In special education, they will be better off

This text aims to respond with scientific evidence from recent decades to that oft-repeated expression used to justify school segregation: “They will be better off in (special) education”.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a special classroom or a special center; in both cases, we are talking about school segregation, which goes against human rights (Calderón-Almendros & Echeita, 2022). The question then bypasses this fundamental point, which is the rights-based and ethical perspective that guides inclusive education: an argumentation focused on outcomes is not necessary (Ziljak, 2013; Cologon, 2020; Lindsay, 2007; Cara, 2013; Haug, 2017; Ainscow, Booth & Dyson, 2006; Lipsky & Gartner, 1996; Slee, 2001), nor can its understanding be limited to market margins (Miles & Singal, 2010). However, as the social and radical project it is, it is not exempt from pressures exerted by powerful forces contrary to the changes it proposes.

Despite this, it is very common to find debates and claims that attempt to suggest that the best option for certain individuals (especially many individuals with disabilities) is not inclusive education, but segregated education. It is often argued that special education is something like a high-performance center that would mitigate the adverse effects of social segregation. Far from this, international scientific evidence for over half a century has been very consistent and is growing, supporting the benefits of inclusive education over education in segregated environments.

Particularly noteworthy are the systematic reviews and meta-analyses by ARACY (2013), Cologon (2019), Hehir et al. (2016), Fisher, Roach & Frey (2002), European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2018), and Szumski, Smogorzewska, & Karwowski (2017). The benefits of inclusive education, beyond the social justice it promotes, are distributed across different areas or dimensions: improvement in socialization, sense of belonging to a community, feeling of well-being from social relationships with peers and teachers, and social inclusion; academic learning, as well as the maintenance and generalization of learning; improvement in communication and language development, and behavior, among others. Other benefits are also shown, such as the improvement of teachers’ instructional practices by making them more sensitive to students’ needs (Jordan, Glenn & McGhie-Richmond, 2010; Purdue, Ballard & MacArthur, 2001). Furthermore, the benefits of inclusive education affect students with and without disabilities, including those students whom many continue to label as having severe and multiple disabilities (Cologon, 2020; Ruppar, Allcock & Gonsier-Gerdin, 2017).

It should be noted that there is an absence of quality evidence to the contrary of these postulates, which supports the idea that special education offers greater benefits than inclusive education (Cologon, 2019; Hehir et al., 2016; Jackson, 2008), and the existing evidence compares schooling in special or mainstream schools, without these being classifiable as inclusive practices (Cologon, 2019; Lindsay, 2007). This is what happens when more local studies point to an increased risk of peer mistreatment through abuse of power (“bullying”) towards students with disabilities (Rose, Monda-Amaya & Espelage, 2011). Furthermore, the review of evidence suggests that attending segregated centers minimizes opportunities for social inclusion both in the short term (at school) and in the long term (after graduation) (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2018). However, segregated educational experiences continue to be common among students identified by disability, depriving them of one of their fundamental rights (Calderón-Almendros, 2018), and even though the evidence shows, as we have just pointed out, greater opportunities to learn and develop in more inclusive educational environments (Kurth, Morningstar & Kozlesky, 2014; Cologon, 2019; Hehir, 2016).

All this body of evidence, based on international meta-research, should serve as a foundation to respond to false claims that aim to argue against the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable children, as well as to resolutely undertake the transformation of education systems towards inclusive education. This is the greatest challenge facing education systems worldwide (Ainscow, 2016). Administrations and all members of the community can and must take steps to achieve this, something that benefits us all, thereby paving the way for more equitable and inclusive societies.