Politics, Marketisation and the Struggle for Inclusive Education

Abstract

The theme of this paper is one of the most important and urgent issues facing all societies concerned with the education of their future citizens. The pursuit of 'Education for All' will entail engaging with questions of injustice, social justice, equity and participatory democracy. It is thus part of a human-rights approach to education and living, one in which the barriers to the empowerment of all pupils must be removed. It is essential, therefore, that we do not underestimate the serious, complex and contentious nature of the issues involved in the pursuit of inclusive policies and practice. The process will be challenging and disturbing necessitating fundamental changes to the social and economic conditions and relations of a given society. This will include, changes to the values informing the prioritisation and distribution of resources, how society views difference, how schools are organised, how teachers view their work, the styles of their teaching and the nature of the curriculum. This paper will briefly contextualise the analysis within a socio-political framework, explore the essential aspects of a social model of disability, discuss the question of inclusive education and the marketisation of education and, finauy, offer some concluding comments. Prominence will be given to the voices of disabled people and I will discuss the developments within my own society which (hopefully) will act as a stimulus and source of ideas and questions. In both the formulation and presentation of this paper I am reminded of the salutary and insightful statement of Apple (1986) in his discussion of critical analysis. He maintains that: