Taylor & Francis and the University of Western Cape, South Africa invite you to an International Conference to Celebrate, Ruminate & Recalibrate.

Rethinking (Inclusive) Education for Challenging Times

Marking 35 years since the first publication of the International Journal of Inclusive Education, the University of the Western Cape South Africa is hosting a conference Rethinking (Inclusive) Education for Challenging Times. In the beginning, it was necessary to explain the journal’s purpose. Today, inclusive education is a part of our everyday vocabulary. Indeed, as an academic field, it has rapidly grown to be an established field of research, professional learning, development politics, community advocacy and educational organization and practice. This is generally taken as a sign of success. In many respects, it is.

This international gathering will invite us to pause to think further. As the world is threatening self-destruction, when animus towards those seeking refuge from war and poverty is fanned by hateful populist sentiment, where exclusion from schooling is growing rather than diminishing globally, it is reasonable that we reconsider the foundations and practices of inclusive education. Is inclusive education a force for radical change to meet disturbing social changes? Is it a Trojan horse promoting habituated thinking and practices of exclusion? Have we been co-opted into new forms of exclusion buried within the rhetorical flourishes of policy pronouncements and leadership doublespeak? Can we celebrate “standards” when more than 250 million children being out of school is standard? Do established schooling structures, practices and cultures deliver an education for new times?