Thomas, Gary Deconstructing Special Education and Constructing Inclusion (0335223710)

Reviews of the first edition:

'...full of sparkling analysis ... an absorbing account of how and why the practice of special education has failed to live up to expectations ... a tour de force ... A challenging, badly needed book likely to be read for many years to come.'
Dr Caroline Roaf, British Journal of Educational Studies

'... a sophisticated, multidisciplinary critique of special education that leaves virtually no intellectual stone unturned. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the role and significance of inclusive pedagogy in the new struggle for an inclusive society.'
Professor Tom Skrtic, University of Kansas, USA

'While this is a weighty book, there is real clarity about the key ideas and no doubting their importance ... its challenges to our thinking make it essential reading.'
Dr Melanie Nind in Times Educational Supplement

“...a striking ... thought-provoking yet lyrical account which is both uncompromising in its stance and refreshing in its intellectually sophisticated critique.”
Professor Phil Garner in British Journal of Special Education

Review of the second edition:

'Having read this book with much pleasure when it first came out in 2001, I am delighted to see its authors rewarded with the accolade of a second edition. Indeed it has been an equally agreeable experience to revisit it, and interesting too, since there have been some significant shifts in thinking in the intervening years. As Thomas and Loxley rightly infer, a second edition supports their contention that there is indeed 'an appetite among professionals in education for ideas, argument and scholarship'. This book provides plenty of all three.'
Support for Learning · Volume 23 · Number 2 · 2008

In the second edition of this best-selling text, the authors critically examine the intellectual foundations of special education and consider the consequences of their influence for professional and popular thinking about learning difficulties. In light of this critique, they suggest that much of the knowledge about special education is misconceived, and proceed to provide a powerful rationale for inclusion derived from ideas about social justice and human rights.

Revised and updated throughout, the book contains new material on social capital, communities of practice and a 'psychology of difference', as well as a new chapter on ‘Inclusive education for the twenty-first century’.

Deconstructing Special Education and Constructing Inclusion is essential reading for teachers, head teachers, educational psychologists and policy makers.