1.1 Book Focus and Objectives
Inclusion in education or inclusive education concerns the participation in education of all children and especially of the most vulnerable ones, i.e. those who have traditionally been either excluded or at risk for exclusion from the education system. Disability in education has historically been the focus of special education , which is concerned with specialised strategies, approaches or even settings for the teaching of children with disabilities. However, since the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994) set the groundwork for the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEN/D) in mainstream schools, a lot has changed in many countries around the world, and as a consequence, in the current context of increasing universal commitment to the full participation of all children in education, it is commonly accepted that those with disabilities also have the right of access to mainstream education. As a result, inclusive education, special education and disability have become intertwined and are often regarded as synonymous, but it is worthwhile to remember that the latter two are only one of the several foci of the former (for a more extensive discussion of the relationship between these concepts, see Kamenopoulou, Buli-Holmberg, & Siska, 2015; and for an excellent historical overview, see Kiuppis, 2014). This book focuses on inclusive education and disability in countries of the global South although it is acknowledged that children with disabilities are only one aspect of the wider and multifaceted inclusion project.
Global South is a term used nowadays to describe contexts that have a history of economic and political disadvantage and that used to be called Third world or developing countries . Usually this refers to countries in Africa, Asia, South America, Middle East and the Pacific that struggle with post-colonialist structures and oppression , extreme poverty and inequality , conflict, displacement and immigration, pandemics and the consequences of climate change, to name but a few. However, it is useful to stress that research has shown that some of the problems faced by societies in the south hemisphere, such as for example poverty, injustice and inequality are also faced by people living in parts of the north hemisphere. Hence the term global South does not necessarily describe geographical location and ‘there are pockets of the global South in the global North ’ (Stienstra, 2015: p. 632). Similarly, Australia and New Zealand for example are in the south hemisphere, but are not considered underdeveloped. Nonetheless, at the same time as being one of the richest countries, Australia has many indigenous people, who live marginalised and in absolute poverty (see Altman, 2007). Accordingly, the term global South in this book is used to describe economically disadvantaged and extremely inequal contexts or spaces, where the intersections between characteristics like gender, poverty, race and disability more often than not lead to discrimination , marginalisation and perpetuated educational and social exclusion.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 80% of the worldwide population of people with disabilities live in countries of the global South (WHO, 2011). Nevertheless, the voices and stories from these countries have been significantly under-represented in research literature about inclusive education and disability to date. Most published research on the subject has focused on global North countries, like the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, the United States, and Australia (Grech, 2013). Moreover, as I explain in more detail in the next section, the majority of the limited research that has focused on the global South has been done by researchers based in the global North, who in this way continue to control knowledge and impose their own theoretical models and understandings on contexts of which at best they have a very superficial grasp (Damiani, Elder, & Okongo, 2016; Grech, 2013). This becomes particularly problematic when the foci of the research are inclusive education and disability, which are both vague concepts that can be constructed and interpreted from many different points of view. In relation to this, Farrell and Ainscow (2002) remind us that inclusive education remains a much-debated concept, with various different views as to what it means, what it entails and how it can be implemented in practice. Mitchell has moreover argued that inclusive education is a concept mediated by ‘cultural values and beliefs, levels of economic wealth, and histories’ (2005: p. 15). The same applies to the conceptualisation of disability that has been found to vary depending on the context (Kamenopoulou & Dukpa, 2017; Radindran & Myers, 2012; Riany, Cuskelly, & Meredith, 2016) or the theoretical perspective adopted (Llewellyn & Hogan, 2000; Reindal, 2008).
It is specifically in the context of researching inclusive education and disability within the global South that the above points help refocus our thinking of inclusive education as a process mediated by a range of contextual factors and continuously influenced by particular local circumstances and characteristics. It thus becomes crucial to explore these particular local circumstances, and Len Barton (1997) advises that it is important to understand the specific contexts, in which inclusive education is expected to take place, emphasising the need to listen to voices from those contexts. Others have argued for the need to support the development of inclusive practices in culturally relevant ways, such as for example by enabling teachers to reflect on their own understandings of inclusion and its meaning within their specific cultural contexts (see Hansen, 2012).
This book presents four research studies on inclusion and disability carried out in four global South countries, where research on this subject has been limited and as a consequence, very little is known. These studies gathered some rare voices from Malaysia, Bhutan, Philippines, and Belize. All those countries share a commonality, which is that they are currently in the process of developing and approving their first policies for inclusive education and attempting to figure out how to implement them in practice. The authors ask questions that are timely and relevant and allow the voices and perspectives of the local people to be heard when addressing their research questions. I argue for the value of these particular voices in the wider debate about inclusive education and disability in the global South, because they help highlight the mediating role of cultural beliefs , personal histories, and other local realities in the conceptualisation and operationalisation of inclusive education (Mitchell, 2005). These mediating factors should not be ignored by researchers, but should be meticulously documented and explored in depth.
This book therefore aims to show that current debates about inclusion and disability can benefit from all voices, because what is relevant in one context may not necessarily be relevant in other contexts. This is the reason why researchers must aim for a plurality of perspectives when studying inclusion in education, provided of course, that the research has been conducted ‘in a systematic and self-critical manner’ (Farrell & Aiscow, 2002: p. 9). Allowing different voices to be heard encourages a cross-cultural view of inclusive education, helps us focus on what it actually means for different people in different contexts and provides helpful insights into how inclusion can be implemented sustainably in these contexts. Similarly, capturing the stories and perspectives of global South contexts allows us to explore and illustrate unique experiences of disability, inclusion and exclusion lived within these contexts, and helps the development of inclusive education in ways that are meaningful, because they are responsive to the needs of these specific contexts.
In a nutshell, this book is here to argue that in discussions pertaining to disability and inclusive education all voices are valuable and have the right to be heard, and particularly those voices and contexts that have been thus far silenced or ignored. Accordingly, the specific objectives of this book are to:
- 1.Stress the role of local and cultural realities and contexts in the interpretation and operationalisation of inclusive education for children with disabilities.
- 2.Contribute to the decentralisation of global North ideas and research literature on inclusive education and disability.
- 3.Provide material that will further support teacher development on inclusive education and disability within a range of contexts.
1.2 Contribution to Knowledge or Why Is This Book Necessary?
The most ratified treaty in the world is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ...