Paradigm Shifts in and around Special Education in New Zealand

Abstract

There are few sectors in New Zealand education that have been as frequently reviewed and subjected to such wide-ranging policy changes as special education. The evolution of special education policy that has taken place in the past decade reflects the coalescence of several paradigm shifts. Some of these have been in the field of special education, where there has been an international shift away from categorising students in terms of their disabilities to making judgements on their needs for educational support, and away from segregated educational provisions to more inclusive approaches. Others reflect changes in the broader education system, in particular the shift towards more local control of decision making about resource allocation. This paper will examine the tensions inherent in these paradigm shifts and the interactions between them.