Inclusive education in New Zealand: policies, politics and contradictions

Abstract

This article argues that the progressive education policies introduced into New Zealand special education (SE) services during the late 1980s were sabotaged by neoliberal policies. The vision of inclusive education for students with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities was swept up in a wave of successive ideological policies and practices between 1989 and 2013 that polarised and rationalised the SE services to both schools and students. Three time periods will be examined to show how the intended rhetoric and ideologically driven benefits of the neoliberal policies removed, rather than maintained, the support that was needed for these policies to succeed. The ‘neoliberal changes’ (1990–1999) focus on policy developments for students with SEN which sought to provide them with the same educational opportunities and choices as all other students. The ‘de-segregation period’ (2000–2007) examines the implementation of those policy shifts within inclusive educational settings. The ‘continued uncertainty’ (2008–2013) looks at ways in which current policy and practice reflect changes in government and how policies have worked against cohesion and stability in fulfilling this commitment. This article demonstrates how historical, economic and political factors interrupted the social and educational commitment to securing the rights of all students to be schooled with their age peers.