Disguising success or experiencing failure: how should we understand social and educational inclusion? ( Disfrazar el éxito o vivir el fracaso: ¿cómo debería entenderse la inclusión social y educativa? )

Abstract

From the 1990s onwards, inclusive education began to spread in many countries in line with the guidelines of various international organizations. These organizations came to recognize society as essentially diverse, and the need for education that catered for this diversity in an equitable manner so that no one was left out. However, this model had to be made compatible with other reforms geared towards the training of competitive individuals in an increasingly demanding labour market. This meant that inclusion ended up being reduced to individual training. Based on this fact, this article attempts to show that inclusion conceived in this way cannot truly be inclusion, since there needs to be an evaluative hierarchy regarding human abilities that prevents all of them from being socially recognized in the same way. We conclude by proposing an alternative education model that focuses on failure and vulnerability, rather than ability, in order to be truly inclusive.