Literature Review on Inclusive Education

This assignment involves a comprehensive review of existing literature on inclusive education. It includes a list of sources and studies on the topic, with a focus on research papers and articles published in various journals and books. The sources cover a range of aspects related to inclusive education, including teacher characteristics, student perspectives, and health literacy barriers. The assignment aims to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on inclusive education and its implementation in different settings.

ESSAY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INCLUSION DEBATE TABLE ....................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
ARGUMENT 1 ...............................................................................................................................2
Cognitive gaps and diversity .......................................................................................................2
ARGUMENT 2 ...............................................................................................................................4
Social and behavioural perspective .............................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6

INCLUSION DEBATE TABLE
Stakeholder Argument
Argum
ents in
favour
of
inclusio
n
Social groups and families Acceptance of diversity (Lee and et.al., 2015)
Educators Teaching normal students to understand social
inclusion (Hornby, 2015; Messiou, 2017)
Parents, educators and
social communities
Enhanced social behaviour learning among special
children's (Clark, Dyson and Millward, 2018)
Parents Less isolation of disabled students (Veiga, 2016.)
Educators Greater access to teachers and knowledge
Educators and regulatory
agencies
Access to general curriculum instead of separate and
less effective special education curriculum
Educators Skill generalisation and acquisition (Stone and Conrad,
2017)
Parents Acceptance of individual differences
Educators Greater academic outcomes (Shaffer and Thomas-
Brown, 2015)
Argum
ents
against
inclusio
n
Educators, parents and
families
Social discrimination with disabled students
(McLeskey, Rosenberg and Westling, 2017)
Educational institutes Lack of resources and proper infrastructure for
inclusion (Danforth and Naraian, 2015)
Educators Limited teaching methods due to rigid curriculum
Parents and social
communities
Unwillingness and unenthusiastic attitude of teachers
towards disabled students (Hodkinson, 2015)
Parents Communication barriers (Howe, Boelé and
Miramontes, 2018)
Educators Ineffective educational policies and system (Veiga,
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2016.)
Parents Limited trained educators
Educators Hesitation and fear of parents (Shogrenand et.al.,
2015)
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INTRODUCTION
Inclusion is defined as the educational model in which children with special needs are
provided education in the same environment as provided to normal children. The children's who
have physical or cognitive disabilities require extra attention and care along with the special
education methods. However, there has been regular debate that if inclusion programs are
effective and suitable for both special and ordinary children (Clark, Dyson and Millward, 2018).
The study will discuss the two key arguments which highlights the various barriers related to
inclusion and perspectives of various stakeholders on inclusion programs. Since the educational
programs are foundation of life it is vital to analyse these aspects so that children are not
deprived of any kind of growth and learning opportunity.
ARGUMENT 1
Cognitive gaps and diversity
According to Manrique and et.al., (2019) inclusion programs are not practically effective
or suitable because the learning abilities and other cognitive skills of special children's are very
different from others. Thus, such students must be provided special education in separate
classrooms. However, Williams, (2019) argued that education not only aims at academics but on
social development as well. The special education can definitely meet the additional needs of
special child but it makes them realise that they are disabled and thus are isolated from the other
students. Contrary to this the inclusion programs are the best way to help such students.
Within these classrooms special children can learn to accept their disabilities and can be
provided with equal treatment and opportunities. It has been also observed that the key challenge
is for the educators. The teachers must be capable and trained enough so that they can fulfil the
special needs of children in inclusion rooms. During special education children's are allowed to
have certain benefits like additional time for performing tasks, calculators and other advanced
equipments which can help them in gaining education. However, when the same aspects are
followed in inclusion then normal students may not understand the perspective behind this and
may consider it unfavourable (Veiga, 2016).
The diversity and acceptance of diversity must be addressed in inclusion so that the
purpose inclusion can be achieved. The diversity aspect is analysed from the perspective of
students especially in primary education. The children in primary education may not have
enough understanding regarding the needs and suffering of special children. Thus, the special
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child are bullied by the other classmates in inclusion rooms. The low self esteem and
discriminatory behaviour from other students can have adverse psychological impact on learning
abilities and emotional perspective of special child (Shogren and et.al., 2015). Thus, it must be
assured that inclusion programs creates and environment of equality and special children's are
not harmed in any way.
