ABSTRACT
Since the 1981 Education Act reaffirmed the principle of integration, the law has made provision for all pupils to be educated in mainstream schools. One of the problems associated with the continuation of an individualised notion of ‘special educational need’ is that provision is also targeted at the individual pupil. This provision therefore tends to remain on the periphery of the school curriculum rather than becoming an integral part of it. As Dyson (1997) has argued, an ‘army’ of special educators has ‘colonised’ rather than transformed mainstream schools. The full inclusion of pupils identified as experiencing particular difficulties in learning, for example in the area of literacy, therefore presents a number of challenges to mainstream schools:
The challenge confronting the inclusive school is that of developing a child-centred pedagogy capable of successfully educating all children, including those who have serious disadvantages and disabilities…. Special needs education incorporates the proven principles of sound pedagogy from which all children may benefit. It assumes that human differences are normal and that learning must accordingly be adapted to the needs of the child rather than the child fitted to preordained assumptions regarding the pace and nature of the learning process.
