Schools that include more pupils with special educational needs perform as well as less-inclusive schools, a study has found.
Highly inclusive schools have a positive impact on the social skills and understanding of all their pupils, although there may be risks of isolation and low self-esteem for pupils with special needs, says the research for the DfES.
Researchers studied 16 highly inclusive primary and secondary schools in-depth, and analysed data on over 500,000 pupils from key stages one to four from the National Pupil Database.
Although they found that highly-inclusive schools had slightly worse results than the less-inclusive, this was probably because they tended to be in more disadvantaged areas where pupil attainment was lower.
Highly-inclusive schools tailor to individual pupils’ needs at the same time as employing strategies to improve all pupils’ attainment. The lower performing highly-inclusive schools did not do less well because of the way they managed special needs pupils, the study finds.
The authors conclude that the national commitment to inclusion is unlikely to affect school performance. “Schools need not feel more anxious about becoming more inclusive,” they say.
But schools should monitor the effects of becoming more inclusive with care because highly-inclusive schools have an “ecology” which is vulnerable to staff shortages, lack of funding and managerial weaknesses.
Research is at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB578.pdf
