Debating Special Education

Michael Farrell is an independent consultant in special education. He has published extensively in the field; his books include The Special Education Handbook, Celebrating the Special School, Key Issues in Special Education and Educating Special Children along with a number of The Effective Teacher's Guides (all published by Routledge).

• 1. Introduction 2. Sociological criticisms 3. Rights base criticisms and contested values 4. Postmodern and related criticisms 5. Limitations of the special education knowledge base 6. The unhelpfulness of classification 7. Problems with assessment 8. Negative effects of labelling 9. Professional limitations 10. Lack of distinctive provision 11. The alternative of inclusion as mainstreaming 12. Conclusion

"I hope this book will be widely read. Special education needs greater understanding, and Michael Farrell's book will do much to help people understand what special education is and why we must have it." - James M. Kauffman, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of Virginia, USA"This is an original text addressing a much needed topic. The book may ... become a seminal text in the field of special education" - Garry Hornby, Professor of Education, University of Canterbury, New Zealand "His courage to challenge the popular interpretation of disability as a social construct is very well placed for the stage of debate we have reached in the UK, particularly the government’s "mainstreaming" agenda. A unique and a particularly valuable addition to the national SEN discussion" - Richard Aird, Headteacher, UK