Inclusive education: are there limits?

Over the past 10 years there has been a growing impetus worldwide towards 'full inclusion'. More recently this has been balanced by desires to ensure 'responsible inclusion' and an awareness that there may be some pupils for whom 'inclusive' schools are inappropriate, at least at some stage in their school career. The study aimed to find out the views of a range of professionals in relation to 'inclusion'. A questionnaire was sent to Principal Educational Psychologists in England and Wales, and focus group discussions of mixed groups of professionals were arranged to address questions of 'inclusive education'. The study suggests that there are considerable obstacles in the way of 'full inclusion' and that schools as currently organised frequently find it difficult to meet the wide range of individual needs. The apparent conflicts in government policy between the 'standards' and 'league tables' discourse and the 'inclusive schools' discourse make it difficult for schools to become more inclusive.