Legitimating school segregation. The special education profession and the discourse of learning disability in Germany

An exploration of parental decisions to transfer children from regular to special schools

“…It is clear, as asserted by Pfahl and Powell (2011), that segregated schools do indeed constitute disadvantage for children with intellectual disability both academically, and otherwise. Other shortcomings of special schooling will now be discussed.…”

“…Separate classrooms and schools are incongruent with national and international law (NCID, 2013); however, the legitimisation of segregated schooling through policy decisions to maintain a separate special education system is widespread (see, for example, Graham & Sweller, 2011;Pfahl & Powell, 2011;Runswick-Cole, 2011;Wendelborg & Tøssebro, 2010), and is perhaps the offspring of the marriage that was arranged between the special education culture and the regular schooling system when integration/inclusion was first attempted.…”

“…It has been noted that, generally, assessment for disability identification implies a decision about placement in the most appropriate setting (Jenkinson, 1997), and offers a benchmark for decisions about who will be in and who will be out of regular schools (Benincasa, 2012). Just so, it is the classification of "intellectual disability" that facilitates the special education response of segregated special schools (Pfahl & Powell, 2011). There are some parents and professionals who would not agree that in securing entry into special schools, disability labels are a negative thing because of the specialist resources and teaching that special schools can offer (e.g., Carr, 2005;Zigmond & Kloo, 2011).…”

“…Similarly, Armstrong et al (2011) proposed that special education discourse has hindered progress in providing inclusive education for all. The interests of special education hinder change (Pfahl & Powell, 2011); with its buildings, personnel, history, and cultural baggage, the special education business is a large and cumbersome industry to transform. It is protected and defended by its constituents and simply through its existence, encourages general educators to segregate children who they cannot tolerate (Kenworthy & Whittaker, 2000); while special schools exist, this is where students with disability will be seen to belong.…”

“…More broadly, it has been proposed that the maintenance of special schools poses a disadvantage to inclusive education reform (e.g., Kenworthy & Whittaker, 2000;Pfahl & Powell, 2011;Slee, 2011); a dual system of general and special education, for example, does not provide a cohesive, coherent foundation for change efforts (Ashby, Burns, & Royle, 2014). Although inclusive education has now been on the educational agenda and a legislative requirement in many countries for a number of years, the ongoing existence of special schools diminishes progress in this regard.…”