Inclusive education was introduced as a means to overcome the exclusionary practices and experiences of mainstream and special education systems. Its’ apparent success is that it has globally taken hold even in systems where there is a well-established history of segregatory structures. However, it is understood in many different ways in relation to policy, practice and research (Amor et al, 2019) and in most countries the initial enthusiastic narrative has been met by a continued and frequently resurgent role for special education in various guises (Slee, 2018; Rix, 2015; Hausstatter & Jahnukainen, 2015). For example, in Ireland there is much made of the drive for an inclusive ethos and culture, however any changes are cosmetic and surface-level (McKeon, 2020), with over 140 special schools, and nearly 25% of the school population identified with special educational needs (Kenny et al, 2020); in Finland, 9% of children in 2020 were identified for special support with over 40% receiving all education in a special education setting (Statistics Finland, 2021); in the Czech republic 33% of those identifed with Special educational needs were in special settings (EASNIE, 2020), whilst in England special school numbers have grown by over 20% since 2011 (Selfe & Richmond, 2020) and in Italy over 26% of disabled children spend more than 50% of their time out of mainstream class (Anastasiou et al, 2015).

Even if efforts are made to accept the historical value of special education and to shift the focus onto a singular inclusive pedagogy (Florian, 2013), it does not seem to be happen as we may wish. In practice, even when asked to enact an pedagogy underpinned by inclusive aims and principles, (e.g.: focussed upon whole class activity and student strengths), practitioners still feel the need to adopt practices for learners identified with special eduational needs that are associated with the special education paradigm (e.g. individualised seating arrangements and behaviour strategies) (Losberg & Zwozdiak-Myers, 2021).

In this context that this symposium will explore whether we need to reimagine the nature of special education rather than seek to consign it to history. We wish to consider the possibility that inclusion has re-legitimised special education and become a barrier to special education’s necessary transformation. We are interested in:

• considering ways in which the re-legitimisation of special education may be happening
• introducing practical possibilities that can move us beyond this impasse
• exploring what alternative special education may emerge.

This is a double symposium designed to allow space for four papers, a round-table discussion and the development of a special issue proposal for the European Journal of Inclusive Eduction.

In the first 90 minutes of the symposium there will be 4 presentations by Rune Hausstatter, Ilektra Spandagou, Thorsten Merl and Anabel Granados. These will consider challenges presented by individualisation, relationships with support services, administrative processes, ownership of knowledge and the legitamising nature of caterories. The second part of the symposium will begin with the discussants, the editors of the British Journal of Special Education, Graham Hallett and Fiona Hallett, reflecting on the 4 presentations and the wider issue of the symposium. This will be followed by a round table discussion (involving the presenters, discussants and open to the floor) chaired by Jonathan Rix. Our opening points of discussion will be

• Why does special education fill a gap which inclusion does not?
  • Are there aspects of special education which we should be seeking to retain and redevelop?
  • What would happen to special education if we prioritise participation and social justice (rather than inclusion)?
  • In addition to the presentations in the first part, what topics should be included in the proposed special edition?

Amor, A., Hagiwara, M., Shogren, K., et al (2019) ‘International perspectives and trends in research on inclusive education: a systematic review’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23 (12), 1277–1295. Anastasiou, D., Kauffman, J., & Di Nuovo, S. (2015). Inclusive education in Italy. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 30(4), 429-443. European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Eduction (EASNIE) (2020) Czech Republic Datahttps://www.european-agency.org/data/czech-republic/datatable-overview#tab-official_decision_on_sen_v3 Florian, L. (2013). Reimagining special education. Sage handbook of special education, 9-22. Hausstätter, R. & Jahnukainen, M. (2015) ‘From integration to inclusion and the role of special education’, in F. Kiuppis and R. Hausstätter (eds) Inclusive Education Twenty Years after Salamanca. New York: Peter Lang. Kenny, N., McCoy, S., & Mihut, G. (2020). Special education reforms in Ireland. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-20. Losberg, J., & Zwozdiak-Myers, P. (2021). Inclusive pedagogy through the lens of primary teachers and teaching assistants in England. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-21. Mc Keon, D. (2020). ‘Soft barriers’. Improving Schools, 23(2), 159-174. Rix, J. (2015). Must Inclusion be Special? Routledge. Selfe, L., & Richmond, R. (2020). A review of policy in the field of special needs and inclusive education since the 1990s. SEN Policy Forum, Department for Education. Slee, R. (2018). Inclusive education isn’t dead, it just smells funny. Routledge. Statistics Finland (2021) https://www.stat.fi/til/erop/2020/erop_2020_2021-06-08_tie_001_en.html