Our need for certainty in an uncertain world: the difference between special education and inclusion?

Abstract

Despite decades of effort to achieve inclusive education systems, the emphasis on special education persists. This article explores the contradictory impulses that underpin these two concepts and considers whether they can be brought together. It does this through the development of two models; a model of certainty and a ‘model of uncertainty’. These models seek to represent and create a platform for thinking about the emergence and perpetuation of these two contradictory impulses and how these contradictions are experienced and might be resolved.