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The standards agenda: reflections of a special educational needs co‐ordinator
Author(s) -
Glazzard Jonathan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
support for learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1467-9604
pISSN - 0268-2141
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9604.12044
Subject(s) - mainstream , inclusion (mineral) , special educational needs , performativity , special needs , pedagogy , sociology , mainstreaming , special education , psychology , gender studies , political science , law , psychiatry
This study is a life history account of B ev, a special educational needs co‐ordinator who works in a primary school in E ngland. The research examines how, within B ev's experiences, the discourses of integration and inclusion have affected learners with special educational needs. Additionally, the study examines the impact of the ‘performativity’ agenda on a mainstream school with a high proportion of learners with special educational needs. The account illustrates how, in B ev's experiences, inclusion operates within a powerful othering framework which marginalises children with special educational needs and their teachers. Additionally, the account raises questions about the risks of choosing to work in schools with high proportions of children with special educational needs within a discourse of performativity. It raises questions about whether the inclusion agenda has resulted in limited forms of inclusion and whether it was easier to meet children's holistic needs under the integration agenda.