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Integration versus segregation: the early struggle
Author(s) -
Copeland Ian C.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1046/j.1468-3156.2001.00082.x
Subject(s) - ideology , commission , period (music) , royal commission , political science , contrast (vision) , pedagogy , sociology , public administration , psychology , law , politics , aesthetics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science
Summary This paper is concerned with the first educational provision for pupils in the UK who were considered dull, backward and defective towards the end of the nineteenth century. In 1870 and 1880, two Royal Commissions were established to examine the conditions prevalent in elementary education. Subsequently, the recommendations of a Royal Commission in 1889 and an Education Department Committee in 1899 concerning the education of blind, deaf and ‘exceptional’ children were ambiguous, and the foundations of these proposals were flawed. During this period, only seven out of the hundreds of school boards in the UK established classes for these pupils. All seven sets of classes were different in their own ways, but two provided a sharp contrast: one displayed the quintessential features of integrated provision, and the other those of separate, segregated education. For personal and ideological reasons, the model of segregated provision prevailed and dominated the future system.