Is there something rotten in the state of Denmark? The paradoxical policies of inclusive education – lessons from Denmark

By 2015, 96% of the entire student body in the Danish public school system must receive his or her education within the regular classrooms, and referrals to segregated special education must be reduced radically. This is the consequence of the so-called ‘Inclusion Law' passed in the Danish parliament in April 2012. The law contains a political ambition that at least 80% of the students in the public school should be proficient in reading and math when measured in national tests, and the percentage of the most proficient students must increase every year. Historically, Denmark's inclusive education is informed by the rights and ethics discourse from The Salamanca Statement. However, this article explores the paradoxical policies of inclusive education in Denmark that seem to lie on a continuum that ranges from Salamanca-inspired, equity-focused inclusion to a more US-inspired, accountability-focused inclusion.