The Irregular School: Exclusion, Schooling and Inclusive Education – By Roger Slee

The Irregular School: Exclusion, Schooling and Inclusive Education . Roger Slee 2011 . London : Routledge , 232 pp. Paperback £24.99 . ISBN 978 0 415 47990 5

This book starts with an interesting piece of author reflexivity and thinking out loud on the theme of academic language. The author describes a situation he experienced when speaking at a conference in Greece, when a participant described his previous publications as ‘hard work’, due to his ‘tendency to conceal an idea in a thicket of words’ (pp. 1–2). This provokes him to acknowledge the fact that academic language itself could act as a barrier to inclusion, and, as a consequence, he is moved to promise the reader to write in a style that would appeal to a wide audience – not just academics, but parents, carers of schoolchildren, advocates in community organisations, support personnel, students, researchers and teacher educators.

Throughout this book, the author, who is presently Professor of Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, demonstrates a substantive grasp of the challenges and issues of inclusive education, not only in the United Kingdom, but across the world. Case studies are cited from a range of jurisdictions including the United States and other places where intrinsic poverty contributes towards educational exclusion. A number of issues in relation to inclusion and exclusion are addressed in ways that go a long way towards creating a sense of unease with the status quo –certainly for this reader. These include, for example, the pervasiveness of exclusion, the need to understand the nature of exclusion as a precondition for more inclusive schooling in the future, the political nature of inclusive education, and the negative influences of high-stakes testing cultures, resulting in an increase, rather than decrease, in exclusionary practices.

This is a valuable work which I believe makes a major and significant contribution to the dialogue on exclusion and inclusion. However, it does so in a way that challenges the existing paradigms and rhetoric of the way things are currently framed. Consequently, freshness is brought to the field which moves well beyond the ‘usual’ debates around regular schools and special schools. Slee calls for a fundamental reconstruction of the way we understand beliefs, policy and practice, through a re-framing of the field, the re-righting of language, the re-searching for inclusion and re-visioning of education. Convincing arguments are made throughout the book which are difficult to ignore or argue against.

I would have no hesitation in recommending this work as one that is accessible and readable as well as one that should become a set text for a wide audience, including beginning teachers, postgraduate students, teachers and researchers. I would go further in suggesting that this is a book that should be read by politicians, policy and decision makers in order seriously to re-frame and address what we mean by special needs education in an inclusive era.

I have but one criticism of the book, and it has nothing to do with content – just layout. References are provided in footnote/number style. I found this to be cumbersome when seeking to identify the citations and in reality it got in the way of my reading. I would urge the publishers to follow a more logical method of referencing for further editions of this book.

David Ryan

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