ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses primarily in relation to practice in the age range of compulsory school attendance. It examines those factors which determine how integration is approached and how these influence its impact on those involved. The chapter presents a brief resume of the origins of concern for integration and a description of how it is conceived. It explores the way educational policy and provision determines how integration occurs in schools. Concern to integrate pupils with special education needs (SEN) into ordinary schools is widespread within many countries in the world. The relevance of physical disabilities or impairments is not denied in the argument, but it does point up the fact that, because of the compensatory interaction, physical impairment and disability only partly determine the nature of SENs. The concept of SEN is of significance for integration in a number of respects. The demands for integration are superimposed on the historical sequence in the development of countries’ patterns of educational provision.
