Competing Values, Policy Ambiguity: A study of mainstream primary teachers’ views of ‘inclusive education’

dc.creator	Patrick Mulhern
dc.date	2006-04-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-08-12T11:25:19Z
dc.date.available	2015-08-12T11:25:19Z
dc.identifier	1477-5557
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/87c79c6f9f3f481b848cb5260cb2ad77
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/30134
dc.description	The aim of this study is to show how teachers’ views of ‘inclusive education’ may reflect the tensions, contradictions and dilemmas of classroom practice with reference to pupil diversity. My particular interest is whether teachers experience dilemmas around ‘inclusive education’ and how they resolve them. There are, it would seem to me, four sets of questions relating to ‘inclusive education’. These are: • How is it defined; • How compelling are the arguments for it based on ‘rights; • What is the research evidence to support its promotion; • In what ways does it influence or challenge educational practice? I am about to embark on data collection, and I am currently piloting the first of two questionnaires. In what follows, some of the difficulties associated with the definition of ‘inclusive education’ are considered, the historical background is sketched and some of the reasons why I have chosen to focus on teachers’ understandings of ‘inclusive education’ are explained. Barton (1998) echoes the aspirations of the Salamanca Statement when he writes that “inclusive education is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end, that of establishing an inclusive society” (p 84). I am struck by a sense of irony to be researching the concept of ‘inclusive education’ at a time when the media reflect a sense of greater separation and difference within society. Examples of this are: the recent war with Iraq, with people positioning themselves as ‘doves’ or ‘hawks’; the political moves to separate asylum seekers from the host community and suspicions about their motives for coming to Britain; and how British courts are reported to send more people to prison than in many other countries. There are other examples that focus upon difference and diversity. Currently, separation and exclusion seem to be recurring themes within the media; could it be that set against such a background ‘inclusive education’ may become at best an even greater challenge or at worse a form of Utopianism?
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Institute of Education, University of London
dc.relation	http://www.educatejournal.org/index.php?journal=educate&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=26
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1477-5557
dc.source	Educate~, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 5-10 (2006)
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Theory and practice of education
dc.subject	LB5-3640
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	Competing Values, Policy Ambiguity: A study of mainstream primary teachers’ views of ‘inclusive education’
dc.type	article