Inclusive Education And The Politics Of Inclusive Education

The global education system is faced with a number of challenges, among them, the quest for excluded groups in society to be included in the mainstream education and social settings. This has in the recent past given rise to the ideology of inclusive education alongside its political struggles in policy formation and implementation. However, looking at exclusion as the main influence behind inclusion, it is crucial to understand and deal with the root of exclusion in education in order to address the politics of inclusive education and consequently, plan the way forward for education of the future. Inclusive education is usually discussed alongside special education which appears to represent educational exclusion. Thus, there are a number

Thus, in this paper I refer to it in relation to its goals for students with disabilities. Drawing from Artiles, Kozleski, Dorn and Christensen (2008) and Slee (2011); the main objectives of Inclusive education are; to create a social and educational environment where students with various disabilities are included in the regular schools with their peers, enhance the school staff and students’ acceptance of all students as well as maximise student participation and increase the achievement of all students. On the contrary, the idea behind traditional special education is that schooling for students with disabilities is most effective when provided in a separate setting with special education experts, and that disability labels are inevitable and beneficial (Slee,

But most importantly, it shows how the education system inherently excludes people with disabilities by building a mindset, around the mainstream environment, of who belongs in the regular classroom and also through the norms and values governing regular schools which push students with disabilities back to the segregated schools where they feel safe and accepted. In affirmation, the Marxist ideology of education elaborates how education has continued to serve the interest of the dominant group by meeting their needs while limiting educational opportunities of the oppressed and marginalized groups and further, imposing values and norms of the dominant group which are usually out of reach for the marginalised groups, thereby putting them in the state of self exclusion. The schools further reinforce inequality by socialising individuals to stay within their classes or in this case, teaching students to accept their subordinate status in society. In short, Marx’s view is that the dominant group has the power to control its subordinates through its ideologies reflected in the mainstream education. Unfortunately, this power is hidden in laws and rules (Sadovic & Coughlan,