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The logical outcome of complete social and educational inclusion is the death of publicly-funded facilities for those with special needs, something already apparently in the government's sights. Tony Blair recently stated that people on incapacity benefit should be working -in other words, not draining the public purse -but neglected to say how or where they might find jobs to pay a living wage.

In reality, opportunity always depends on capability, and forcing people to compete on grossly unequal terms is bound to end in grief. We may be born equal, but our differences dictate whether the challenges we face enable us to flourish or fail.


The forced integration of children with special needs into mainstream education is a contentious issue. Education is integral to the long process of child socialisation that begins at birth and ideally, with the co-operative input of family, society and school, begets well rounded, law-abiding and productive adults. By definition, children are undeveloped beings who cannot function or thrive unaided, so what happens when they are put with those whose needs appear to attract preferential treatment? Resentment; the growth of exclusive groups; bullying -all innate responses to a perceived threat because the average child is unlikely to appreciate the reasoning behind remote policy.

Teachers already feel overwhelmed by the state, their employers and their pupils. Where will they find the extra time that special needs children demand? Will they have no choice but to ignore them? Commentators blame the worrying levels of illiteracy, innumeracy and low achievement among school leavers on the way the comprehensive system must cater to the lowest common denominator and acknowledge the needs of the least able student, even at others' expense. Consequently, pupil disaffection is running rife, like truanting and juvenile crime, much of which is committed when children should be safely occupied in class.

Disabilities may be temporary -caused by illness, accident, family difficulties, bereavement and so forth -or inherent and permanent, such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, autism and a host of neurological, psychological and physical disorders, including brain damage. Children in the latter group already shoulder a huge burden. Is it fair to expect them to cope with and benefit from mainstream education? Before dyslexia was identified and understood, such children were often condemned as lazy and stupid; even so, they will not achieve literacy without specialist input.

Segregation and competition are being eradicated from the educational landscape but, in the past, children segregated according to ability and potential were usually more settled and achieved more. When grammar schools were swept away on grounds of elitism, the secondary moderns also disappeared, despite their proven worth for children of a less academic bent who often outperformed both expectations and their grammar school peers, especially in the world of work.


As children, like adults, tend to aspire to the norms of their particular group, should gifted children be educated separately? The most brilliant young dancer or musician will wither without the intense and specialist teaching that is all but impossible to find in the public sector. Removing competitive sport from the school curriculum has done worse than deny athletic and sporting opportunities: it has bred millions of obese, sickly, square-eyed antisocial children who spend most of their leisure time in solitary inactivity, watching television or playing computer games.

Children who failed the old 11-plus could have another chance, and some entered grammar school at 13 or 14 -a good example of short-term exclusion leading, through reassessment, to later integration. Many children with special needs could similarly benefit from the right leg-up, but it is foolish to ignore the wider considerations relevant to their disabilities. In October, 18-year-old Paul Smith was found guilty of murdering 10-year-old Rosie May Storrie. It emerged in court that he had previously attacked other young girls. Smith has Asperger's syndrome and was said to have been bullied at school for his stilted language, lack of social skills and learning difficulties. Asperger's does not predispose towards violence; how much, then, did Smith's inclusive education contribute to the person he became?

Alison Taylor is a novelist and former senior child care worker