Inclusive Education and Special Needs Education

Abstract

Much in agreement with a radical interpretation of the notion of inclusion, this chapter exemplifies the differences among the concepts of inclusion, special needs education and integration and their being embedded in different theoretical frameworks. The argument presented in this chapter will seek to break out of the traditional ‘special education’ rationale which immediately locates the issues of inclusion and exclusion with the identification and remediation of students categorised as ‘different’ on the basis of an individual impairment, social and economic disadvantage and/or ethnic origin (Ainscow & Booth, 1998).