Agency in the darkness: ‘fear of the unknown’, learning disability and teacher education for inclusion

Abstract

This paper proposes inclusion phobia as a sharper and more operative definition of the ‘fear of the unknown’ often cited as an explanation for resistance to inclusive education. Using ‘severe and profound learning disability’ as the paradigm case, we situate the phobia surrounding this label in its social and historical context. Our hypothesis is that resistance to inclusion for this group is not rational but amounts to a thought disorder in a psychiatric sense. Using qualitative case studies of pre-service teachers on practicum and head teachers engaged in decisions about admissions, we demonstrate the workings and impact of inclusion phobia. We illustrate its trajectory from a general social dysfunction, to the systems that channel it to the individuals caught up in it. Our aim is to expose inclusion phobia so that, teacher educators, teachers and pre-service teachers might, in knowing it, find new ways to remedy it. In doing so, long standing resistance to inclusive education is made more tractable. We conclude with our own proposals for an anti-phobic curriculum for teacher education

The experiences of teachers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive schools in Accra, Ghana

“…Although teachers attributed fears to challenging behaviours, this could also be linked to their lack of knowledge of disabling conditions and thus unpreparedness for inclusion. For instance, in a study on students with severe to profound learning disabilities in the United Kingdom, Robinson and Goodey () found that teachers’ fears and anxieties increased due to the uncertainty of specific diagnosis and inadequate guidance. Also, teachers expressed the worry of being exposed as professionally incompetent due to their feelings of unpreparedness in particularly cases of severe behavioural outbursts.…”

“…Furthermore, we recommend targeted professional development courses and/or trainings that support practicing teachers’ development in inclusion, specifically students with IDD. This is important because unlike their counterparts with other types of disabilities, students with IDD often present challenging behaviours that require specific and targeted interventions (Robinson and Goodey, ).…”

How the University Lost Its Way: Sixteen Threats to Academic Freedom

“…They prefer someone who is committed to a New Labour project like 'inclusion'. And we know that if you disagree with inclusion, you are mentally ill, at least according to one of my former colleagues who claims that 'inclusion phobia' constitutes a psychiatric thought disorder (Robinson and Goodey 2017).…”

Assessing the inclusivity of three mainstream secondary schools in England: challenges and dilemmas

“…Particularly, several scholars have sought to explore the views on inclusion among different professionals, including headteachers, teachers and/or teaching assistants (e.g. Glazzard, 2011;Robinson and Goodey, 2018), key stakeholders, such as children/young adolescents with or without difficulties (e.g. O'Connor et al, 2011) and/or parents (e.g.…”

“…For instance, in an English study, Glazzard (2011) Insufficient or limited teacher training: Inadequate training programmes for preparing teachers in the application of inclusive practice has become a matter of concern at a national level. Several scholars in the field have consensually revealed the perceived inability and powerlessness of teachers to surmount the challenges of inclusive practice, with there being the consequent call for the need of a more focused training (Allan, 2015;Avramidis and Norwich, 2002;Emam and Farrell, 2009;Robinson and Goodey, 2018). Perhaps the most well-known and widely used instrument is Booth and Ainscow's (2011) Index for Inclusion.…”