Papers by Ilektra Spandagou
This chapter discusses the development of understandings of inclusive education in international ... more This chapter discusses the development of understandings of inclusive education in international policy. It begins with an overview of how disability and the education of students with disability have been addressed in UN Conventions and related documents. This is followed by a discussion of the Article 24: Education of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides the normative content for States Parties to implement inclusive education. The third part of the chapter illustrates the complexities around the implementation of inclusive education with examples from Initial Reports submitted as part of the Convention’s reporting process. In the concluding section, the recent General Comment 4 is presented to demonstrate the practice implications for educational systems and schools.
Australasian Journal of Special Education, Aug 1, 2009
Review(s) of: Managing Special and Inclusive Education, by Steve Rayner 2007, London: Sage Public... more Review(s) of: Managing Special and Inclusive Education, by Steve Rayner 2007, London: Sage Publications, 216 pp., ISBN 9781412918886.
Springer eBooks, 2020
It is often said that inclusive education is difficult to define and is a complex term. It is als... more It is often said that inclusive education is difficult to define and is a complex term. It is also said that inclusive education means different things to different people. While these propositions are helpful in understanding the complexity of inclusive education, they are also limiting. If inclusive education is complex and not easy to define, how can schools and teachers know how to realise it? Part of this difficulty is that inclusion, the underlying concept of inclusive education, is a broad term with applicability to different contexts. Inclusion is one of these terms that we all know what it means but it can be elusive to define.
Inclusive Education for the 21st Century
Australian Review of Public Affairs, 2012
How fragile is the nature of progress with Down syndrome and social change, asks Ilektra Spandago... more How fragile is the nature of progress with Down syndrome and social change, asks Ilektra Spandagou in the Australian Review of Public Affairs. Down syndrome was first described by John Langdon Down 150 years ago. A child either has or has not Down syndrome and a diagnosis is definite soon after birth, but the experience of having Down syndrome is not static. As with prenatal diagnosis, medical progress has significantly affected those with this condition. The same discipline that substantially decreases the chances of a foetus with Down syndrome being born increases life expectancy and quality of life of the child after he or she is born. This does not mean that the politics of reproduction and of inclusion thrown up by Down syndrome are any less challenging today. Ilektra Spandagou reviews Jan Gothard\u27s book Greater Expectations: Living with Down Syndrome in the 21st Century which examines valuable insights for parents of Down syndrome children, those faced with prenatal indications of the condition, and those working with people with a disability.  Whilst reflecting a history of social change in Western Australia the book also poses important wider questions about where we are, what it took to get there, and what is in the future. Read more in the Australian Review of Public Affairs
This paper presents data from a project evaluating the implementation of a new teaching framework... more This paper presents data from a project evaluating the implementation of a new teaching framework in preparing general education teachers for working in diverse classrooms. One of the aims of the research project is to establish what the preservice teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion both prior and after the completion of a special and inclusive education unit of study are. The overall aim of this research project is to develop and evaluate a Problem Based Learning (PBL) teaching framework for the two mandatory special and inclusive education units of study offered to all education students in a large University. One of these units is offered to all students enrolled in four-year undergraduate teacher training programs and the other to students enrolled in the postgraduate teacher training program. The three members of the teaching team conducted a needs’ analysis to identify approaches of improving students’ learning experience. A PBL teaching framework (Johnson, 2004; Ockjean, U...
Inclusive Education in Schools and Early Childhood Settings, 2020
The chapter starts with an exploration of how human rights emerged and the role of anti-discrimin... more The chapter starts with an exploration of how human rights emerged and the role of anti-discrimination legislation in protecting these rights. The area of disability is then explored by answering the questions: Who is covered by disability anti-discrimination legislation? and What rights does anti-discrimination legislation provide to people with disability?
Inclusive Education in Schools and Early Childhood Settings, 2020
It is often said that inclusive education is difficult to define and is a complex term. It is als... more It is often said that inclusive education is difficult to define and is a complex term. It is also said that inclusive education means different things to different people. While these propositions are helpful in understanding the complexity of inclusive education, they are also limiting. If inclusive education is complex and not easy to define, how can schools and teachers know how to realise it? Part of this difficulty is that inclusion, the underlying concept of inclusive education, is a broad term with applicability to different contexts. Inclusion is one of these terms that we all know what it means but it can be elusive to define.
The Palgrave Handbook of Education Law for Schools, 2018
This chapter discusses the development of understandings of inclusive education in international ... more This chapter discusses the development of understandings of inclusive education in international policy. It begins with an overview of how disability and the education of students with disability have been addressed in UN Conventions and related documents. This is followed by a discussion of the Article 24: Education of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides the normative content for States Parties to implement inclusive education. The third part of the chapter illustrates the complexities around the implementation of inclusive education with examples from Initial Reports submitted as part of the Convention’s reporting process. In the concluding section, the recent General Comment 4 is presented to demonstrate the practice implications for educational systems and schools.
