European Journal of Special Needs Education

ISSN: 0885-6257 (Print) 1469-591X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rejs20

Inclusive education twenty years after Salamanca

Anastasia Liasidou
To cite this article: Anastasia Liasidou (2016): Inclusive education twenty
years after Salamanca, European Journal of Special Needs Education, DOI:
10.1080/08856257.2015.1134946
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2015.1134946

Published online: 28 Jan 2016.

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Date: 01 February 2016, At: 02:04

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION, 2016

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2015.1134946

BOOK REVIEW

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Inclusive education twenty years after Salamanca, edited by F. Kiuppis and R.S. Hausstatter,
New York, NY, Peter Lang Publishing, 2014, 374 pp., -3, 33.05, 26.00, US$42.95 (softcover),
ISBN 978-1-4331-2696-3, 130.75, 105.00, US$169.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-4331-2697-0
This edited book brings together 22 high-quality contributions from various authors who
seek to explore policy developments pertaining to inclusive education 20years after the
adoption of the Salamanca Declaration. The book presents a clear and succinct argument on
the highly political and contextually mediated nature of inclusion, while adopting a critical
and reflective approach to exploring personal perspectives, theoretical tensions, challenges
and possibilities related to the process of fostering greater inclusive policies and practices.
Even though it is acknowledged that inclusion refers to learner diversity, the analytical edge
adopted is primarily concerned with disability-related differences and was published as part
of a disability studies series in the United States of America without, however, losing sight
of the ways in which disability intersects with other sources of social disadvantage linked
to race, gender and class.
Contributors represent diverse voices from distinct sociopolitical contexts, professional
backgrounds and epistemological standpoints in order to highlight/address the transdisciplinary and cross-cultural character of inclusion, while navigating new theoretical openings
for debate and evaluating their implications for education policy and practice. Contributors
also include scholars who had an insiders view and first-hand experience in international
politics and legislative developments related to disability rights and inclusion prior to and
after Salamanca. The broad consensus is that 20years after the adoption of the Salamanca
Declaration, there are still many issues that need to be vigorously pursued and barriers to
be removed in the quest for inclusion. Despite the Salamancas legacy, its thinking needs
to be revived and revised in light of emerging challenges (e.g. market forces in education),
theoretical tensions and political exigencies so as to articulate and act upon a new vision
for change towards inclusion.
The distinctiveness of the book lies in the ways in which the different chapters aim to
bring together, interrelate and contrast diverse perspectives on inclusive education, as well
as to discuss their implications for disability studies in education and people with disabilities.
All chapters provide lucid and critical arguments, along with relevant case studies, in order
to reflect upon the political nature of inclusive education developments, while offering
thought-provoking perspectives on future possibilities and challenges. Simultaneously, the
book provides a studious and more persuasive probe into the ethical, legislative, pedagogical
and research-based underpinnings of inclusion.
This edited collection is, undoubtedly, invaluable and an essential reading for students,
researchers and academics engaged in disability studies and inclusive education in order
to acquire a critical and reflexive understanding of the complexities, intricacies and contingencies of the process of change towards inclusion. An informed reading of this book can

