A Special Case ?
Special schools for disabled kids have been quite a hot political issue recently. The Tory party recently stated that they would like to see a return to special schools, rather than disabled kids being educated in the mainstream.
Needless to say, Red Disability disagrees strongly with this viewpoint. We believe that segregated schools for disabled kids increase social isolation for the kids involved, and often teach their students to "know their place" in society, rather than teaching them to be active participants in society. In addition, educational apartheid means that able-bodied kids are less likely to know disabled kids, a situation which means that the prejudices prevalent in society are less likely to be broken down at an early age.
All this makes it rather enigmatic that, in Leicester, there is a campaign against the closures of special schools. The anti-closure campaign is supported by parents, teachers, political campaigners (including the left-wing Respect Coalition) and, most importantly, the students themselves. Is it that they are all reactionaries who support the social excludion of disabled kids? Actually, no. The situation is rather more complex than that.
Any genuine attempt to assimilate disabled kids into mainstream education must also include the provision of resources and facilities, so that disabled kids can have access to the assistance needed to learn, and take part in all the schools' activities. The fear in Leicester is that the closure of special schools is driven more by cost-cutting; a practice which would force kids into schools ill-equipped to deal with their special needs. Indeed, a cost-cutting agenda may also put at risk the facilities in all schools which are there for the benefit of disabled and non-disabled pupils alike.
The government makes much noise about the money it has invested in schools, but this is largely illusory. Much of the money is going to PFI schemes, which are grossly inefficient in terms of educational resources provided per pound spent; a large chunk goes into profits for the private contractors. Another portion of the money is going into a different type of "special schools", the Foundation schools which will be heavily selective in terms of which kids they admit.
Also, the move towards selection in schools will mean that - special schools or no special schools - disabled kids will be at risk of getting an inferior education. This situation has been aggravated by the SAT tests leading to school students suffering from an unbearable number of exams, a situation which has already led to the dropping of many creative lessons so that schools can cram kids for exams - this will also mean that less time is available for the special tuition needed to help kids with learning disabilities. Then there's the school league tables, which encourage schools to get good SAT test results at any cost - including the tendency to reduce admissions and increase exclusions of less academic kids, including kids with learning disabilities.
Achieving true equality in education for disabled kids cannot be achieved simply by closing special schools, and immediately moving all kids into mainstream schools. Nor can it be achieved simply by plowing money into schools, although that is part of the answer (cuts will certainly make matters worse!)
For real inclusion of disabled kids into mainstream education, we need to totally re-design the architecture of the educational system, and create an educational regime which treats kids as individuals rather than exam-taking robots.
Links
Special Schools
SAT tests
End of article.