Achievement of students with special educational needs
In order to draw conclusions about the desirability of inclusive education, it is important to know the effects on the academic
achievement of children with special educational needs. Theoretically, there might be positive and negative effects:
children with special educational needs might achieve better results, because they can learn from more able students. Besides
that, they could become more motivated to achieve, because there might be more focus on academic achievement and academic
progress in regular education (Cole, Waldron, & Majd, 2004; Myklebust, 2007). On the other hand, children with
special educational needs might become less motivated and self-confident when they compare themselves to their peers,
because they are likely to achieve less well than their peers without special educational needs. This might adversely affect
their motivation and self-confidence. Furthermore, there might be less knowledge about teaching children with special educational
needs in regular schools, which might have a negative effect on the quality of their education and their achievement
(Cole et al., 2004; Myklebust, 2007).