Barriers to Inclusion

Abstract

s book compares German special education, hyper-organized but segregatory, with chaotic but more inclusionary American arrangements. The work is highly informed, with a strong historical perspective. It creatively explains the different national trajectories in terms of political, professional, cultural, and organizational arrangements. It will be of great interest to those concerned with special education, but also to sociologists of education, and students of comparative education more generally.-John W. Meyer, Professor of Sociology, emeritus, Stanford University By offering an astute comparison of special education systems in the United States and Germany, Barriers to Inclusion provides invaluable tools for understanding whateducators on both sides of the Atlantic take for granted. Justin Powell gives us a meticulously researched and clearly argued account ever mindful of the major historical forces at work in both countries. The book suggests new ways to appraise mainstream approaches to education for all students, while raising broader questions about ideas of citizenship in two distinct socio-political contexts.

Long-term scarring from institutional labelling: The risk of NEET of students from schools for learning disability in Germany

“…Findings from these studies are, however, not easily generalisable across contexts because of large differences in the definition and classification of learning disability, school settings for classified students (Powell, 2006), and VET opportunities available after leaving school (Tschanz and Powell, 2020). In the US, for example, learning disability is defined as underachievement, based on discrepancies between performance in IQ tests and in school, and thus also includes students with moderate to high IQ test scores (Powell, 2011). These definitional differences not only influence the school setting but also the socioeconomic composition of this group: In contrast to Germany, where learning disability is 'simultaneously a marker for socioeconomic disadvantage' (Powell, 2011: 218; see also above), in the US, this category also contains students from privileged parents because of inclusive schooling (Powell, 2011: 88).…”

“…In the US, for example, learning disability is defined as underachievement, based on discrepancies between performance in IQ tests and in school, and thus also includes students with moderate to high IQ test scores (Powell, 2011). These definitional differences not only influence the school setting but also the socioeconomic composition of this group: In contrast to Germany, where learning disability is 'simultaneously a marker for socioeconomic disadvantage' (Powell, 2011: 218; see also above), in the US, this category also contains students from privileged parents because of inclusive schooling (Powell, 2011: 88).…”

“…Yet, the majority of students classified as having SEN are still taught in segregated schools. There are eight different special needs school types, corresponding to the official categories of need for 'special educational support' (Förderschwerpunkt) (Powell, 2010(Powell, , 2011; see section 1 in Online supplement for detailed information).…”

“…In Germany, learning disability is defined by prior school performance indicating considerable difficulties in learning at general schools because of deficits in the development of competencies, learning strategies, and essential basic prerequisites for learning (such as perseverance, attention, social-emotional dispositions) (see official definition in section 1, Online supplement). Thus, children demonstrating below-average school achievement, for example indicated by multiple grade retention or consistently poor grades, are at risk to be classified as having learning disability (Powell, 2011). The ambiguity in the classification process means that not all equally low-performing students are classified as 'learning disabled' and that there is room for socially biased sorting processes.…”

“…One indicator of this ambiguity is that quite similar students in terms of cognitive and non-cognitive skills can be found in LD schools and in lower-track general schools (Holtmann et al, 2019) this distributional overlap will be employed in our study (see below). Another indicator is that children from socially disadvantaged families, with a migration background, and boys are not only overrepresented among students attending lower school tracks in Germany but even more so among those attending LD schools (Gebhardt et al, 2011;Powell, 2011).…”