Should disabled students be in regular classrooms all of the time or
some of the time? Is the regular school or the special school or both
the solution for educating students with a wide range of differences?
Inclusive education has been incorporated in government education policy
around the world. Key international organisations such as UNESCO and
OECD declare their commitment to Education for All and the principles
and practice of inclusive education. There is no doubt that despite this
respectability inclusive education is hotly contested and generates
intense debate amongst teachers, parents, researchers and policy-makers.
People continue to argue over the nature and extent of inclusion.
The Irregular School explores the foundations of the current
controversies and argues that continuing to think in terms of the
regular school or the special school obstructs progress towards
inclusive education. The book contends that we need to build a better
understanding of exclusion, of the foundations of the division between
special and regular education, and of school reform as a precondition
for more inclusive schooling in the future. Schooling ought to be an
apprenticeship in democracy and inclusion is a prerequisite of a
democratic education.
The Irregular School builds on existing research and literature to
argue for a comprehensive understanding of exclusion, a more innovative
and aggressive conception of inclusive education and a genuine
commitment to school reform that steps aside from the troubled and
troubling notions of regular schools and special schools. It will be of
interest to all those working and researching in the field of inclusive
education.
