Ongoing trends in special education
2017 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2017.
Keywords [en]
special education, special education needs, ideological context of special education
National Category
Educational Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-25162OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-25162DiVA, id: diva2:1138439
Conference
The Intarnational Conferenc on New Approches in special needs ’17 (ICONSEN’17), 16-18 October 2017, Zagreb, Croatia
Note
Liya Kalinnikova Magnusson
Academy of Education and Economics, University of Gävle, Sweden
liakaa@hig.se
Keywords: special education, special education needs, ideological context of special education
Special education during the last decades is becoming more and more associated with social sciences (such as sociology, social work, etc.), distancing itself from individualized approaches (such as in medical sciences, etc.). Instead of focusing on individual needs, special education is targeting the educational situation as a whole as “teaching/learning environment” (for example, classroom as a basic educational setting). The result of this trend is seen through the challenge to the traditional field of special education and the implementation of inclusive education in accordance with international and national documents. This challenge is based on the opposition between individualized approach (traditional for special education) and “education in more diverse groups of students with different educational needs” approach (inclusive education). Inclusive education creates a conflict leading to this opposition and aiming to solve it, signifying the importance of an individual as well as a group approach. Implementation of inclusive education meets a bunch of dilemmas, where the existence of the infrastructure of special institutions is still a central part of them (Hornby 2014; Rosenqvist, 2009).
Inclusive education lifted up the discourse of equality in and accessibility to education, for those who need special education support. Groups of students with learning problems and in need of special educational support became wider and more varied. For example, waves of migration in Europe, affected special educational systems nationally and internationally, creating new needs of knowledge in teacher education. Such phenomena as “disproportionality” and “overrepresentation” of migrant children in special schools comparing with the original population of children is one of the aspects of growing variability in education, where dilemmas of meeting individualised and group focus approaches need to be analysed and understood (Berhanu, 2014; Fridlund, 2011; Peniagua 2015; Rosenqvist, 2009).
Finally, globalised processes in education are meeting extremes of embedded parts of special education science and practice in ideological national contexts. In order to understand the “special education developmental trend”, researchers need to contextualize its roots and look outside the classroom, how society is promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education. (Kalinnikova Magnusson, 2017). Special education may in this way become a bridge uniting several professional arenas aiming to create functional educational systems for all and in all countries
Reference:
Berhanu, G., & Dyson, A. 2012. Special Education in Europe, Overrepresentation of Minority Students. In Encyclopedia of Diversity, edited by J.A. Banks, 2070-2073. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fridlund, L. 2011. Interculturell undervisning – ett pedagogiskt dilemma. Talet om indervisning i svenska som andraspråk och i förberedelseklasser. Doctoral thesis. Gothenburg Studies in Educational Sciences 310, Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Goteborg, Sweden.
Hornby, G. (2014) Inclusive Special Education. Evidence-Based Practices for Children with Special Needs and Disabilities. Springer.
Kalinnikova Magnusson, L. & Walton, E. (2017). Challenges Arising From the "Red" and the "White" Special Education Legacy. 15th Biennial International Association of Special Education (IASE) Conference : Addressing the Exceptional Needs of the Whole Child and Young Adult: Embracing the Future.
Peniagua, A.( 2015). The participation of immigrant families with children with SEN in schools: a qualitative study in the area of Barcelona. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 30 (1): 47-60.
Rosenqvist, J. (2009). Specialpedagogik i mångfaldens Sverige. Delstudie II: Särskolelever med utländsk bakgrund i storstäder. Specialpedagogiska rapporter och notiser från Högskolan Kristianstad, Nr 4.
2017-09-052017-09-052021-08-30Bibliographically approved