DILEMMAS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: LESSONS FROM LITERATURE

Abstract

Inclusive education endeavors to incorporate individuals with intellectual disabilities into the mainstream educational system to the maximum extent practicable. This approach, however, inevitably encounters challenges due to the notion of inclusion through selective exclusion, which entails partial exemptions from standard grading, specialized classrooms, differentiated treatment by educators, and other accommodations. Applying sociological systems theory, we propose that these conflicts can be delineated into three distinct tiers within the educational system: the functional macrosystem of education, the organizational level, and the individual level of classroom interaction. Analyzing the issue through this framework reveals that the difficulties associated with inclusive education emerge from tensions between these three levels. For example, the integration of students into mainstream educational institutions often necessitates their exclusion from certain elements of the broader educational system. While these tensions cannot be entirely eliminated, they can be addressed in ways that better meet the needs of individuals with special educational requirements.