ABSTRACT
When the aim of a government’s policy to integrate special and regular education is measured according to the number of children being taught in an integrated setting, we must conclude that the Netherlands has not been particularly successful in this field. Though, of course, the idea of integration needs to convey more qualitative connotations (Pijl and Meijer 1991), policy and practice have failed thus far to educate children with special needs in regular schools. This is especially the case for the children in schools for the learning disabled (the so-called LOM schools) and in schools for mildly mentally retarded children (MLK schools). These two school types cover about 70 per cent of all children in separate special schools. In this chapter we confine ourselves to the situation of children in these special schools. A discussion of the necessary resources required for integrated education, the conditions in class and school which need to be met, as well as external school factors, can be enhanced not only by carefully analysing factors that make for success, but also by examining attempts at integration that were unsuccessful. Without any intent to label negatively various successful local and regional developments and inevitably from a highly generalized standpoint, the Dutch situation with its segregated system is particularly relevant to the debate.
