Abstract
Within the inclusion debate, the concepts of participation, equality, fraternity, liberty and democracy are often used by those favouring the inclusive perspective. These concepts are used to create a distance between traditional special education and inclusive education that seems to be grounded in a moral argument in favour of inclusive education. In order to better grasp the consequences of the moral argument in special education this article explores some of the mechanisms underlying the debate between traditional special education and inclusive education. Based on some major claims presented in childhood research, I focus on aspects of the history of childhood in relation to romanticism and nationalism. The claim made in this article is that the historical framework of childhood, related to romanticism and nationalism, creates a moral opposition that can be used to support praxis both for traditional special education and inclusive education.
Highlights
Within the inclusion debate, the concepts of participation, equality, fraternity, liberty and democracy are often used by those favouring the inclusive perspective
Participation, benefit, equality, fraternity, liberty and democracy are all concepts that are commonly used when the purpose and goal of inclusive education are presented. All these concepts bring a positive flavour to the goal of creating an inclusive school and society, and are presented as antonyms to words such as exclusion and marginalisation. These latter concepts are often associated with traditional special education, as viewed from the inclusive perspective (e.g. Brantlinger 1997; Gallagher et al 2004; Hausstatter 2011), creating a distance between traditional special education and inclusive education that seems to be grounded in a moral argument in favour of inclusive education (Vehmas 2008; Oliver 1991)
In relation to special education, the traditional view is linked to the school focusing on social formation, while the inclusive perspective is connected to the school that focuses on self-formation (Hausstatter 2007) (Table 1)
Summary
The concepts of participation, equality, fraternity, liberty and democracy are often used by those favouring the inclusive perspective These concepts are used to create a distance between traditional special education and inclusive education that seems to be grounded in a moral argument in favour of inclusive education. Participation, benefit, equality, fraternity, liberty and democracy are all concepts that are commonly used when the purpose and goal of inclusive education are presented All these concepts bring a positive flavour to the goal of creating an inclusive school and society, and are presented as antonyms to words such as exclusion and marginalisation. These latter concepts are often associated with traditional special education, as viewed from the inclusive perspective
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