ABSTRACT
One relatively neglected facet of the inclusion question is children's own perspective on their special educational provision. In this chapter we report and discuss a study that contributes to this field through examining the perspectives of children and young people who receive special education provision for their moderate learning difficulties. This study examined the assumption that pupils' perspectives will reflect a tension between positive aspects (wanting and appreciating help) and negative aspects (wanting to avoid stigmatising associations), whether in special schools, mainstream withdrawal or in-class supported placements. This assumption was built on the findings from previous studies that focused on the child's perspective. The largest study was conducted some years ago by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) as part of a survey of pupils' perspectives on the range of London special schooling (ILEA, 1986). Some studies focused on specific areas of special needs, for example hearing impairment (Lynas, 1986), or moderate learning difficulties (Norwich, 1997), while others covered different areas of special educational needs (Cheston, 1994; Lewis, 1995). Some looked at older students who were in post-school provision (SCPR, 1996) and others were conducted in other countries, for example Greece (Padeliadu and Zigmond, 1996). Following the argument in previous chapters, this tension relates to positive and negative personal evaluations of 'difference', the positive aspects of receiving individually appropriate help with learning, and the negative aspects of experiencing stigma and devaluation. The rationale for this study was, therefore, connected to wider theory and research into 'difference dilemmas', outlined in previous chapters.
