Integration and Mainstreaming in Cultural Context: Canadian and American Approaches

THE OBJECTIVES of this paper are to review the cultural and historical context in which the notion of mainstreaming has developed in the United States and to contrast this with a proposed model for Canadian integration practices. Mainstreaming and integration are contended to be distinctive, reflecting different social dynamics and cultural traditions in each country. There are contrasts in both administrative and research implications of assuming a mainstreaming or integration model. Research on the instructional implications of mainstreaming in the United States most frequently concerns changes in the achievement and adaptive behaviour of exceptional groups as they become more like the mainstream. The chief administrative implication of an integration model is that significant effort should be expended on the development of positive attitudes accepting differences on the part of nonexceptional students. By contrast a mainstreaming model would place more emphasis on adaptation by the exceptional student, so‐called ‘preparation’ for mainstreaming.