Conceptual Diversities and Empirical Shortcomings - A Critical Analysis of Research on Inclusive Education

Autor/inn/en	Göransson, Kerstin; Nilholm, Claes
Titel	Conceptual Diversities and Empirical Shortcomings - A Critical Analysis of Research on Inclusive Education
Quelle	In: European Journal of Special Needs Education, 29 (2014) 3, S. 265-280Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0885-6257
DOI	10.1080/08856257.2014.933545
Schlagwörter	Forschungsbericht; Educational Research; Inclusion; Criticism; Mainstreaming; Student Needs; Disabilities; Definitions; Educational Philosophy + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bildungsforschung; Pädagogische Forschung; Inklusion; Kritik; Handicap; Behinderung; Begriffsbestimmung; Bildungsphilosophie; Erziehungsphilosophie
Abstract	The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse research about inclusive education. Prior reviews and the outcome of a recent search of databases are analysed with regard to (a) how inclusion is defined and (b) what empirical knowledge there is regarding factors that make schools and classrooms more inclusive. Our point of departure is that we regard inclusion as an idea about what school systems, schools and classrooms should accomplish, and as such, an expression of an educational philosophy. Four different understandings of inclusive education were found: (a) inclusion as the placement of pupils with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, (b) inclusion as meeting the social/academic needs of pupils with disabilities, (c) inclusion as meeting the social/academic needs of all pupils and (d) inclusion as creation of communities. Under a strict definition of inclusive education, hardly any research was found which reliably identified factors that give rise to inclusive processes. The outcome of our analyses are discussed from the perspective that different understandings of inclusion should be seen, to a large extent, as expressions of different views of what schools should accomplish. We also propose that some of the adherents to inclusion as creation of communities can be placed in the grand educational tradition reaching back to Dewey that tries to establish new ideals for school systems in a society in which individualism is perhaps the main ideology. The main conclusions are that the operative meaning of inclusion in reviews and empirical research should be much more clearly defined and that new types of studies are needed. (As Provided).
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Begutachtung	Peer reviewed
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10