There’s a debate about the benefits of 100% inclusion in the classroom community. This philosophy advocates incorporation of students with special educational needs into the mainstream classroom. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in education, whether you want to work in special education or follow a general primary model, understanding what this philosophy entails is important. We’ll explore the benefits and drawbacks of this model in the article that follows, providing both sides of the debate.
On the Positive Side
The general model of 100% inclusion allows special education teachers and mainstream teachers to work together meeting the needs of all students. This philosophy allows them to pursue multiple learning outcomes and design an integrated classroom that they might otherwise lack the resources to achieve.
By breaking the students into small groups, educators in an integrated classroom can explicitly teach to each student’s needs and learning style without placing any child at a disadvantage. For both mainstream and special needs individuals, this is beneficial, permitting the greatest access to educational materials and subject matter.
Educators often cite that students with learning or developmental disabilities are isolated in the educational environment. Many other types of programs seclude them, lumping together different students with diverse challenges without much access to other children.
As special education budgets have grown smaller, the educational experience of the special needs classroom became meager and in some cases quite dismal. Integration remedies both the budget consideration by pooling resources and the isolation problem by allowing special needs students to mingle and learn from students in ordinary educational environments.
What the Negative Data is Saying
It’s important to read the conclusions of preliminary research with a practiced eye. While these studies do indicate that mainstream students who were educated with special needs peers displaying behavioral and emotional issues tended to act out and score lower in quantitative testing, the results are far from conclusive. Further research should evaluate the severity of disability, the backgrounds of mainstream students who demonstrate these behaviors, and the teacher resources made available for coping with the challenges of these integrated classrooms.
However, while these indirect impacts merit further study, one obvious drawback to the inclusion model affects special needs students. While all school children may experience boredom or frequent attention changes, special needs students have a greater propensity to become bored or frustrated with instruction. It has also been noted that teachers who are not specially trained to work with these children often lack the coping skills or strategy to do so. As a result, children with developmental or emotional disorders suffer.
In their peer groups, children also present a challenge to this model. While a stupendous effort has been made to foster inclusion and understanding of individuals with different needs, not all children in mainstream programs understand this or exercise compassion. In an integrated classroom, the potential for bullying or excessive emotional distress increases. Children diagnosed on the autism spectrum do have specific social, emotional, and spatial needs that are not always accommodated by their peers, which can cause disruption and distress a child even with a high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.
It isn’t so much a case of whether or not to continue with inclusion efforts in the classroom. The philosophy has too much promise to discard, offering interaction to traditionally sequestered students and chances to learn and grow as human beings for all school children. All teachers should be armed with information and training to help them address student needs and greater care taken to foster positive student attitudes. However, what is most apparent is that resources must be made available to educators in 100% inclusion classrooms.
You might also like: 5 States in Which You Can Teach Special Education Without a Special Education Degree
