Drivers of ‘inclusive secondary schools’ selection: lessons from Lebanon

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite growing interest in educating students with disabilities in mainstream environments over the last two decades in Lebanon, how students with disabilities and their parents identify suitable schools remains ambiguous. This research explores factors that influence students with vision impairments and their parents when selecting a school. It adopts Bronfenbrenner’s [1979. The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Design and Nature. Harvard University Press] ecological model. Qualitative data was gathered from 29 pre-secondary and secondary students with vision impairments, 10 parents, 14 headteachers and 9 leaders of governmental and non-governmental organisations. Findings reveal that for those requiring support provision, the school’s willingness to accept them and available support drive school selection. However, when children do not require support provision, academic attainment, convenience and school reputation drive selection. Furthermore, findings showed that autonomous decisions were connected to ‘normalisations’ whereby students with vision impairments acted in a way considered ‘acceptable’ by society. It can be argued that whilst some schools offer access to education for some students with disabilities, those offers, and subsequently student retention, are often dictated by school and supporting authorities and made in an exclusionary rather than inclusionary manner, demanding adaptation from students rather than the educational environment.