Understanding inclusion and inclusive education for students with special educational needs

Abstract

Striving towards inclusion and inclusive education requires building trust, negotiation and dialogue between stakeholders within and between countries. As seen, the Jomtien meeting moved inclusion and inclusive education into the realm of diversity, giving the concept a broader vision because it ‘now incorporated a more extensive spectrum of concerns and discourses’. Based on the broad perspective of inclusion, inclusive education can be defined as ‘education that fits’ or education as a general guiding principle towards building upon this vision of inclusion. Moreover, the World Conference on Education for All and the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education strongly influenced the educational policies of these countries. A wide range of research has concluded that the law and curriculum in Northern Europe have strengthened the ideology of inclusion and inclusive education, where every student’s right to learn has been emphasised.