The aim of this study is to review literature about parents' attitudes towards inclusive education. Special attention is paid to parents' attitudes and to the effect of these on the social participation of children with special needs in regular schools. A review of the literature resulted in 10 studies showing that the majority of parents hold…

This brief essay celebrates the work of Len Barton. Drawing from a range of his texts, interviews and presentations, the essay attempts to demonstrate the importance of Barton's work in establishing foundations for the related fields of disability studies in education and inclusive education by revealing the politics of special educational needs…

Specialists with international influence have been advocating in an uncompromising manner the policy of including all children with special educational needs (SEN) in regular schools and classrooms. The endorsement of this policy by an internationally agreed convention implies that it is universally applicable. This paper, however, questions the…

This article presents a case study of a child aged 12 years with a cochlear implant who is attending a mainstream educational setting in Skopje, FYR Macedonia. The study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative data, took place over a period of 12 months. It illustrates the importance of professional development and training of teachers and a…

Teachers in the Netherlands hesitate to accept responsibility for students with special needs in regular education. They generally do not have positive attitudes towards inclusive education, citing a lack of personal knowledge and skill for teaching students with special needs, an area that was not sufficiently covered in their basic teacher…

One key aspect of the growing policy emphasis on educational inclusion in England has been the tendency for physical education (PE) to be used as an important vehicle of social policy targeted at promoting the inclusion of young disabled people and those with special educational needs in mainstream schools. Drawing on aspects of figurational…

This article investigated what the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum can contribute to the issue of inclusion as a new theoretical framework for special education. By posing the question: "What is the purpose of inclusion?", I have proposed to answer this query by investigating how the capability approach is able to…

The purpose of this study was to examine Greek mainstream secondary school teachers' perceptions of inclusive education and of having pupils with complex learning disabilities (cLD) in the classroom or school. Participants included 138 Greek mainstream secondary school teachers working in inclusive state schools in northern Greece. Findings…

This article is an informal description of a forest school outdoor programme designed to boost emotional literacy, inclusion and attainment of secondary school pupils with a range of learning and behavioural difficulties. (Contains 2 online resources.)

One of the effects of implementing inclusive education is that the composition of the peer group of students with disabilities has changed from one consisting of only such students to one with no, or very few, students with disabilities. The question arises as to the implications of this situation for their social relations and self-concept. In…

This study examines inclusive education within Guyana for children with special needs (zero to eight years), from the perspectives of policy makers, teachers, and parents (n = 22). The study is framed within a social-constructivist perspective, and uses grounded theory for the collection and analysis of data. Four themes emerged from the data as…

The government in Hong Kong has mandated that all schools should start to accept children with special educational needs by employing a whole school approach. This is not a simple move for teachers as inclusive education is complex, involving a range of issues including developing appropriate government and school policy; providing relevant…

The research reported in this article by David Ryan, an adviser for special educational needs and inclusion in Belfast, was based on a participatory approach in which young people in a number of schools were encouraged to develop their ideas about inclusion. The project set out to explore any differences in perceptions between pupils with special…

This article examines the "inclusive education" strategy in Vietnam and the extent to which it facilitates learning in students with disabilities. After the introduction of the "doi moi" (renewal) policy in 1986, Vietnamese society went through a period of rapid transformation, including the educational sector. Debates on…

The article presents evidence from a systematic survey of disabled (n = 172) and non-disabled (n = 312) students regarding their learning and assessment experiences within one higher education institution in the UK. This study builds upon previous work in the sector, with the aim of gathering evidence to inform inclusive policy and practice for…