What if.. there were no special schools? As part of a new series, Seamus Murphy uses this question to highlight how inclusion is much further from reality in mainstream schools than many think and what it would take to fix that. A fascinating read.⬇️ www.tes.com/magazine/lea...
As part of a new series, trust leader Seamus Murphy conducts a thought experiment to offer a new view on SEND and inclusion
A central point here - “As a country, we currently reward social segregation…” We prioritise the highest attainers and instinctively assume that the presence of lower attainers or those with SEND puts those high grades at risk.
Fascinating indeed. I’d add that we would need 3 further things to change radically: 1. Accountability (eg Ofsted, exams etc). 2. Separate, fee paying schools would have to go. 3. Attitudes, such as understanding the barriers of their peers, would have to lose the slightly patronising us/them angle.
We do have to have special schools. My autistic son would have done so much better if there had been one for him.
You might be interested to look at Norway. Very few children in special schools. But you need to see it in context of wider society, models of welfare and indeed, models of disability. Schools don’t work in isolation.