The idea of inclusion: Conceptual and empirical diversities in Germany

Abstract

In the mid-1990s, inclusion was introduced into discussions on education; today, we still do not have a precisely defined concept of inclusion. This article focuses its attention in this context on Germany, which in ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 embarked on the path towards realising an inclusive system of education. The question examined here is what theoretical–conceptual ideas concerning the inclusion approach can be found in the scientific-legal discourse in the German-speaking region and to what extent have these found their way into school praxis. Furthermore, an attempt is undertaken to assign the ideas people working practically in the school system have about inclusion to the definition categories of the recently published attempt at systematisation by Göransson and Nilholm. The results suggest that the definition categories can also be applied to the German context. In line with the academic discourse, inclusion is interpreted in conceptual terms differently by school administrators and teaching staff. Inclusion is mainly understood in relation to the educational sector and has no clear alignment in terms of the target group in question. Clear differentiation criteria concerning the implications of how inclusion is understood are the school form in which teachers are employed, the prior experience of integrative/inclusive teaching and the function they fulfil in school.