirza, 2000) Exclusion is a societal process – society at large is responsible for generating processes, systems and institutions premised on equal opportunity which it views as a counterpoise to exclusion.( Sen, 2000) Exclusion is recognized as a process that can arise from social norms of differentiation which are made routine through generalized labeling, categorization and definition of population groups. The term ‘inclusion’ by definition implies to be part of and to be included, while the term ‘exclusion’ suggests its opposite; to be removed, to be expelled, and to be rejected.

Social exclusion is defined as an outcome of processes of discrimination against specific groups of people (DFID, 2005), leading to their systematic disadvantage in relation to economic assets and livelihoods, human resources such as health and education services and political and social participation. As a concept, social exclusion is understood to illuminate some of the significant processes underlying poverty and its intergenerational transmission. The advantages of paying attention to these underlying processes of economic, human and social deprivation is that they point to the qualitative changes that need to be encouraged in societies to address inter-group conflicts, prejudices and/or the exercise of intimidation or oppression. Social exclusion is a process, linked to but differentiated from poverty, and is a concept that explains the experiences of groups of people.( Sparkes 1999) Social exclusion is a holistic concept which includes deprivation in the economic, social, and political sphere.(de Haan,2000)

Education exclusion is a facet of social exclusion and manifests itself in a spectrum of social and psychological inequities. Extreme educational exclusion arises when individuals and groups find themselves systematically excluded from rights and entitlements which are theirs as a result of their membership of a society and includes denial of resources and facilities.

Full Inclusion is the theory that children with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, should be placed in regular classrooms full time. It refers to the movement that all students with disabilities, regardless of type or severity, are educated full time in a general education classroom and program. This method would allow disabled children to make friends with normal children and be given the opportunity to learn in a stimulating environment, where they can get the real world education that they will need to be able to fit into society and flourish as productive members.

Without inclusion, students in special education programs would be isolated from their peers in specific special education classrooms. This setting of special classrooms often provides them with the individual attention that their special needs require. This same setting also labels them as different and can cause these students to carry a stigma with them far into their adulthood. This also could prove to be especially difficult for students who struggle with peer relationships and want to be just like everybody else. Thus one benefit of inclusion is that it levels the playing field, so to speak, and makes the classroom into a place of learning for all students, regardless of ability or disability (Zionts 2005).

For inclusion to work there must be a commitment from all educators and professionals involved to the students that will be receiving the education. Professionals from administrators all the way down to instructional aides need to see that the student comes first. The priority is the social and educational progress of the student. This will require ongoing professional development from all parties involved as well as collaboration between special and general education professionals (Lohrmann & Bambara, 2006). It is necessary for curricula and instruction to meet the needs of both exceptional and general education students.

Learners with special needs who have been included in mainstream classes achieve significant gains in writing, language comprehension and receptive language.  Most of these results occur when the focus in the classroom moves away from labeling to meaningful instruction and teaching strategies. Moreover, mainstream teachers who have accepted learners with special needs in their classes report their teaching had improved, which benefit all learners. Learners with special needs who have been included in mainstream classes achieve significant gains in writing, language comprehension and receptive language. (Lohrmann & Bambara, 2006). Most of these results occur when the focus in the classroom moves away from labeling to meaningful instruction and teaching strategies. The opportunity to socialize and share with diverse learners, help all learners to accept one another. Teachers report that including learners with special educational needs in the mainstream classroom teaches other learners, although not all, to be more accepting, tolerant, understanding and considerate of others needs. Teachers also report that the majority of learners become more positive and responsive to the needs of a learner with special needs, and when they for example, comes across others with disabilities, they are more accommodating. It is also reported that learners in general become more comfortable with individual differences, and focus on similarities in their peers when they are educated together. Where innovative teaching strategies for example cooperative learning and peer –tutoring are used, the learner of all learns as well as their self-esteem improve.(Lohrmann & Bambara, 2006). The greatest benefit of learners with and without special needs, who are educated together, is that they develop values and enable them to support inclusion of all citizens in the various levels of community life.