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…

The purpose of this study was to examine Greek mainstream secondary school teachers' perceptions of inclusive education and of having pupils with complex learning disabilities (cLD) in the classroom or school. Participants included 138 Greek mainstream secondary school teachers working in inclusive state schools in northern Greece. Findings…

This paper reports the experiences of special education needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) on the inclusion of pupils with a visual impairment (VI) in mainstream schools in Northern Ireland. A mixed method approach (postal questionnaire survey (n=113) and interviews (n=6)) was utilised to triangulate the findings. The results indicate an inverse…

The paper outlines the findings from a literature review of the English government's response to the issue of training pre-service teachers in the delivery of effective special educational needs support. The review's findings detail that although educational practice in mainstream classrooms has changed considerably since the 1970s the training of…

This paper examines developments in inclusive education in Bulgaria (BG) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) in the context of actual and desired accession to the European Union respectively. It seeks to provide insights into the national special education traditions in these countries and aims to establish how these have influenced current…

The relationship between a parent and their child who has SEN is one that, by necessity, is shared with a larger than usual group of professionals. It is perhaps inevitable, then, that this relationship has been an occasionally precarious one, with a potential for conflict due to differing perspectives and priorities. Although the ideal of…

Inclusion began in the United States and Europe as a special education initiative on behalf of students with disabilities as early as the 1980s. Now, more than two decades later, schools in these countries are changing as educators, parents, politicians and communities try to prepare for the new challenges and promises of the twenty-first century.…

In this paper, the situation of special teacher education in Finland and Norway has been analysed from three perspectives: how the curricula of special teacher education differ between and within the countries; whether inclusion is included in special teacher education; and how the special teacher education curricula reflect the national…

In the contemporary Swedish school the model student should be able to take responsibility for and carry out her/his schoolwork autonomously. Free choices in education have also increased, and equality in this context is no longer, as before, synonymous with the standardization of schooling. The abandoning of the national timetable for a trial…

The rejection of pupils with behaviour problems is a serious problem for inclusive education schools. Sometimes parents prefer special schools because they do not want their children to become outsiders in integration classes. Are they right? The study presented here surveys children with behaviour problems in integrated primary school classes and…

This paper focuses on parents' perspectives of combining special and mainstream services for their children in the early years, offering insights into: how parents came to make this choice for their children's education; what parents expected from the combined provision and how their expectations were being met in practice. The data presented…

Inclusion of SEN students in mainstream classrooms constitutes an ambitious objective of the education system in Cyprus. The legislation currently in effect provides for a clear-cut frame of action, largely based on the willingness of teachers in the mainstream school, who are expected to develop positive attitudes that encourage and support the…

This paper critically examines the array of policy approaches that have been adopted in the field of special needs education in Scotland over recent years. These are characterized in the following ways: (1) supporting or changing the child--an individualized approach; (2) making schools inclusive for all--a systems approach; (3) challenging the…

The philosophers of the Enlightenment formulated a set of new ideas and visions about access to knowledge and education for all citizens. The main discourse of modernity is linked to liberty, democracy and equality, but modernity is also an ambiguous project, characterized by an ongoing conflict between individual freedom and discipline. Modernity…

Initially, it is pointed out that adherents of a psycho-medical perspective often suggest exclusive solutions to special educational dilemmas and that such theorizing has been heavily attacked in past decades. However, it is argued that opposition of the psycho-medical understanding of special education runs the risk of blurring differences…