(Dis)abling children in primary school micro-spaces: geographies of inclusion and exclusion

Abstract

The geography of disabled children's schooling in the United Kingdom (UK) is changing, and this is underpinned by a growing international consensus that disabled children should be educated within mainstream school settings (UNESCO, The Salamanca statement and framework for action on special educational needs. World Conference on Special Needs Equality and Quality, Salamanca, Spain, 1994). As a result, new geographies of desegregation in disabled children's education are emerging, with disabled children being increasingly educated within mainstream rather than ‘special’ schools. This paper explores this issue, focusing on the (re)production of discourses of ‘inclusion’ and ‘disability’ in two mainstream primary schools in England. Empirical findings demonstrate that school actors reproduce meanings of inclusion and disability in different ways within and between school settings. It is shown that discourses of inclusion are frequently based on educational–medical models of disability, and can serve to exclude some children from mainstream schools. With this in mind, the paper highlights the value of a spatially sensitive evaluation of inclusion, that emphasises the importance of schools as unique moments in space and time to everyday practices of inclusion and disability.