The Politics of Special Education for Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Japan between 1945 and 2015: Is Inclusion a Noble Aim?

Abstract

This study offers a detailed assessment of the development of education for children with intellectual disabilities in Japan from the immediate post-war period to the present. It asks why government policies on education for children with disabilities changed from a segregated to an inclusive approach. This study finds that the development of the government’s educational policies for children with disabilities in Japan has been largely affected by the activities of the United Nations (UN), disability rights movements, and the development of disability studies. However, despite a trend towards inclusive education, the country still adopts a separate education for children with intellectual disabilities. Deep concern for the abolishment of separate education and a full transition to inclusive education resulted from inconsistencies amongst the UN conventions, existing special needs education, and the Constitution of Japan; parents’ preference for special needs education based on cultural beliefs; and the continuing dispute surrounding inclusive education amongst professionals. In particular, parents’ demand for special needs education is the most powerful impetus for the continuation of separate education, putting pressure on the government to maintain the existing special needs education system.