Book Reviewjrs3_1242 187..188

Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Education: A Voice fromthe Margins

C. P. GauseSense Publishers, 2011, 144ppHardback £ 65.00ISBN-10: 9460914225Hardback £ 20.00ISBN-13: 978-9460914225

The absence of any universally agreed definition of termssuch as ‘inclusive education’ means that potential readersscanning the title of books may impose their own frame ofreference on the phrase or phrases used. This situation isexacerbated because inclusive education is sometimes usedin a broad sense referring to all learners and in other occa-sion more narrowly with reference to pupils with specialeducational needs and/or disabilities or even as a cosmeticre-branding of existing practices for particular groups (Slee,2010). Those engaging with this book will find that theauthor is eager to clarify the meanings that he ascribes toparticular terms, using a glossary at the end of five of thesix chapters to stipulate the definitions. Within this volume,‘inclusion’ is used to refer to:

‘A 1990s educational movement whereby studentswith special educational needs spent time withnon-disabled students. Students with specialeducational needs were “mainstreamed” into“regular” classrooms and other educational settings.’(p. 10)

while ‘inclusive education’ is defined as:

‘A radical democratic social-justice-orientatedapproach to creating, developing, and sustaininginquiry-based, bias-free learning communities; thedevelopment of engaging, affirming, and dynamiclearning communities that empower all membersregardless of identify difference to achieve and excelby eliminating all barriers to include policies andpractices’ (p. 10)

Gause defined integration as:

‘The process of levelling barriers by ending systematicsegregation and creating equal and equitableopportunities regardless of race, social class,sexuality, disability, value, morals, beliefs, religion orideology. A social construct that draws on diversetraditions and cultures, rather than bringing aminority into the majority.’ (p. 10)

This differs from more usual usages of the term (DES,1978). Readers of this text need to invest time taking into

account the meanings used within this text and where nec-essary setting aside more common usage.

The context for the examination of the author’s threethemes, that is, diversity, equity and inclusive education, isthe USA, which the author perceives as more diverse thanever before but with many of the citizens living in a ‘stateof fear’ (p. 1). Gause uses that term as an acrostic: foreverentrapped and robbed. The breaking of that cycle raisesquestions about multiple factors including the nature ofeducation, the role of teachers, policies and life chances. Tothis end, he applied the critical theory. The second partof the title, ‘A Voice from the Margins’ alludes to the back-ground of the author parts of which appear in the firstchapter. He positions himself at a ‘tenured faculty memberof color who holds a doctoral and other advanced degreesfrom Tier 1 research institution’ (p. 4). He notes that otherelements of his identity are ‘African American, male, same-affection-loving, Prophetic Christian, northerner, south-erner and Mid westerner’ (p. 4). This is an early example inthe text of both his recognition of complexity and also hisdecisions to use particular terminology. He brings to thebook his own personal history, experiences and reflectionsalongside professional activities in the area includingworking on diversity, equity and inclusion in a university inthe southeast.

Having read about the context, his background, his ambi-tions for the book and the ways in which he used theterminology, I was left wondering what sense I could makeof the book. Professionally and personally, I am interestedin the democratisation of education, social justice and cre-ating spaces for joint explorations usually in the contexts ofspecial educational needs/disability and to some extentassociated factors such as poverty and social exclusion.However, this book is set in America and is consideringthe movements, histories and people that are relativelyunfamiliar to me.

Furthermore, the scope of the book is potentially vast with,for instance, the second chapter that considers Movements,People and Events: Creating a New World. He links this toculturally responsive teaching and also applying criticaltheory to events, trends and policies in the 20th century.This chapter is supported by some the materials providedin chapter 6. In a sense, calling that section of the book a‘chapter’ is somewhat misleading. It is more a repository ofmaterials as the chapter title, Resources and References,indicates. So, for example, in chapter 2, he makes referenceto President Johnson’s Commencement Address at HowardUniversity (p. 18), which he perceived as ‘a point of con-tention and forever changed how African Americans viewedthe government.’ This was new territory for me, and I wasgrateful that the text of the speech appeared in chapter 6.

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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs · Volume 12 · Number 3 · 2012 187–188doi: 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2012.01242.x

187© 2012 The Author. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs © 2012 NASEN. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

The third chapter returns to his theme of fear and is entitledTechnology, Diversity and Popular Culture: Living in aStockpile of Fear. Of the 12 pages of this chapter, seven aredevoted his personal thoughts and strategies to engage indi-viduals in transformations. These appeared almost in theform of a questionnaire but with embedded commentaries.The materials are intended to aid reflection about ‘Keys forsuccessful students/individual’ (p. 32). Selecting particularactivities and questions would fail to do full justice to thisresource, so these examples are only indicative. After a briefcommentary on forgiveness, there is space in which to ‘Listtwo people you will forgive right now and let them knowyou have forgiven them.’ and after that a section labelled‘Honor’ which is to record how the reader show honor tothose who provide care and support (p. 37). I found thepositioning of this material as a substantial part of a chapterthat is somewhat disconcerting. Placing the same materialin the Appendices (or chapter 6) with this chapter providinga critical commentary about the purposes, the uses and theoutcomes of this approach would have been more helpful.

The fifth chapter is concerned with Theorising Identities:Educator of Colour – How Do We feel? The massive topicis allocated five pages. I found this chapter frustrating; tomake any sense of the material, I needed greater depth andexposition of the ideas.

I have already referred to chapter 6 on several occasions,but that hints at its position within the book. Chapters 1–5occupy 61 pages whereas 66 pages are devoted to the finalchapter, an idiosyncratic arrangement. The challenges ofthe final chapter are increased by the limited use of graphi-cal signposting and the absence of any form of overview/index. The structures are not provided for either the chapteror the book. These omissions create barrier to navigating achapter that undoubtable contains a wealth of information.I found myself reacting to it much as I would to the Guin-ness book of records because it was also full of interestingbut discrete segments of information. For instance, thesection on Policies, Law and Legal Information is immedi-ately followed by Famous First African American Facts insections on government, law, diplomacy, military, scienceand medicine, scholarship, literature, music and dance, film,

television, sports, and other. It did introduce me to newmaterials and sources that I will be exploring. However, itsintegration into the text and the ways of navigating thissubstantial section are weaknesses of the book.

Reading this book did prompt me again to question whichvoices are heard and our individual and collective responsesto the author’s three themes. Consistent with a celebrationof differences, books should themselves be diverse so thata novel structure or approach should not of itself be prob-lematic. However, this book left me intrigued, frustratedand confused. Those feelings were only partially aboutthe content, although that was quite properly challenging.The emphasis, the overall structure and the balance, inmy opinion, did not allow for some of the themes to beadeqsuately addressed. The author’s message is that diver-sity, equity and inclusive education in all settings includinghigher education need further crituque and, monitoring andaction. That is broadly accepted. I hope that subsequentbooks by this author who brings personal and professionalknowledge to his writing will contribute further to thatdebate. What are also needed, as Gause comments, are thespaces in which to debate the themes of this book so thattransformations can be fostered and flourish.

Address for correspondenceSue Pearson,University of Leeds,School of Education,Leeds, LS2 9JT,UK.Email: s.e.pearson@education.leeds.ac.uk

ReferencesDepartment of Education and Science (DES) (1978)

Warnock Committee Report. London: HMSO.Slee, R. (2010) Irregular Schooling : Special Education,

Regular Education and Inclusive Education. London:Routledge.

Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 12 187–188

188 © 2012 The Author. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs © 2012 NASEN