What is inclusion and who gets to decide?

A research report from Natspec exploring inclusion from the perspective of specialist college learners and leaders.

Inclusion is a concept that everyone supports – but not everyone is defining it in the same way. In the UK government’s SEND reform proposals and in Welsh ALN reforms, primacy is given to the location of learning, with inclusion in mainstream being the goal. Over many years, however, learners in Natspec member colleges have told us that their experience of specialist college where they are learning separately from their non-disabled peers, is highly inclusive.

Up until now, the voices of those who work and learn in specialist colleges have largely been overlooked in terms of defining inclusion. This research addresses that gap, enabling learners from specialist colleges and the education professionals supporting them, to have their say. The research sets out what inclusion means from their perspective and how it is achieved in specialist colleges. It also identifies practices that could be usefully transferred from specialist to mainstream FE settings to make mainstream more inclusive. <

When viewed through the specialist college lens, inclusion becomes much less about location and much more about the quality of a young person’s experience of education. It is defined by belonging, agency and access to appropriate expertise. This report challenges the governments of England and Wales, and local authorities across both countries, to think differently about inclusion. It calls on them to recognise the role of specialist settings, alongside their mainstream counterparts, in achieving a truly inclusive education system.

Read the report

 

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