Inclusive education in Italy: description and reflections on full inclusion

Inclusion of students with disabilities when appropriate is an important goal of special education for students with special needs. Full inclusion, meaning no education for any child in a separate setting, is held to be desirable by some, and Italy is likely the nation with an education system most closely approximating full inclusion on the continuum of inclusiveness. The legal background of inclusion in Italy is sketched, along with description of some of the problems in implementing its nearly fully inclusive system of education. It is suggested that appropriate educational response to specific special needs of children with disabilities should be seen as more important than uncritical inclusion; and that such educational response requires a continuum of placement options.