Review of Education, 2020
The use of a pedagogical practice known as ‘differentiation’ has become more common over time as ... more The use of a pedagogical practice known as ‘differentiation’ has become more common over time as educators have sought to respond to increases in the diversity of students enrolling in their local school. However, there are now so many misperceptions and definitional inconsistencies that it is difficult to know what is being enacted in the name of differentiation or indeed what is being researched internationally. The aim of this scoping review was to identify key characteristics of and conceptualisations within peer‐reviewed empirical research on differentiation published between 1999 and 2019, as well as to map the ways in which this body of research was produced. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to inform a systematic screening process and resulted in a final sample of 34 articles focusing on differentiation in regular schools. Half were conducted in the United States and most in the elementary school phase. Surv...
Students with disability were not identified as an explicit priority within the Melbourne Declara... more Students with disability were not identified as an explicit priority within the Melbourne Declaration, a statement that was agreed back in 2008 by all Education Ministers in Australia. It stated that the main goal for education in Australia should be equity and excellence for all young Australians and outlined a commitment to action...
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2020
More than two decades ago, UNESCO's (1994) Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Specia... more More than two decades ago, UNESCO's (1994) Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education galvanised the inclusion movement by providing a framework for inclusive education. The Statement succeeded in raising awareness of the concept of inclusion internationally, yet genuine inclusion is still the exception and not the norm. This is despite inclusive education being a fundamental human right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008; CRPD in July 2008) adopted by the United Nations in 2006 as an international treaty and ratified by 181 countries that are legally bound to uphold its terms. In this paper, we examine education scholars' uptake of the CRPD and GC4, relative to the Salamanca Statement, by conducting a citation analysis of literature published in journals from the fields of inclusive and special education between 1994 and 2019. We then look at how each document has been used in the literature over time and conclude with strategies to help improve knowledge of the CRPD / GC4 within education and discuss how these documents can be used to progress inclusive education internationally.
This paper presents a comparative discourse analysis of the learning support policy in New South ... more This paper presents a comparative discourse analysis of the learning support policy in New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand. The dominant discourses in both policies are identified and analysed in terms of how they determine the manner in which students experiencing difficulties with learning are included in schools. It is argued that the possibilities of inclusion are constrained by constructions of learning difficulties which in turn justify the models of support provided. Three types of discourses were identified in the two policy documents; inclusion discourses related to placement, rights and needs; historical discourses, that refer to a deficit model of disability, professionalism and human capital in education, and other discourses in education referring to external but implicit discourses of managerialism, marketisation and academic excellence. The analysis revealed that the policies not only construct students experiencing difficulties as deficit in comparison to othe...
In the last twenty years or so, inclusion has become the dominant discourse in the field of Speci... more In the last twenty years or so, inclusion has become the dominant discourse in the field of Special Education. At the same period, a move towards inclusive education policies has been evident in the Greek educational system. This move however, has been restricted mainly at the policy level, with the introduction of relevant legislation that has not been fully implemented. Following the progress of inclusive education in Greece, one can identify a number of theoretical and practical difficulties and contradictions related to the implementation of inclusive educational practices. This paper explores the role of ‘inclusive classes’ in Greece and whether their role is facilitating or hindering inclusion. An overview of the relevant legislation is presented. The main Education Laws (Law 1566/30.9.1985; Law 2817/14.3.2000) brought together special and general education creating new connections and points of tension. From this discussion becomes clear that inclusive educational policy cannot be seen as separate from wider social forces demanding social and educational inclusion and thus, inclusion is not a technical issue but rather a political one.
History of Education Review
PurposeThis article examines the educational decision-making of hearing parents for their deaf ch... more PurposeThis article examines the educational decision-making of hearing parents for their deaf children born during a period (1970–1990s) before the introduction of new-born hearing screening in New South Wales, where the study was conducted, and prior to the now near-universal adoption of cochlear implants in Australia.Design/methodology/approachWe present findings from an oral history study in which parents were invited to recall how they planned for the education of their deaf children.FindingsWe propose that these oral histories shed light on how the concept, early intervention – a child development principle that became axiomatic from about the 1960s – significantly shaped the conduct of parents of deaf children, constituting both hope and burden, and intensifying a focus on early decision-making. They also illustrate ways in which parenting was shaped by two key structural shifts, one, being the increasing enrolment of deaf children in mainstream rather than separate classroom...
PART ONE: HISTORY, SOCIAL CONTEXT AND KEY IDEAS Inclusive Education: Key Themes The Social Histor... more PART ONE: HISTORY, SOCIAL CONTEXT AND KEY IDEAS Inclusive Education: Key Themes The Social History of Inclusion The Current State of Inclusive Education: Contradictions and Concerns PART TWO: POLICY CASE STUDIES Globalization: Internationalization of Inclusive Education The Impact of International Agencies on Inclusive Policies The European Union: A Common Policy on Inclusion? PART THREE: FROM POLICY TO PRACTICE Making Inclusion Special: A Case Study of English Policy Contradictions From Policy to Practice: Defining Inclusion in Schools Exporting Inclusion to the Developing World PART FOUR: CONCLUSIONS AND REFLECTIONS A conclusion or a Starting Point for the Future? An Epilogue on Reflection
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Papers by Ilektra Spandagou