Children's inclusion 'is form of abuse'

LONDON - Thousands of children have had their lives damaged by the Government policy of inclusion which has left pupils with special needs and severe medical problems struggling in mainstream schools, a union warned.

Teachers are regularly forced to clean out tracheotomy tubes and change nappies because children with serious medical conditions have been placed in mainstream schools, the National Union of Teachers said.

Schools had to cope with pupils with severe mental health problems, including schizophrenia, self-harming and even attempted suicides and to try to support youngsters from the UK's most troubled homes, the study by Cambridge University academics said.

NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said that forcing children with special needs to struggle in mainstream school was "a form of abuse". "Inclusion has failed many children," he said. "It can work but we have discovered some really structural problems with it. Children can be excluded by sitting in a classroom that is not meeting their needs."

Many schools often lacked the money to hire specialist staff and provide the facilities needed to cope with special needs students, the study found.

- INDEPENDENT