Two decades ago the Salamanca Conference on Special Needs Education endorsed the idea of inclusive education (UNESCO, 1994). This idea has become a key international educational policy. These efforts challenge the traditional role of the special school. A change in role has been advocated toward partnering with mainstream schools rather than segregated education for students with SEN (Gibb et al, 2007; Norwich, 2008). The debates about inclusion usually focused on mainstream schools whereas special schools were often ignored. Research points to fundamental changes in special schools (Allan and Brown, 2001; Head and Pirrie, 2007). These changes are in stark contrast to the slow progress of mainstream schools toward inclusive cultures and practices. Educational policy that advocates inclusion challenges not only the role but the very existence of special schools (Day and Prutny, 2010). Albeit the arguments against special schools a national review of special schools in Ireland (2009) indicated that "special schools are an important part of the continuum of educational provision for students with SEN" (Day and Prutny, 2010. P. 7); Norwich (2008) points out: "since the year 2000 the percentage [of children attending special schools] has remained at around the 1.2% to 1.3% level" (ibid. p.136) and along the same lines, McMenamin (2011) from New Zealand draws attention to the tenacity and resilience of special schools.

Different forms of collaboration and partnerships between special schools and mainstream schools have been advocated over the past three decades (see for example Stainback and Stainback, 1984; Norwich and Evans, 1994). More recently, multidimensional models of provision are highlighted as the future of special schools (Norwich, 2008) as are school partnerships where special schools establish themselves as support hubs for partner mainstream schools (Forlin and Rose, 2010; Rose, 2012).

This paper describes three different partnerships between a special and a mainstream school in Israel. These were chosen taking into account the ideas presented in "Good schools for children with disabilities" (Schulte, 2002), the suggestions raised in "Special and general education collaborative practices in exemplary schools" (McLaughlin, 2002) and the concept of best practice presented by Gibb et al (2007).  

The integration of students with SEN in regular schools in Israel has been practiced on a voluntary basis since the mid-fifties and became mandatory in the early 1990's following the Law of Special Education of 1988. The latter has been amended (2003) to emphasize the mandate to include children with SEN in general education settings. By the 1998-99 school-year all schools in Israel were expected to implement inclusion (Al-Yagon and Margalit, 2001).  Consequently, inclusive education in Israel is understood as providing a spectrum of services ranging from placement in a regular classroom to special schools that offer inclusive experiences for the youngsters. A dual system of 'regular' and 'special' education serves over two million school-age children.

During the 2012/2013 school year, there were 2,066,480 pupils in the Israeli education system and special education services were provided to approximately 10 percent of school age children (nearly 200,000). Of these,18.3% attended 276 special schools and 1,010 special pre-schools, while nearly two thirds were included (over 59.8%) in regular classrooms (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2013; www.education.gov.il/special). The Israeli Special Education Law of 1988 and the amendments that followed, reflect a commitment to placing children in the least restrictive environment (Al-Yagon and Margalit, 2001). Nonetheless, youngsters with severe disabilities are often educated in special schools.

Research Questions:

This research seeks to highlight exemplary models of partnership or collaboration between special schools and mainstream schools. 

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