In countries that have developed special education (SE) provision, whether in segregated settings or 'included' in mainstream, racial, ethnic and immigrant minorities continue to be ...disproportionately represented. Explanations for placement in SE programmes continue to centre round assumptions of deficiencies in student abilities to learn and 'behave', their family backgrounds and communities. Many policy-makers, politicians, schools and teachers ignore or are ignorant of the historical background and social contexts in which these students are expected to learn. The article overviews some of this history and policy responses concerned with SE, low attainment and troublesome school behaviour in England, including recent evidence and current explanations for the placement of the students. A premise here is that research, policy and literature are still separating what is happening in 'special' education from other areas of education. This cannot continue, as world-wide moves towards inclusive education have meant that mainstream schools and colleges now incorporate (or still exclude) a range of students regarded as having learning difficulties or disabilities, and all young people are now expected to acquire some kind of qualification or be prepared for independent living.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This book is about the experiences of students in institutions of higher education from 'non-traditional' backgrounds with contributions from the UK, the USA and Australia which reveal that the ...issues surrounding the inclusion of 'non-traditional' students are broadly similar in different countries.
This article offers some explanations for the simultaneous expansion of special educational services and personnel, with the increasing inclusion in mainstream education of more young people with ...disabilities and learning difficulties. Following discussions with some 70 professionals, administrators and others in a study in four countries, it suggests that underpinning mass education systems in developed and developing countries is an expanded and expensive 'SEN industry'. Governments have acquiesced in the development of this industry, conceding its importance in dealing with groups who may be increasingly surplus to labour requirements in 'knowledge economies' and also in need of social control measures. It is unlikely that special education will disappear despite commitments to inclusive education. The article notes that those defined as in need of special educational attention vary at different historical times and between different professions, but a majority of those regarded as having learning and/or behaviour problems were always largely from the lower social classes. Although historically middle-class parents usually denied they had 'defective' children, and avoided stigmatised categorisation or schooling, now the middle classes and aspirant parents increasing claim classification, funding and resourcing for children who are unlikely to achieve in competitive market-driven school systems. The needs of parents, for their children to be resourced on the basis of medical or therapeutic 'diagnosis', the continuing needs of teachers encouraged or coerced to 'raise standards' to be free of troublesome and disruptive pupils, and the needs of an expanding number of professionals and practitioners, including neuroscientists and 'brain' experts, to expand their clientele are further explanations offered for the rise of the SEN industry.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
National governments believe that higher levels of educational attainments and training are necessary for successful competition in knowledge-driven economies and all young people are urged to invest ...in their own human capital and learn new skills. Moves towards inclusive education have brought into mainstream schools and colleges many who would formerly have been segregated in special schooling or otherwise given minimum education, joining those simply regarded as lower attainers. More research is needed on what is happening to all these young people who do not do well in competitive education systems and uncertain job markets. This article is taken from a study which set out to discuss with school and college principals, local administrators, teachers and others, who they regard as lower attainers, what sort of education and training programmes are offered to the students, and what policies they think are in place to help young people into work or independent living. Discussions were held with respondents in England, Germany, the USA, Finland and Malta. The article takes Rawls' view that social injustice is mainly due to the inequitable distribution of economic and social resources and the State has a responsibility to ensure that all young people can participate in the economy and the society.
What happens to young people who are defined as lower attainers or having learning difficulties in a global knowledge economy?
How do we stop those with learning difficulties or disabilities being ...seen as social problems or simply as consumers of resources?
Governments in developed countries are driven by the belief that in a global economy all citizens should be economically productive, yet they are still not clear about the relationship between the education of low attainers and the labour market. Ignorant Yobs?: Low Attainers in a Global Knowledge Economy examines this international phenomenon, exploring how those with learning difficulties are treated in a world economy where even low-skilled jobs require qualifications.
This unique book provides an examination of countries which converge on the issue of the low attaining population, despite differing on political, economic and cultural dimensions. In doing so, it considers some thorny issues at the forefront of education policy and provision:
The increasing competitive stratification within education systems;
The impact of governments who have put competition in the labour market at the heart of their policies;
Social control of potentially disruptive groups, social cohesion and the human rights agenda;
The expansion of a special education industry driven by the needs of middle class, aspirant and knowledgeable parents, anxious about the success of their ‘less able’ children.
Written by an internationally renowned scholar, Ignorant Yobs?: Low Attainers in a Global Knowledge Economy synthesises a range of complex, highly topical issues and suggests how those with learning difficulties might, with government and employer support, contribute to a flexible labour market. This book, using original discussions in England, the USA, Germany, Malta and Finland, will be of interest to a wide audience of policy-makers, practitioners, administrators, and politicians, in addition to undergraduate, postgraduate and research students and academics.
Introduction 1. Unpicking the global knowledge economy and education 2. England: Social problems and special needs 3. England: Endless vocational initiatives 4. England: Working with the lower attainers 5. USA: Divergence by race 6. Germany: Transition to where? 7. Malta: Colonial and religious legacies 8. Finland: A model for us all? 9. Conclusions: Low Attainers, Low skill work and Flexicurity
Sally Tomlinson is Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths College, London University, and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Education, University of Oxford, UK.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech, an intervention that is still viewed as one of the most incendiary statements of the perceived decay and violence ...likely to follow legislation intended to assure minoritised British citizens of equal rights regardless of their ethnic origin. In this essay, Sally Tomlinson (one of Britain's foremost multicultural theorists) reflects on Powell's legacy and the contemporary scene where in the US, UK and across Europe, White resentment and fear is increasingly shaping 'mainstream' debates about nationhood, migration and education.
This article discusses the expansion of education systems that now, following international declarations, are expected to offer an "Education for All" to children, young people and adults. Since in ...these declarations special education and inclusive education are conjoined, sociological questions can be asked as to what sort of social relationships and conflicts are involved in this expansion of a sub-system that underpins mass education. The article uses recent research asking school and college heads, teachers and administrators, how they defined and treated the young people and what future they envisaged for them, given that an ideology of human capital dominates government thinking and policy.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
10.
The empire disintegrates Tomlinson, Sally
Ethnic and racial studies,
10/2015, Letnik:
38, Številka:
13
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This short article comments on the Symposium in ERS vol. 37/10 in which current scholars revisited the book The Empire Strikes Back and its legacy. The article comments on the book's assertion that a ...historical background is necessary to understand the absorption of migrant labour into capitalist societies, and notes the prevailing ignorance of the history of imperialism in UK schools and society. It discusses the current assumptions that if schools teach 'fundamental British values', racial and religious conflicts will somehow be minimized.
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