Special Needs Education in Europe: Inclusive Policies and Practices

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the developments of inclusive education in Europe. The challenges and progress are being discussed as well as the main trends in policies and practices. The consequences for teaching in mainstream classes are being addressed with a special focus on effective approaches in inclusive settings. It is argued that at the end the success and failure of inclusive education depends on the strategies and practices that teachers in ordinary classrooms use in order to deal with a heterogeneous class with a variety of learners.