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Book Review

provide fertile ground for deliberation over the ways in which the politics of inclusive education have been conceptualised, played out, contested and acted upon since Salamanca.
Historical perspectives on inclusion are discussed in parallel with current developments and
future possibilities, thereby enabling the reader to grapple with the political, spatial and
temporal dimensions of inclusion, and to problematise current understandings of inclusion.
The latter point involves acknowledging the importance of engaging in a perennial process
of critically analysing and deconstructing rhetorical, policy and pedagogical veneers that
purport to be inclusive, as well as providing counter-narratives in articulating a new vision
for change towards inclusion.
The book is organised into four sections, each of which has a particular focus of inquiry.
In Chapter 1, the editors, Florian Kiuppis and Rune Sarromaa Haussttter, introduce and
rationalise the aims and scope of the book. Throughout Section 1 (Chapters 26), the authors
discuss the politics that preceded and followed Salamanca, as well as their own involvement
in the process of change, along with implications for inclusive policy and practice, while
reflecting upon the ways in which their biographical and professional experiences influenced
their understandings of inclusion. In particular, Colette Chabbott (Chapter 2), provides an
informative analysis of the role of international development organisations in framing and
acting upon the Education for All agenda that preceded the 1994 World Conference on
Special Needs Education in Salamanca, while Lena Saleh (Chapter 3), provides an insiders
account of her involvement with UNESCO before and after the Salamanca Conference. In
Chapter 4, Mel Ainscow discusses the ways in which schools need to be developed and
the pedagogy improved so as to build upon Salamancas legacy and the UNESCO teacher
education project that preceded it to achieve sustainable inclusive education reforms. This
is followed by Jerome Mindes analysis (Chapter 5) of collective efforts to enshrine disability
in the Education for All agenda, while reflecting upon his professional role as a coordinator
of the International Working Group on Disability and Development. Along similar lines, Siri
Wormns account (Chapter 6), provides further insiders perspectives on the politics of
embedding disability in the Education for All international and national plans, while actively
engaging people with disabilities in this process.
Section 2 (Chapters 712), focuses on theorising and exploring cross-cultural perspectives on the Implementation of Salamanca and Framework for Action, as well as addressing
theoretical tensions and complexities pertaining to inclusion. In particular, Xavier Rambla
(Chapter 7), offers a scholarly analysis of the politics of inclusive education policy-making
while discussing the contribution of policy evaluation in understanding the policy cycle, as
well as reflecting upon a theory of change perspective on theorising inclusion. Jonathan
Rix and John Parry (Chapter 8), Rune Sarroma Haussttter and Markku Jahnukainen (Chapter
9) and Dra Bjarnason and Gretar Marinsson (Chapter 10), provide significant cross-cultural insights into the ways in which the marketisation of education, coupled with historical
and sociopolitical dynamics, have impacted the understanding and enactment of inclusion.
These analyses enable the reader to gain an informed understanding of the contested and
contextually mediated nature of inclusion while, at the same time, providing a theoretical
and empirical backdrop against which to reflect upon the power interplays and ideological dynamics that underpin the process of change. For instance, Danforth (Chapter 11),
concentrates on discussing a technocratic approach to accountability reforms in American
education that are devoid of ethical and political considerations and promote reductionist
forms of inclusion. In Chapter 12, Sigamoney Naicker, provides a critical exploration of the

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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION

politics of inclusive education reforms in light of the historical reminiscence of a racist, classist
and post-apartheid sociopolitical context.
In Section 3, the focus shifts to discussing conceptual tensions and theoretical complexities underpinning inclusion, as these are played out and manifested in diverse contexts,
so as to shed more light on profundity of the issues at hand. Julie Allan (Chapter 12) and
Markus Dederich (Chapter 13), provide critical analyses of the theoretical intricacies, ideological contestations, power struggles and identity politics pertaining to inclusive education
while discussing their manifestations in education policy and practice. Susan Baglieri, Alicia
Broderick (Chapter 15), and Lani Florian (Chapter 16) also problematise current discourses of
inclusion and place a pronounced emphasis on articulating a new vision of change in light
of emerging theoretical, research-based and pedagogical perspectives.
Elina Lethomki and Sanna Hukkanens (Chapter 17) account provides insiders views on
the experience of disability while evaluating implications for transforming policy and practice. This is followed by Ignacio Caldern-Almendros and Cristbal Ruiz-Romns (Chapter
18) analysis of identity formation politics, as well as the emancipatory role of resistance
theory in subverting oppressive narratives of the disability experience. In Chapter 19, Judith
Hollenweger seeks to shed more light on the contested and convoluted nature of inclusion and its related concepts, such as disability and participation, while Dan Goodley and
Florian Kiuppis (Chapter 20) draw upon social theorising in order to problematise normative
constructions of identity and to offer alternative, and hence, liberating perspectives on
reconceptualising the individual within the context of inclusion. Finally, in Section 4, Peter
Mittler (Chapter 21) and Roger Slee (Chapter 22), provide thought-provoking insights into
the post-Salamanca struggles, accomplishments, paradoxes, tensions and future possibilities
for inclusion.
Notably, each chapter makes a unique and distinct contribution to acquiring well-informed and critical perspectives on the ways in which inclusion has been conceptualised, contested, negotiated, hybridised, diffused and enacted across time and space since
Salamanca. At the same time, the chapters complement each other and work in synergy to
provide a comprehensive understanding of the complex and contentious nature of inclusion
while rationalising the ways in which inclusion constitutes a worthwhile and much-needed
ethical, political, social and educational pursuit.
Anastasia Liasidou
School of Arts and Education Sciences, European University Cyprus,
Nicosia, Cyprus
a.liasidou@euc.ac.cy
2016 Anastasia Liasidou
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2015.1134946