One of the difficult challenges regarding inclusion in the classroom is actually defining what inclusion means and who it concerns. While the notion of inclusion may point toward many types of differences --such as racial, ethnic, economic or social -- the primary focus of the inclusion debate in the United States has concerned students with disabilities or those designated "at risk." Strategies for their ethical inclusion in the classroom revolve around how to best acclimate them to a normal relationship with non-disabled peers, enhance their quality of education and cater to their essential and specialized needs for support and services.
Inclusion's central ethical issue is whether or not the disabled deserve equal access to educational establishments and to not be segregated in demeaning and detrimental ways. In the 19th century, this issue was of little concern to legislators, pedagogues and educators who had the disabled (physical, mental, emotional and others) sent to asylums. While some day schools emerged in the 20th century for these children, it was not until the 1950s and '60s that parents and other individuals began pressing for expanded rights and means of access for disabled students. In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed, requiring all children to have the "least restrictive environment possible" for their education. Trends towards inclusion have continued since then.
Another principle issue is deciding whether inclusion is a moral, legal or philosophical concern. Some phrasing, such as that which links inclusion to a form of integration, is decidedly a legal perspective and one that follows from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s as well. Philosophically, supporting inclusion maintains that disabled children have every right, in a moral sense, to be around their peers and not isolated as second class citizens or human beings. In both cases, however, inclusion invokes strong sentiments regarding the ethics and values of society more generally and for how difference is either managed or accepted.
In practice, inclusion must be made functional. This is an issue of planning, logistics and research. Educators must find balanced ways for disabled students to spend quality time with their peers as well as with their special education teachers who are critical to their supplemental support. Similarly, educators need to find ways to involve peer support groups that truly bolster the child's sense of inclusion and allow them to establish actual relationships with fellow students. As stated by Richard Thompkins and Pat Deloney in their article "Inclusion: The Pros and Cons," this necessitates that education and care are truly "child-centered" -- that every student is allowed adaptable, unique and specialized forms of help and encouragement that suit their circumstances.