Nina Thorup Dalgaard|Anja Bondebjerg|Bjørn C. A. Viinholt|Trine Filges
The effects of inclusion on academic achievement, socioemotional development and wellbeing of children with special educational needs
Danish Center for Social Science Research|Danish Center for Social Science Research|Danish Center for Social Science Research|Danish Center for Social Science Research
considering rapid global movement towards inclusion students special educational needs sen surprising lack pedagogical didactic theories regarding ways inclusive education may affect students sen group composition within educational setting may play role determining academic achievement socioemotional development wellbeing students sen proponents inclusion propose segregated educational placement causes stigmatisation social isolation may detrimental effects selfconcept selfconfidence students sen hand opponents inclusion special needs students suggest placement general education classrooms may adverse effects especially time resources allocated individualisation aligned student needs since 1980s number reviews effects inclusion published results inconsistent several reviews point number methodological challenges weaknesses study designs within primary studies sum impact inclusion students sen may hypothesised positive negative current knowledge base inconsistentthe objective first uncover synthesise data contemporary studies assess effects inclusion measures academic achievement socioemotional development wellbeing children special needs compared children special needs receive special education segregated settinga secondary objective explore potential moderators gender age type severity special need part full time inclusive education coteaching relate outcomesrelevant studies identified electronic searches academic search premier ebsco apa psycinfo ebsco econlit ebsco eric ebsco international bibliography social sciences proquest sociological abstracts proquest science citation index expanded web science social sciences citation index web science socindex ebsco database searches completed 24 april 2021 resources grey literature repositories hand search targeted journals internet search engines searched augustseptember 2021 search limited studies reported 2000the review included studies children special needs grades k 12 oecd countries children types verifiable sen eligible inclusion refers educational setting mixture children without sen segregation refers separate education children sen studies compared inclusive versus segregated educational settings children sen eligible qualitative studies includedthe total number potentially relevant studies constituted 20183 hits total 94 studies met inclusion criteria nonrandomised studies 94 studies analysed data 19 different countries 15 studies could used data synthesis seventynine studies could used data synthesis judged critical risk bias accordance protocol excluded metaanalysis basis would likely mislead inform 15 studies came nine different countries separate metaanalyses conducted conceptually distinct outcomes analyses inverse variance weighted using random effects statistical models sensitivity analyses performed evaluate robustness pooled effect sizes across components risk biasthe average baseline year interventions analysed 15 studies used metaanalysis 2006 ranging 1998 2012 average number participants analysed interventions 151 ranging 10 1357 average number controls 261 ranging 5 2752 studies included children multiple types disabilities learning disordersintellectual disabilities autism spectrum disorders adhd physical handicaps visual impairments syndrome results eight studies could pooled metaanalyses metaanalyses showed weighted average favoured intervention group none statistically significant random effects weighted standardised mean difference 020 95 confidence interval ci 001 042 overall psychosocial adjustment 004 95 ci 027 035 language literacy learning outcomes 005 95 ci 016 026 math learning outcomes appreciable changes results indicated sensitivity analyses inconsistency direction magnitude effect sizes primary studies analyses moderate amount heterogeneity attempted investigate heterogeneity single factor subgroup analyses results inconclusivethe overall methodological quality included studies low experimental studies children randomly assigned intervention control conditions found 15 studies could used data synthesis except one judged serious risk bias results metaanalyses suggest average sizeable positive negative effects inclusion childrens academic achievement measured language literacy math outcomes overall psychosocial adjustment children average point estimates favoured inclusion though small statistically significant heterogeneity present analyses inconsistency direction magnitude effect sizes finding similar results previous metaanalyses include studies published 2000 thus although number studies current metaanalyses limited concluded unlikely inclusion general increases decreases learning psychosocial adjustment children special needs future research explore effects different kinds inclusive education children different kinds special needs expand knowledge base works