This article offers a critique of what has become known as "inclusive education" under the New Labour administration. The initial impetus for the article was a research project designed to ascertain the impact of the "presumption of mainstreaming" contained in Section 15 of the "Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act…

This quasi-experimental study investigated how direct contact between students with and without disabilities impacted disability-related attitudes and specific self-efficacy of study participants. Study participants (N = 170) were students without disabilities who attended general education schools. Students in an experimental group (N = 77)…

All across the country, individuals are being recognized for successfully promoting inclusion in schools. These persons have helped make it more possible for students who have disabilities to participate in meaningful ways with their peers in a wide range of activities. Although the quality of inclusion does indeed depend on many factors related…

This article theorises findings from a research project investigating gender equity in Commonwealth higher education. The study interrogated enablers and impediments to gender equity in South Africa, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Tanzania. The focus of inquiry was access, curriculum transformation and staff development. This article examines one…

The purpose of this discussion is to explore assumptions that have informed constructions of disability and to challenge these as socially constituted judgments that influence the way teachers think and act in general physical education. A secondary purpose is to introduce social constructionism as a discourse that potentially reshapes…

Integration of individuals categorized as having special educational needs in mainstream schools has become a dominant policy in many countries. Changes in recent years in the field traditionally called "special education" have significantly influenced the education of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. The movements against…

Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled with restructuring its Soviet style educational system. The process has been sluggish and fraught with tension, resistance, and set backs, mirroring Ukraine's efforts to revamp its economy and regain productivity levels that characterized it prior to independence (Bureau of European and Eurasian…

This study investigated the attitudes of 72 Serbian teachers towards the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in mainstream schools; they were asked to complete "My Thinking About Inclusion Questionnaire" (Stoiber, Goettinger, & Goetz, 1998). It was found that Serbian teachers held overall slightly negative…

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder characterized by poor social skills and restricted interests, but also by extensive knowledge in specific areas and an extensive vocabulary, thereby giving college students with AS specific abilities that are desirable in academe. In fact, young individuals with AS are often referred to as "little…

Inclusive education policies constitute the contemporary legislative response to the education of disabled children. They can be viewed as the antidote to the historical imperatives of special education thinking, which were responsible for the disparagement and exclusion of disabled children. However, despite the extolling rhetorical proclamations…

This paper emerges from an ongoing study which involved, firstly, key informant interviews with strategic personnel within the Irish education system, such personnel representing both service providers and service users. The first part of this paper provides a brief summary of the findings of that aspect of the study in relation to the key…

The study examined attitudes toward school inclusion of students with disabilities of 1,145 prospective teacher trainees from six national/religious groups in eleven colleges in Israel: The groups were secular, religious and ultra-orthodox Jews and Muslim, Christian and Druze Arabs. Participants responded to the "Opinion Related to Inclusion…

The methodology of using a mixed qualitative and quantitative research design to evaluate 16 "inclusive" preschool programs in a continuing study is detailed. The qualitative approach was used to understand the general phenomenon and integrated with more quantitative, structured, and precise measures in an iterative, sequential process to develop…

This practicum was designed to teach appropriate social skills to mainstreamed elementary students with disabilities. It was determined that mainstream classroom teachers did not have adequate knowledge of social skills to promote interaction and develop friendships between disabled students and their nondisabled peers. A social skills inservice…

Problems encountered in mainstreaming are described in this paper, with a focus on ways to avert them. Mainstreaming refers to the placement of selected special needs students in the regular classroom. Negative teacher attitudes toward mainstreaming present a major obstacle. Because teachers have a significant effect on program effectiveness, the…