University of Bolton
Department of Education
Chadwick Campus
Bolton
BL2 1JW
14th May 2006.
Letters to the Editor
The Observer
3-7 Herbal Hill,
London
EC1R 5EJ
Dear Editor,
The Observer Comment, Sunday 14.05.06 is perpetuating a growing myth, that:
The Warnock Committee Report, chaired by Dame Mary Warnock, on the provision
for children with special education needs in the late 1970’s advocated
inclusion. The concept of inclusive education was never explored by the
committee, to state that Mary Warnock was the “architect of inclusion” but
has now “recanted from her position” is a travesty of the truth and provides
an unhelpful and seriously misleading context to this important debate.
The Warnock Report advocated different types of integration for some
learners with special educational needs; Locational Integration, where some
learners could be placed on the same site as the ordinary school, Social
Integration, where some learners could have an opportunity to socialise with
learners from the ordinary school and Functional Integration where some
learners could be in the ordinary schools and function as other learners.
There was no serious expectation that schools should change to accommodate
the different ways of learning or the different support requirement of new
learners. The Warnock Report stated that there would always be some learners
who would always need segregated special schooling.
Inclusive education is a much more profound and deeper challenge to our
schooling system. The starting principle is that each and every learner,
irrespective of the nature or degree of their impairment should have the
right to belong to their local school and their local community, with
meaningful and appropriate support, enabling each learner to participate and
contribute to such a learning community.
This is increasingly happening, with many excellent examples, where
schooling systems have shifted and adapted to accommodate such diversity to
the benefit of all learners. There is “nothing wrong” with learners who
require different supports; there is something wrong with a schooling system
that is structurally designed to reject learners who are defined by their
difference.
Rather than “A shabby attempt to undermine human rights laws” (Observer
Comment 14.05.06) the Government should be actively asserting the
protections such Rights are supposed to give all learners and not segregate
people away in special schools because of their differences.
Since the publication of the Warnock Report, the debate has shifted away
from justifying why a learner should be included into their local school and
community to seriously challenging the practice of segregation. The impulse
to segregate learners in early life leads us to further segregate in most
other aspects of a persons’ later life.
Our schooling systems, like our societies, have to be much more creative at
learning from our differences if we are to create safe places for people to
live.
With good wishes
Joe Whittaker
Department of Education
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