Global context: from exclusion and segregation to inclusion in education systems

While many groups have historically been marginalised in education systems, few groups have faced the same extent of exclusion and discrimination within formal education systems as the diverse group of pupils with disabilities, learning difficulties or disadvantages. These children and youth have been largely excluded from, segregated or separated within formal education systems, resulting in persistent inequalities in learning opportunities and in (lifelong) disablement and reduced life chances (Powell, 2011). A range of special education settings has been institutionalised, providing additional or specialised support to help these groups of learners to address their ‘special needs’. Most often, such support and services were and continue to be provided in segregated or separated formal settings, such as special schools or classrooms. Special education has provided learning opportunities to groups of children and youth previously excluded outright from schooling, but globally the goal has shifted from special to inclusive education, due to the benefits it brings in fostering individual learning and democracy (for example, Allan, 2008). For all countries, whether in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia or Europe, this remains a challenge. Even the most egalitarian education systems, which have done the most to overcome outright exclusion from schooling have yet to succeed fully in schooling all children in diverse classrooms (see Richardson and Powell, 2011 for a global analysis; see also Biermann and Powell, 2014, comparing Germany, Iceland and Norway).

Definitions of inclusive education vary, and the necessary conditions and benefits of such programmes remain contested, as educators, researchers and policy makers struggle to apply and adapt pedagogical concepts and legal principles that insist on transformative change (for example, D’Alessio and Watkins, 2009). We thus examine here two contrasting cases: very different countries that strive to become more ‘inclusive’ but exhibit considerable barriers to inclusion. Nigeria, with a huge out-of-school population, endeavours to reduce prevalent exclusion from schooling, while Germany attempts to reduce persistent segregation in its special school system. As different as these countries are, policy makers and educators in both countries increasingly acknowledge that their systems require transformative reform to better meet the needs of all children and youth, whether through the United Nations (UN) Education for All framework or inclusive education.