Sheila Riddell

Abstract:Social justice, equality and inclusion are complex and inter-linked concepts and feature prominently in Scottish social policy rhetoric. This paper begins with an overview of the discourses surrounding these concepts and the ways in which they are used in Scottish education policy, which, in general, is founded on principles of universalism. The need for some degree of redistribution has been recognised for certain children, but less attention has been paid to recognising the identity of marginalised groups. Children with additional support needs are seen as a group requiring extra resources, but decisions on the nature of that support and which groups should be prioritised has been left to professionals, with little input from parents or children. Overall, there has been inadequate additional resourcing to support mainstreaming, which has made little progress despite having become the policy orthodoxy. There is also evidence to suggest that categories such as learning disabilities and social emotional and behavioural difficulties are applied disproportionately to children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, cementing rather than challenging their marginalisation. Major beneficiaries of inclusion policies, particularly in relation to disabled students in higher education, are students with a diagnosis of dyslexia, who are particularly likely to be male and middle class. The paper concludes by suggesting that children with additional support needs require more, rather than less, redistribution and recognition, but policies need to be couched within a discourse of rights, rather than individual needs.

Key words: social justice;equality;inclusion;additional support needs

总结：1、社会正义、平等和包容是苏格兰社会政策言论中的复杂且早期的概念和特色，本文就这几个概念如何在苏格兰教育政策中使用进行了简单回顾。

2、本文得出的结论是儿童需要更多的额外支持需求、分配和认可，而不是更少，但政策需要在有话语表达的权利时出现，而不是个人的需要。

来源：Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

Vol. 30, No. 3, September 2009, 283Á296.