School inclusion and the ‘community of practice’

‘Inclusion’ is not a mechanism for relocating educationally disadvantaged youngsters in mainstream rather than in special schools. Rather, inclusion implies a whole school approach to social relations and production of meaning reached through processes of negotiation between parents, teachers and children. Such an approach places equal value upon the knowledge and contributions of all who contribute to the collective production of meaning. By allowing experiences to be shared by more or less experienced members, the ‘community of practice’, with its social rather than its didactic approach to problem‐solving, functions as a mechanism for change by offering increased participation and the changing of existing beliefs and assumptions.

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