Is it worth it?

The benefits of Inclusive Education far outweigh the efforts that are necessary to ensure it's implementation.

In her article entitled Questioning Secondary Inclusive Education: Are Inclusive Classrooms Always Best for Students, Ruth Tkachyk (2013) expressed her belief that children without special needs would positively gain from inclusion, "since an inclusive environment models tolerance and acceptance" (p.16). 

Mc Cathy (2006) indicated that, children in the general education classrooms learn to understand and appreciate the students with special needs, since they now form part of the community and the children in the general education classrooms are able to contribute to these students’ developments, highlighting their talents and gifting. This gives the students with special needs role models to emulate. 

Another argument that was put forward in support of inclusion is that students with behavioral and social challenges would benefit from the mixing of the groups (Tkachyk, 2013).   These benefits of Inclusion are certainly valuable and beneficial to the moral and social development of all children.

Due to the nature of instruction and the array of teaching and learning strategies, academic outcomes have shown to be beneficial to all students. Hines (2001) postulates that the "academic benefits for general education students include having additional special education staff in the classroom, providing small-group, individualized instruction, and assisting in the development of academic adaptations for all students who need them"(p.3) . Differentiation here, is a key way of teaching and thinking that can assist the teacher in providing each student with certain experiences and tasks that will ultimately increase learning. 

Carol Ann Tomlinson (1999) indicated that through observation of the students, teachers will flexibly plan instruction to meet the needs of ALL in the classroom. This strategy would ensure that the students in the general education classrooms do not fall behind while the special needs are being met. Additionally, Mc Cathy (2006) further commented that it is observed that "special-needs students in regular classes perform better academically and socially when compared with students in non-inclusive classes” (p.6). All children have the human right of being educated and with the proper planning, finance and implementation, these needs can be adequately met.