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Educating children with disabilities.
Should disabled children and young people learn in special schools or receive their education in a mainstream environment?
On the one hand, supporters of special schools claim such schools provide better teaching - a better educational experience for disabled children with tailor-made services to help with their disabilities. There's talk of a generally supportive atmosphere where children meet others with similar impairments to themselves and learn from this shared experience. There is even something of an 'esprit de corps'. Special schools often get very good academic results, and are also better placed to educate children with more complex needs, such as some children with autism and severe learning disabilities.
On the other hand, it is claimed that including disabled children in mainstream schools provides them with a better education for life because it integrates them into the real world, a world where disabled and non-disabled people mix together. Such schools are more local, too. There is no need to take a disabled child and transport them miles away from their family and friends. And the inclusive approach is often more cost-effective. Finally, the idea of integration "chimes with the times". It makes up part of the disability rights agenda, and many parents want to see their disabled children go to the same school as their brothers and sisters.
What do you think? Any experiences? Is the system where you live working?
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