The Policies and Practices of Inclusive Education - Research Paper Example

The concept of basic education in the context of human rights has therefore broadened to mean all students, even those disabled and with special educational needs (SEN), to be schooled in their choice of the mainstream, as opposed to special, schools. The issue has garnered international interest and the United Nations has been at the forefront of calling for the inclusion of all children in a mainstream environment. Throughout the last two decades, a succession of education acts revision, the identification of inclusive education codes of practices, and their implementing rules strengthened the inclusion policies.

Theoretically then, the present educational system is much changed – and, arguably, much improved – compared to the discriminatory educational practices of several decades ago. But carefully reviewing the existing system in terms of how it has been practiced – from the confused identification of SEN in a child to the lack of financial and human resources to implement it – made it apparent that inclusive education still has a long way to go to achieve what it has envisioned.

This paper will explore the rhetoric of inclusion, particularly the history that shaped the concept, the policies, and a concise view of the realities of its actual implementation. It is hoped that, given the evidence through such a discourse, it may be gauged how successful the promotion of inclusive education has been. The author intends to accomplish this by determining the difficulties of implementing inclusion and how have those difficulties been addressed as well as how it has facilitated (or hindered) the progress of inclusive education.

The Education Act of 1944 categorized children by their handicaps with labels that ranged from the maladjusted to the educationally sub-normal and considering those who fall under these categories to be “unsuitable for education at [mainstream] school” (Vaughn, 2002).