What is Really Meant by Unclusion: a Teacher's Point of View

In Norwegian school inclusion of all students regardless of their functional features is a general principle of education. There is a general agreement on this principle, and we have largely managed to include students with special needs in regular classes. Most of special schools are closed. But the studies show that we still face a great deal of problems when it comes to the implementation of inclusion principle (NOU 2009/18). Inclusion implies that there should be a bridge between regular and special pedagogy in the form of adapted training. Therefore school practice should be seriously changed, so that the school is focused on the diversity of students and the uniqueness of each of them, and not only on the average student. At the same time, it is necessary to have a serious attitude to the fact that some students have severe and fatal health problems, and measures for their special needs implementation require special efforts. However, schools and teachers face a number of ethical, professional and organizational dilemmas related with inclusion and special needs that they often simply do not know what to do with. Another important problem is the fact that municipalities and counties which are responsible for schools do not follow the state legislation.

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