It has been also argued by Putera and et.al., (2016) that providing education to child
separately and differently from the normal students may never help special children. Such
children may not accept their identity openly with confidence among other students and social
groups. However, inclusion rooms provides education to all students under same roof without
having bias attitude towards any of the student. The resource availability can also be one of the
critical aspect for inclusion programs. The special education schools are specifically designed to
meet the requirements of special children (Haegele and Sutherland, 2015). However, for the
inclusion rooms it may not be feasible to employ all resources needed for the special education.
Thus, it is quite uncertain that special children may get equally effective care facilities in
inclusion rooms (Armstrong, Armstrong and Barton, 2016). The government and other charity
organisations can provide the financial and strategic support to inclusions so that their role can
be increased and more special students can access their services and benefits.
Further the teachers who teaches normal children may not have experience to teach and
manage the special children. Thus, it may require including additional staff members and
healthcare staff members so that during emergency or critical situations immediate care can be
provided to the students with disability. This aspect of inclusion facility requires proper
monitoring and training for the educators. In order to assure this suitable legal frameworks must
also be followed by the classrooms (Hodkinson, 2015). The legal regulations assure that
inclusion have basic services needs by special children's, the physical infrastructure, classroom
environment, behaviour of teachers and educational skills of educators meets expected levels of
quality.
The success and usefulness of inclusion classrooms relies on the fact that how educators
and service providers manages the student diversity and the gap in their cognitive ability (Stone
and Conrad, 2017). For this all legal aspects must be analysed carefully so that they can be
implemented easily.
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ARGUMENT 2
Social and behavioural perspective
Every individual has special corner and love for the special children, however regarding
inclusion and special education vast range of perspectives are observed. The parents are assumed
to have the highest concern regarding their child. Regarding inclusion mixed response from
parents is obtained (Messiou, 2017). Most of the parents of normal students believes that there is
huge gap between ordinary education and the education provided to special children (Bryant,
Bryant and Smith, 2019). Thus, practically from the academic perspective it is not good to
encourage inclusion class rooms.
Despite trained educators it is not possible for a teacher to provide equal attention to
different types of educational approaches. For instance special children may require simpler
methods or techniques to understand a particular subject but other normal students may
understand with advanced methods. In such situation selection of anyone type of method will be
inappropriate for one type of students (Shaffer and Thomas-Brown, 2015). The children with
special needs are very sensitive and even a minor event can create a significant impact on their
mind.
Thus, such students are provided education in a very controlled and careful environment.
In inclusions such type of control is not possible thus instead of inclusion separate schools for
special education are supported by people. Further the academic curriculum of special students is
also quite different from that of ordinary students. Thus, it can be challenging aspect to
overcome this barrier. Contrary to this Ainscow, (2015) asserted that inclusion help to enhance
the social initiations so that special students can find choices for peer role models. Along with
these benefits it has been also analysed that children without disabilities also have an advantage
in learning with such students.
Usually such students have very limited understanding of special children's and their
needs (Schwab and et.al., 2015). The inclusion will help normal students to accept the social
diversity without favouring any kind of discrimination. Usually children have very limited access
or approach to inclusive societies. However, during inclusive studies when they get an
opportunity to study with disabled children then all students can learn to take a step forward in
adult phase in an inclusive and diversified society (Srivastava, de Boer and Pijl, 2015). For
instance when normal students observes that special children need their help in academics,
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helpful hand of normal students can help them master teaching activity by assistng them. One of
the essential teaching provided by inclusion learning is that individuals can learn to accept the
individual differences without getting biased.
It is common perspective among some communities that special children cannot be
provided equal treatment like normal children (Lee and et.al., 2015). So the education program
must also be designed exclusively for their needs. Since they are disabled or different from
others they must be given separate treatment. This social perspective make it impossible for the
educators to support inclusion. The inclusion classrooms also have great impact on the
behavioural perspective of individuals.
