Inclusion was originally introduced in the 70’s and has created a lot of debate and media coverage over the years. It is a policy that I feel very passionately and am completely AGAINST and I hope that at least a couple of other people out there share my interest in our education system.

I’m guessing some of you are thinking…“What’s inclusion?”…well really basically it’s when children who have learning difficulties or disabilities attend mainstream schools as opposed to schools that are designed specifically to cater for these needs.  Children with special educational needs often find it harder to learn and may need more help than others of the same age due to physical, behavioural and/or emotional difficulties and in my opinion schools need to be prepared to deal with this.

A lot of people argue that inclusion has positive affects as it means that all children are treated fairly and are not classed as ‘different’ just because of their disability.  I do agree with this to some extent BUT…the question I find myself asking is:  Is it right to try and be ‘fair’ if it can actually mean being totally ‘unfair’ to everyone involved?!

I have worked in a secondary school for just over a year now and work closely with children aged 11-18 years.  Many of the children I work with have severe educational needs and I often leave work feeling shocked angry and even upset because of issues that in my opinion wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for the inclusion policy.

I feel that inclusion means many children with emotional and behavioural difficulties get a ‘raw deal’.  This is because it is only really children with severe learning difficulties and physical disabilities that are placed into schools that offer the education, resources and environment that they require in order for them to learn effectively.  I understand that there is obviously a very fine line that states which children should be accepted into mainstream education and which should not…but I do feel that it can be unfair on those that are not accepted.  Obviously every case is different but from what I have seen many children with severe learning difficulties are struggling to cope in mainstream education.

Due to the high percentage of children with severe educational needs within mainstream schools, there are often classes with a number of children all requiring one-on-one assistance with their work.  This can mean that either the children do not get the help they need or that many Teaching Assistants are needed within one classroom in order to help the Teacher just to ensure that each child is getting the help and attention they deserve.

Another observation is that many of these children do not even have certain knowledge that they should do for their age.  Many lack a basic understanding of the English language with some not even being able to say the alphabet…just to remind you again that I am talking about children at secondary level.  Others lack fundamental life skills such as being aware of basic personal hygiene.

From doing work experience within a school for children with behavioural, learning and emotional difficulties I am aware that the school and others similar do teach their children these basic life skills, by staff that have been specially trained.

I would understand the governments’ aims of inclusion a little more if ALL staff in ALL mainstream schools received the correct training in order to help the children that need it most.  From what I have seen of inclusion however I feel strongly that it either needs to be eradicated completely or seriously reorganised.  Children with severe learning difficulties are given support within mainstream schools but in my opinion this is really not enough.  From speaking to colleagues it is clear to see that both the children and the staff are often left with feelings of helplessness and frustration.  In my opinion a lot of children are leaving schools without skills, knowledge and even sometimes qualifications that I truly believe they are more than capable of achieving if only they had that little more support.

And…do you know what gets to me most of all…the policy still applies…even though the twat who introduced the whole  thing agrees with me… http://www.teachers.tv/video/3092

• NewbieDoo wrote ...

• at 16:20, Monday 20 April 2009

"this sounds like the oh so brilliant idea of 'care in the community'. Basically pass the responsibility to people who have neither the time, money or training. I understand the premise of not segregating individuals with difficulties. Unfortunately the end result is that neither the mainstream children nor the children with difficulties get the full attention they require. Perhaps another route would be for children with difficulties to have lessons taught by specialised teacher with the correct training and experience, but have one lesson a week where both mainstream and children with difficulties can integrate. For example, drama, sport, art lessens set up especially with the intention of getting mainstream children to learn to accept children with difficulties, and children with difficulties to gain experience of being with mainstream children. "