Disadvantages On Inclusive Education

The 1999 Statutory Inclusion Statement incorporated into the National Curriculum (NC), encourages teachers to develop effective mainstream education in the classroom. The impact of such developments on inclusive practice has encouraged the 2001 Special Education Needs and Disability Act (SEND) to embed the statutory rights and duties into schools and all Early Years settings. It also concentrates on SEN learners being educated in mainstream schools, including and informing parents of the measures put in place for their child. This enabled schools to request assessments for learners who they suspected had SEN (Special Educational Needs, 2001). For teachers this should have been a positive attribute because most children with SEN would have Individual Education Plans (IEP’s) now replaced by Education Health and Care plans (EHC). Possibly the most serious disadvantages of this form of assessment are, SEN children are diagnosed at different stages resulting in no other support in the classroom, some children might not be diagnosed

Nevertheless, this has not escaped criticism from teachers because there is “less agreement about whether this principle can be realised in practice, and even if it can, about what the impacts might be on the achievements of pupils with SEN” in schools (Kalambouka et al. 2007). In their study, Kalambouka et al. (2007) suggest there were no “adverse effects on pupils without SEN” in mainstream schools, with “81% of the outcomes reporting positive or neutral effects”. However, selection bias is a potential concern because their research took place mostly in America, so the findings might not be applicable to schools in the United Kingdom and the impact on children with and without SEN will in all situations