Introduction [to Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Practices. An International Perspective]

Today, school is becoming a rapidly changing learning environment. Thinking about students as a homogeneous population is no longer allowed, as diversity - in terms of culture, language, gender, family organization, learning styles and so on - has emerged as a key challenge for education today. The debate on Special Educational Needs largely reflects this challenge, as working in school implies careful reconsideration of what we mean by "normal" and "special". Current educational intervention is generally based on a deficit and "within-child" model of facing SEN, whereas very little attention is given to the role of learning environment. The focus is on the child more than on the whole class, and on cognition and technical provisions more than on affective, sociocultural and community dimensions of learning. Conversely, regarding students and their needs as "hidden voices" allows us to adopt a transformative approach which sees diversity as a stimulus for the development of educational practices that might benefit all children and help school to become an inclusive and "moving" organization. The aim of the book is twofold: on one hand we offer a systematic overview of the inclusive education state of art in six countries (Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, UK, and USA) based on the contribution of well-know scholars as Christine Ashby, Tony Booth, Barbara Brokamp, Fabio Dovigo, Beth Ferri, Kari Nes, and Mara Westling Allodi; on the other, the book will analyse five cases of good practices of inclusion related to different subjects and school levels.