When child with special needs perform with excellence among normal students then, it
gives huge rise to their confidence that they are capable to compete with anyone without their
physical limitations. There are social communities or the regions whose economic conditions are
not good. In such regions it is not possible to provide quality education services to normal
students (Howe, Boelé and Miramontes, 2018.). Thus, government and other communities
cannot even think or plan to implement inclusion in those areas. Political framework can also
influence the behavioural perspective (Hardy and Woodcock, 2015). The inclusive school
policies can motivate parents of special children so that they can agree for such education
program without any fear or uncertainty. The success of inclusion programs depends upon the
behavioural perspective of social groups, policy makers as well as educators.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that for implementation of inclusion
parents, students and teachers must collaborate together. It will help to analyse the actual needs
of all the children. It has been also analysed that if inclusion frameworks are not developed
effectively then it can have adverse impact on educational attainment of the child. However, such
programs must be encouraged because these classrooms helps children with special needs to mix
and integrate with the main stream. It helps them to confidently cope up with other students so
that in the later stages of life they do not take their disability as a barrier.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ainscow, M., 2015. The Index for Inclusion. In Struggles for Equity in Education (pp. 95-105).
Routledge.
Armstrong, F., Armstrong, D. and Barton, L., 2016. Inclusive education: policy, contexts and
comparative perspectives. Routledge.
Bryant, D.P., Bryant, B.R. and Smith, D.D., 2019. Teaching students with special needs in
inclusive classrooms. Sage Publications.
Clark, C., Dyson, A. and Millward, A., 2018. Towards inclusive schools?. Routledge.
Danforth, S. and Naraian, S., 2015. This new field of inclusive education: Beginning a dialogue
on conceptual foundations. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. 53(1). pp.70-85.
Haegele, J.A. and Sutherland, S., 2015. Perspectives of students with disabilities toward physical
education: A qualitative inquiry review. Quest. 67(3). pp.255-273.
Hardy, I. and Woodcock, S., 2015. Inclusive education policies: Discourses of difference,
diversity and deficit. International Journal of Inclusive Education.19 (2). pp.141-164.
Hodkinson, A., 2015. Key issues in special educational needs and inclusion. Sage.
Hornby, G., 2015. Inclusive special education: development of a new theory for the education of
children with special educational needs and disabilities. British Journal of Special
Education. 42(3). pp.234-256.
Howe, K.R., Boelé, A.L. and Miramontes, O.B., 2018. The ethics of special education. Teachers
College Press.
Lee, F.L.M., and et.al., 2015. Inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood
education: What teacher characteristics matter. Topics in Early Childhood Special
Education. 35(2). pp.79-88.
Manrique, A.L., and et.al., 2019. Teachers’ perceptions on inclusion in basic
school. International Journal of Educational Management. 33(2). pp.409-419.
McLeskey, J.L., Rosenberg, M.S. and Westling, D.L., 2017. Inclusion: Effective practices for all
students. Pearson.
Messiou, K., 2017. Research in the field of inclusive education: time for a rethink?. International
Journal of Inclusive Education. 21(2). pp.146-159.
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Putera, A.A., and et.al., 2016. Looking Beyond Teacher‟ s Classroom Management: EFL
Teachers‟ Pedagogical Knowledge from Different Backgrounds in Teaching Autistic
Students in Different Settings. Education and Social Science (UK-ICESS)“Educational
and Social Issues in the Changing Asia”, p.15.
Schwab, S. and et.al., 2015. Linking self-rated social inclusion to social behaviour. An empirical
study of students with and without special education needs in secondary
schools. European Journal of Special Needs Education. 30(1). pp.1-14.
Shaffer, L. and Thomas-Brown, K., 2015. Enhancing teacher competency through co-teaching
and embedded professional development. Journal of Education and Training
Studies. 3(3). pp.117-125.
Shogren, K.A., and et.al., 2015. The perspectives of students with and without disabilities on
inclusive schools. Research and practice for persons with severe disabilities. 40(4).
pp.243-260.
Srivastava, M., de Boer, A. and Pijl, S.J., 2015. Inclusive education in developing countries: A
closer look at its implementation in the last 10 years. Educational Review. 67(2). pp.179-
195.
Stone, C. and Conrad, D., 2017. Preparing Today to Empower Future Learners: Pre-service
teachers’ experiences selecting & evaluating children’s literature for quality and use in
PreK-6th grade integrated literacy/science instruction. The Language and Literacy
Spectrum. 27(1). p.3.
Veiga, S., 2016. Professional´ s perpectives among elderly adults health literacy
barriers. Atención Primaria. (48). p.42.
Williams, M., 2019. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Foundation Funding for Arts and
Culture: Foundation Statements and Grantee Perspectives (Doctoral dissertation, Drexel
University).
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