ABSTRACT
What becomes clear in looking at education systems like that of Bosnia-Herzegovina, that collapse as a result of warfare or violence, is that children with special educational need suffer first and longest. Modernist knowledge has been seen as being sexist: it is knowledge about men, men's activities, achievements and interests, constructed by men, according to criteria and values which are important to men. The medicine which is taught at universities in Europe and the school science which feeds into it is a knowledge system which supports the segregation and stigmatisation of those perceived to be different both in educational institutions and, far from unconnectedly, in wider society. The term knowledge protocols refers to way in which school knowledge is selected, organised, valued and assessed. Again there is a range of issues derived from the postmodernist critique of modernist knowledge which can be seen to be relevant to the education of children and young people perceived to have special educational needs.
