CP Conference 2010 - Dr. I.P. Desai: Inclusive Education

It's CP Conference time again, this year held in Durban and organized by the A.M. Moolla Spes Nova School. I find it hard to believe that a year has passed since the previous conference, which I (with the Gauteng Cerebral Palsy Association) organized.

The Jimmy Craig Memorial Lecture was by Dr. I.P. Desai, retired professor in Education from the University of Melbourne, Australia. It dealt with inclusive education. A somewhat jaded topic by now, but in South African circumstances still topical. Dr. Desai's conclusion from literature and experience - inclusive education works where the necessary support is given to teachers and learners with disabilities. Nothing new there.

A question I had - is there a publication bias in this field that prevents negative findings from being published? From past literature reviews this seemed to me to be the case - the evidence for the effectiveness of inclusive education seemed just too good to be true (I'm not arguing with the principle and that it's mostly the right thing to do). While it is hard to question the philosophy of and necessity for inclusive education, the difficulties in implementation seem to be glossed over. Dr. Desai agreed that such a publication bias may exist. Moral imperatives and political correctness may sometimes have precedence over scientific evidence (my interpretation, not his).