Inclusive education happens when children of all abilities and backgrounds learn together in the same classroom. The most convincing argument is that all children should be educated together in a fully inclusive system, as children should have equal rights when regarding their education, despite their family’s socio-economic status. By taking a philosophical stance it will be argued that an inclusive education system provides a more attractive schooling system and quality of learning. Throughout history there have been many claims that support the idea of inclusive education, thereby offering it more benefits than selective schooling. Claims have been made for both arguments, some aspects will be discussed such as, education equality and the idea of faith schools, together with John Dewey’s work
Teaching children in a fully inclusive setting enables them to interact with others from different backgrounds. For example, differing religious beliefs, socio-economic status, cultural identity and race. This in turn prevents prejudice and discrimination as it exposes children to different ways of living. A fully inclusive school system is supported by the ideas of philosopher Rousseau who believed that education was important for the wellbeing and interests of the individual. (Curtis, W. 2011). In addition, a fully inclusive school system in turn creates an equal society. Education encourages people to find their place in society; it exposes children from a young age to the real world; molding them into their place in society. This is as a result of education, as information is instilled within us – with the purpose that we obtain the necessary knowledge so to have a voice to fight for what we believe in. For instance, Malala Yousefazi can be admired for fighting to “ensure all girls receive 12 yeas of free, safe, quality education” (Yousefazi, M) in Pakistan. Malala grew up in a region where the Western idea of education is not favourable. It can be said that Pakistan’s inequality in education is being socially reproduced due to the system favouring boys; resulting in young females such as Malala fighting for their educational rights. This in theory, portrays that selective school systems should be a thing of the past.
Contrastingly, it can be said that a fully inclusive education system is not always the best option. Some children learn better in specific environments suited towards them. For example, a faith school. A faith school provides a general education within a framework of a specific religious beliefs (dictionary.com). The topic of faith schools is controversial as many people feel it leads to a misunderstanding of other religions. However, Hand argues, “the objection to faith schools that features most prominently in contemporary debate, is that they lead to social division and religious intolerance. It has yet to be shown that faith schooling has these consequences; but if it does, they are accidental.” (Hand, 2003). This in turn shows that attending a faith school still is inclusive education, but just within one specific religion. More evidence supporting faith schools arises from Dewey, who believed in “progressive education”; he was a pragmatist and believed that reality must be experienced (Dewey, 1997). Focusing on what Dewey stated it can be said that if one does go to a faith school their interest is very likely to lie within their religion. Which in turn, coincides with what Dewey proposed when explaining his view that the curriculum should be driven by interests of students. Furthermore, faith schools come under 3 branches of philosophy: epistemology, religious and the philosophy of mind. Whilst looking at the philosophy of mind it gives the children a choice to learn about ‘what makes me’ – enabling them to learn deeper about their religion. Another view of Dewey’s is that there shouldn’t just be one route of education – faith schools not only teach religion they also teach core subjects – therefore helping one develop personally. Furthermore, figures show that faith schools perform as well as, or better than other state schools. For example, the public school in Manchester is ‘King David High School’ which is a Jewish school. (Miller. Dobson, 2018). To sum-up, faith schools demonstrate that selective education does work, however it does not set children up for the real-world exposure to other religions – contributing to an unequal society.
Many say that education should be all-embracing to empower people to get work. If the result of education is work, then everyone should have equal chances and opportunities; creating a level playing field when it comes to the field of work. In addition, the curriculum should be catered towards aiding students to get into work in an inclusive way – for example diversity, including everyone from all backgrounds rather than focusing on the privileged and elite. Furthermore, inclusivity exposes children who do not suffer from special educational needs (SEN) to those who do – providing them means to become aware of others different than themselves, promoting diversity which assists in preparing them for a non-judgemental adult life. On the contrary, this idea of schooling may not work for all. Some children with SEN may progress better where they get increased one on one teaching. Additionally, a larger school environment may not be right for all, hence why “there was a 65% increase in children recorded as home educated in the UK in the six years” (Jeffreys, B. 2015). In opposition to Rosseau, one may argue that children need particular environments to achieve their full potential. This attitude would be promoted by Plato (428-348 BC) who believed individuals were ‘born with different moral and intellectual capacities’ (Curtis, W. 2011).