The Special School as ‘Natural Habitat’? On the Persistence of Segregated Education of Students With Intellectual Disabilities

In this essay, I explore the reasons behind the persistence of segregated education of students with intellectual disabilities in Austria. Doing so, I critically interrogate three phases of the Austrian education system concerning the role of students with intellectual disabilities: (1) The rapid expansion of special schools in the 1960s and 1970s, (2) the rise of integrated education in the 1980s and 1990s and (3) the last two decades, which were characterized by budget cuts, school accountability policies and failed efforts to further the implementation of inclusive education.

The possible contexts of inclusion and special educational needs in the light of an international research

The relationship between school integration and special educational needs (hereinafter: SEN) is analyzed in the framework of an international resarch in this study. In the theoretical part the process of segregation, integration and inclusion is introduced, and also the use of the concepts is dicussed. The integration in the school system means the approach and practice against segregated education of students with disabilities with the aim to eliminate segregated education. SEN is not a diagnostic but an educational concept, and the its special pedagogy and legal term do not coincide. The research was extended to Ukrainian (the Transcarparthian n=280), Polish (n=271) and Hungarian students (n=552). The results show that school inclusion and social support are increased by school success. Success can increase the self-esteem of students with learning problems, which co-occures with the subjective perception of increasing social support and decreasing exclusion.

Analysis of Obstacles and Challenges Encountered by Parents in Roma Communities in Early Enrolment: Case of Slovakia

The theme of this article is informing about existing policies, practices and situation (including gender disaggregated statistics) with regard to the enrolment of Roma children in pre-school and primary school in the target localities of Veľká Lomnica and Toporec. It is done by an analysis of the obstacles and challenges encountered in their adequate and timely enrolment, as well as identified solutions a description of the implemented activities and their outputs; and recommendations on how to overcome the identified obstacles and to establish long-term solutions ensuring equal access of Roma children to quality and non-segregated education.

Natality: the opportunity to do new things

For Hannah Arendt, education ‘turns children toward the world’, and so ‘it is care for the world, not technical skills or moral development, that is its hallmark’. However, this chapter shows how the trend in this ‘turn to the world’ is usually the first rather than the second case as a form of regulated natality within a segregated education system, where biopolitical distinctiveness means that ‘elite’ children know their entitlements while the majority of children know their place. The deployment of the Education Policy Knowledgeable Polity to the reforms of school restructuring in England enables an examination of direct interventions by the state as a form of depoliticisation by personalisation.

The Handinhand School: Dealing with Adversity within a Multicultural Context

The Hand in Hand bilingual school in Jerusalem operates against the broader background of the Arab-Israeli conflictand the unequal relations between Jewish and Arab citizens in the State of Israel. Drawing on multicultural educational models, the School seeks to ensure that all groups are visible and respected and to develop a curriculum that reflectsthe culture of all the students and their families. Against the dominant model of segregated education in Israel, the School creates intercultural space. In recent years, the School has been the target of several attacks. The article describes the work of the author, a counselor at the School, in responding to these attacks and in enhancing the resilience of the School community. Structured staff meetings enabled the educators to express themselves, support each other, and receive tools for coping in multicultural classrooms in a conflicted society.