Linda J. Graham

An illusory interiority: Interrogating the discourse/s of inclusion

It is generally accepted that the notion of inclusion derived or evolved from the practices of mainstreaming or integrating students with disabilities into regular schools. Halting the practice of segregating children with disabilities was a progressive social movement. The value of this achievement is not in dispute. However, our charter as scholars and cultural vigilantes () is to always look for how we can improve things; to avoid stasis and complacency we must continue to ask, how can we do it better? Thus, we must ask ourselves uncomfortable questions and develop a critical perspective that Foucault characterised as an ‘ethic of discomfort’ (, p. xxvi) by following the Nietzschean principle where one acts ‘counter to our time and thereby on our time ... for the benefit of a time to come’ (Nietzsche, 1874, p. 60 in , p. xxvi). This paper begins with a fundamental question for those participating in inclusive education research and scholarship—when we talk of including, into what do we seek to include?

Wherefore art thou, inclusion? Analysing the development of inclusive education in New South Wales, Alberta and Finland

Over the last two decades, moves toward ‘inclusion’ have prompted change in the formation of education policies, schooling structures and pedagogical practice. Yet, exclusion through the categorisation and segregation of students with diverse abilities has grown, particularly for students with challenging behaviour. This paper considers what has happened to inclusive education by focusing on three educational jurisdictions known to be experiencing different rates of growth in the identification of special educational needs: New South Wales (Australia), Alberta (Canada) and Finland (Europe). In our analysis, we consider the effects of competing policy forces that appear to thwart the development of inclusive schools in two of our case study regions.

Caught in the net: a Foucaultian interrogation of the incidental effects of limited notions of inclusion

The Department of Education in the Australian state of Queensland promotes inclusiveness and states a commitment to all students achieving to their full potential (Inclusive Learning, 2004, p. 17). Paradoxically, comprehensive review of Queensland Government education department policy indicates the vision of inclusive education is subordinate to the problematic of ‘inclusion as calculus’ (Ware, 2002, p.149). Arguably the implications of conceptualising inclusive education via such limited notions of inclusion needs consideration. The question posed in this paper asks what effects the practices involved might have upon those children whose difference remains outside institutionally ‘recognised’ forms of Otherness1. Interestingly the psychiatric category at the foci of this discussion, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is not deemed eligible for educational support in Queensland. Such avoidance through the non‐recognition of ADHD is remarkable given that diagnosis of ADHD and/or disruptive behaviour disorder is increasing across all states in Australia at an exponential rate (Davis et al., 2001; OECD, 2003; Prosser et al., 2002; Swan, 2000). So too is the prescription rate for stimulant medication (Mackey & Kopras, 2001). It appears then that any role schooling plays in the psycho‐pathologisation of children (Panksepp, 1998; Thomas & Glenny, 2000) is implicit in nature since there is no formal identification process responsible for locating ADHD/behaviour disorder in Queensland schools. Utilising a conceptual framework derived from the work of Foucault, this paper engages with this problematic to question what processes and practices might inform the construction of ‘disorderly’ schooling identities and further, may legitimise the differential treatment of such children within the Queensland context.

From ABCs to ADHD: the role of schooling in the construction of behaviour disorder and production of disorderly objects

Discussion of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the media, and thus much popular discourse, typically revolves around the possible causes of disruptive behaviour and the ‘behaviourally disordered’ child. The usual suspects—too much television and video games, food additives, bad parenting, a lack of discipline, and single mothers—feature prominently as potential contributors to the spiralling rate of ADHD diagnosis in Western industrialized nations, especially the USA and Australia. Conspicuously absent from the field of investigation, however, is the scene of schooling and the influence that the discourses and practices of schooling might bring to bear upon the constitution of ‘disorderly behaviour’ and subsequent recognition of particular children as a particular kind of ‘disorderly’. This paper reviews a sample of the literature surrounding ADHD in order to question the function of this absence and, ultimately, make an argument for an interrogation of the school as a site for the production of disorderly objects.

