No matter how long you have seen a storm coming, the deluge is still unpleasant.

The full programme for partnership government for the next five years was published today (Thursday 20 May), following discussions between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. In the section on schools, the government pledges to “prevent the unnecessary closure of special schools and remove the bias towards inclusion.”

We have looked for the good news, and found some. The government proposes a British Bill of Rights (the passage of which should see some interesting debates on children’s rights), pledges new money to fund the proposed pupil premium, promises to help schools tackle bullying and especially homophobic bullying, and says it will ensure that all new Academies follow an inclusive admissions policy.

Most ironically, the document’s opening statement on schools could have come out of CSIE’s mouth: “The Government believes that we need to reform our school system to tackle educational inequality, which has widened in recent years, and to give greater powers to parents and pupils to choose a good school.” Sadly, that is where the similarity ends. What constitutes educational inequality is evidently open to wide-ranging interpretations, as is the understanding of changes that are needed to enable all parents and pupils to choose a good school.

It is hard to imagine how this government would begin to justify its blatant disregard for the international call for the development of inclusive education. The Salamanca Statement of 1994 (which the then Conservative UK government had signed up to) was reaffirmed in 2009 through the UNESCO Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education (PDF). The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child has long established every child’s right to education without discrimination. The UK has ratified this Convention but in the most recent examination of its implementation, our country was, once again, criticised for marginalising disabled children and failing to enable their inclusion in society. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes without a shred of doubt the right of all disabled people to equality and non-discrimination. Article 24 (Education) clearly calls for an inclusive education system at all levels, which enables disabled children and young people to access “an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live” (emphasis added).

Perhaps the government still intends to develop the capacity of mainstream schools to provide for the full diversity of learners. Shortly before the general election David Cameron, being confronted by an angry parent dismayed at Tory policy on education, had said: “I absolutely promise you I’ll never do anything to make it more difficult for children to go to mainstream school.” He went on to say that at the heart of his Party’s policy is the commitment to offer a real choice to all parents.

CSIE has written to the newly formed Department for Education, asking what choice is made available to parents of disabled children who want to exercise their child’s right to a mainstream education, i.e. those who want their child to go to school with their brothers, sisters, friends and potential friends from their local community. With the current emphasis on personalised learning, there is no reason why tailor-made provision has to take place in a separate setting. Knowing that many parents currently find that their local authority has not yet developed provision for all learners in ordinary local schools, we also asked how the Department plans to extend real choice to all parents and offered to help in this process.

We know that no battle for human rights has ever been fought without setbacks. No doubt when previous inhumane practices were in the process of being abolished, there must have been some who, steeped within an outdated frame of mind, vehemently opposed the abolition of slavery, or child labour, or… one day we may be able to say segregated education.

CSIE looks forward to the day when our society collectively and unanimously looks back in disbelief at the time when a small minority of young people were routinely ostracised from their local communities, in the name of their own good.

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