Silent Exclusion in Inclusive Schools: A Qualitative Study of Everyday Practices That Marginalize Students with Disabilities in Pakistan

Abstract

Inclusive education policies are built on the idea of participation and belonging, but students with disabilities are still likely to face the issue of marginalization when the school administration relies on implicit and normalized school practices. This paper analyzes silent exclusion within an inclusive primary and secondary schooling belonging to Pakistan with respect to the day to day activities and encounters that isolate students with disabilities without necessarily segregating them. The research problem aims to fill the gap between the official inclusion policies and the experience of participating of students in real life. The main idea in the study was to look at how teachers, students, and school administrators identify, implement, or sanction practices that bring into existence exclusion in inclusive environments. The data were gathered by relying on qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders, as well as reflective descriptions of classroom and school practice. It was even assumed that exclusion was socially constructed in the form of routines, expectations and institutional norms and that the boundary of it is defined by the structure of the curriculum, assessment and school culture. The results show some trends of silent exclusion due to reduction of expectations, lack of chances of participation, marginalization through space, and selective inclusion in both academic and social processes. These results correspond to global sources on the topic of hidden exclusion besides giving context-based information in Pakistan. The paper comes to the conclusion that to cope with inclusive education the aspects of the subtle, everyday practices that will disable meaningful participation even in the cases of formal inclusion must be addressed.