The Product of Text and ‘Other’ Statements: Discourse analysis and the critical use of Foucault

Much has been written on Michel Foucaults reluctance to clearly delineate a research method, particularly with respect to genealogy (Harwood, 2000; Meadmore, Hatcher & McWilliam, 2000; Tamboukou, 1999). Foucault (1994, p. 288) himself disliked prescription stating, ‘I take care not to dictate how things should be’ and wrote provocatively to disrupt equilibrium and certainty, so that ‘all those who speak for others or to others’ no longer know what to do. It is doubtful, however, that Foucault ever intended for researchers to be stricken by that malaise to the point of being unwilling to make an intellectual commitment to methodological possibilities. Taking criticism of ‘Foucauldian’ discourse analysis as a convenient point of departure to discuss the objectives of poststructural analyses of language, this paper develops what might be called a discursive analytic; a methodological plan to approach the analysis of discourses through the location of statements that function with constitutive effects.

The Inclusion Lottery: who's in and who's out? Tracking inclusion and exclusion in New South Wales government schools

The last few decades have witnessed a broad international movement towards the development of inclusive schools through targeted special education funding and resourcing policies. Student placement statistics are often used as a barometer of policy success but they may also be an indication of system change. In this paper, trends in student enrolments from the Australian state of New South Wales are considered in an effort to understand what effect inclusive education has had in this particular region of the world.

Developing capabilities for social inclusion: engaging diversity through inclusive school communities

The effort to make schools more inclusive, together with the pressure to retain students until the end of secondary school, has greatly increased both the number and educational requirements of students enrolling in their local school. Of critical concern, despite years of research and improvements in policy, pedagogy and educational knowledge, is the enduring categorisation and marginalisation of students with diverse abilities. Research has shown that it can be difficult for schools to negotiate away from the pressure to categorise or diagnose such students, particularly those with challenging behaviour. In this paper, we highlight instances where some schools have responded to increasing diversity by developing new cultural practices to engage both staff and students; in some cases, they have responded to decreasing suspension while improving retention, behaviour and performance.

Out of sight, out of mind/out of mind, out of site: schooling and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a diagnostic term now indelibly scored on the public psyche. In some quarters, a diagnosis of ADHD is regarded with derision. In others it is welcomed with relief. Despite intense multidisciplinary research, the jury is still out with regard to the ‘truth’ of ADHD. Not surprisingly, the rapid increase in diagnosis over the past 15 years, coupled with an exponential rise in the prescription of restricted‐class psychopharmaceuticals, has stirred virulent debate. Provoking the most interest, it seems, are questions regarding causality. Typically, these revolve around possible antecedents for ‘disorderly’ behaviour—bad food, bad TV and bad parents. Very seldom is the institution of schooling ever in the line of sight. To investigate this gap, the author questions what might be happening in schools and how this may be contributing to the definition, recognition and classification of particular children as a particular kind of ‘disorderly’.

(Re)Visioning the Centre: Education reform and the ‘ideal’ citizen of the future

Discourses of public education reform, like that exemplified within the Queensland Governments future vision document, Queensland State Education‐2010 (QSE‐2010), position schooling as a panacea to pervasive social instability and a means to achieve a new consensus. However, in unravelling the many conflicting statements that conjoin to form education policy and inform related literature ( ), it becomes clear that education reform discourse is polyvalent ( ). Alongside visionary statements that speak of public education as a vehicle for social justice are the (re)visionary or those reflecting neoliberal individualism and a conservative politics. In this paper, it is argued that the latter coagulate to form strategic discursive practices which work to (re)secure dominant relations of power. Further, discussion of the characteristics needed by the ‘ideal’ future citizen of Queensland reflect efforts to ‘tame change through the making of the child’ ( , p. 201). The casualties of this (re)vision and the refusal to investigate the pathologies of ‘traditional’ schooling are the children who, for whatever reason, do not conform to the norm of the desired school child as an ‘ideal’ citizen‐in‐the‐making and who become relegated to alternative educational settings.

Detaining the Usual Suspects: Charting the Use of Segregated Settings in New South Wales Government Schools, Australia.

This article examines the increase in segregated placements in the New South Wales government school sector. Using disaggregated enrolment data, it points to the growing over-representation of boys in special schools and classes, particularly those of a certain age in certain support categories. In the discussion that follows, the authors question the role of special education in the development of new and additional forms of being ‘at risk’. In effect, they invert the traditional concept by asking: who is at risk of what? In focusing on the containment of risk, are modern practices of diagnosis and segregation perpetuating risks that already disproportionately affect certain groups of individuals? Do these perceptions of and responses to risk in local schools now place these students at greater personal risk of school failure and a future marked by social exclusion? And, finally, is that risk worth the cost?