ERIC Number: EJ880954
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Feb
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0885-6257
EISSN: N/A
What Is the Purpose? Reflections on Inclusion and Special Education from a Capability Perspective
Reindal, Solveig Magnus
European Journal of Special Needs Education, v25 n1 p1-12 Feb 2010
This article investigated what the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum can contribute to the issue of inclusion as a new theoretical framework for special education. By posing the question: "What is the purpose of inclusion?", I have proposed to answer this query by investigating how the capability approach is able to deal with the rationales for inclusion that are presented in the literature. In contemporary writings, the rationale for inclusion can be divided into at least three areas: (1) ethical and socio-political; (2) ontological; and (3) epistemological. This article has argued that the enterprise of special education must be able to formulate a framework that takes into consideration all three rationales. Such a framework implies an adequate understanding both of disability and difference and of inclusion that can address the purpose of inclusion without neglecting core educational values.
Descriptors: Disabilities, Special Education, Inclusive Schools, Mainstreaming, Ethics, Social Influences, Epistemology, Special Needs Students, Student Characteristics, Competence, Social Attitudes, Equal Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A