Why (not) associate the principle of inclusion with disability? Tracing connections from the start of the ‘Salamanca Process’

Abstract

This article reflects on changes in the disability-related educational approach of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), specifically investigating the context UNESCO's Special Needs Education unit was embedded in while following up the ‘World Conference on Special Needs Education’ that was held in Salamanca 20 years ago. The paper starts with the observations that first education for all and inclusive education are currently as education themes of UNESCO quite similar in terms of their scope and rationale. Second, although debates on inclusive education have been fuelled in context with the UN-‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, disability plays a less important role in UNESCO's programme spectrum, compared to some decades ago. Drawing from a study on institutions and knowledge analysing shifts in meanings of inclusive education, the recent tautology of themes is interpreted in connection with changes of UNESCO's approach to special needs education after 1994 and as consequence of shifts occurring back then in perceptions about the goals of UNESCO programmes. Borrowing from Organisation Studies, the article highlights conceptual changes in UNESCO's programmes, from traditional special (needs) education to inclusive education. Data used have been collected in the archives of the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Method of the interpretive inquiry is in-depth content analysis.

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