“Full inclusion” policies in schools, intended to bring about equity, risk causing just the opposite: chaos, burnout and masked educational abandonment. Thousands of teachers from the US, Canada and Europe are writing on specialist forums that the current model, which puts children with completely different needs and cognitive levels in the same class, has “destroyed the teaching profession”. Behind the moral ideal of “fairness” many see a screen for austerity: “They hid budget cuts under the guise of inclusion.”
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“Inclusive education was conceived as a form of social and moral reparation. The idea of giving equal opportunities to all children, regardless of their cognitive, emotional or social peculiarities, remains a noble ideal. The problem is not the principle, but its application.” declare for “The Truth”Oana Ispas, university teacher at the Romanian-American University and scientific researcher at the Legal Research Institute of the Romanian Academy.
She explains that in many European systems, including Romania, the concept of inclusive education has been implemented hastily, without adequate infrastructure and without real teacher training. “What was supposed to be a policy of support gradually turned into a policy of masked austerity. Instead of hiring more support specialists: psychopedagogues, counselors, educational assistants, the state shifted the burden to the classroom teacher, who must be a teacher, psychologist, mediator and therapist at the same time. Many teachers talk about professional exhaustion, burnout and the feeling that they can no longer teach effectively”. she explained.
In this climate, says Oana Ispas, equity has turned into an illusion. Children with special educational needs do not receive the personalized interventions they need, and high-achieving students often feel stuck in a common pace designed to cover very different environments. “Instead of leveling the playing field, the system has produced a general leveling down and confusion about the real aims of the school,” supports the specialist.
The researcher emphasizes that talking about the limits of inclusive education does not mean challenging the right of vulnerable children to learn alongside others, but recognizing that genuine inclusion requires resources, expertise and differentiation, not just a bureaucratic formula. Unfortunately, she says, many governments have used the rhetoric of inclusion to justify budget cuts and lowering standards. “Without investment, what is called inclusion today risks being just a form of elegant exclusion: a way to hide the failure to really support children who need help.“
The problem is also documented by international studies. A report published in the International Journal of Inclusive Education shows that systems that implemented the reform without multidisciplinary teams saw increases in absenteeism and burnout among teachers.
“Inclusion is not just putting all children in the same class, but actually adapting the school to their diverse needs. The teacher cannot be left alone in this process,” says Oana Ispas. Beyond the ideological debate, the data show that without investment in training and human resources, the school risks becoming the scene of equality only in form.
Reactions from teachers around the world
The debate about inclusive education has long gone beyond the theoretical area. On Reddit, in a discussion that garnered more than 22,000 votes, one teacher wrote: “Inclusion is the worst thing to happen to education.”
“It’s become impossible to do my job. It’s the reason we’re failing the kids. No one benefits from this model. Not the struggling students, not the average students, not the high achievers. And certainly not the teachers.” someone wrote.
The same person was talking about how, on paper, he teaches eighth grade, but in reality he has students who write at a high school level and others who can barely recognize the letters. “I teach kids who can read and write fluently and others who can’t speak English or can’t even read in their native language. Why are they all in the same classroom?”
In hundreds of comments, teachers from the US, Europe, Canada or the UK describe the same picture: overcrowded classes, huge cognitive differences, lack of specialist support and constant pressure to adapt lessons for completely different levels. “We are asked to do everything with nothing.” someone else wrote. “Inclusion without support is abandonment.”
Another teacher notes that: “They hid budget cuts under the guise of inclusion. They abandoned the children in the classroom. Those who can keep up learn. Those who can’t, get a schedule and a weekly check. How can that be fair to them?”
Moreover, many panelists recount how standards have been lowered to allow all students to be promoted, even those who do not reach the minimum level. “They keep asking us to pass them on. Most of my classes are about retrieving sixth or seventh grade material.”
“I think the idea of inclusion is good. But one person can’t carry it alone,” someone says. Others note that the intention was good to provide equal opportunity, but implementation without resources turned the ideal into exhaustion.
“I have completely lost the essence,” writes a teacher. “I can’t blame parents for moving their kids to private schools. If you care about your child’s education, it’s natural to seek an environment where learning really matters.”
“Children are not stupid”, add another. “They realize how far behind they are. It shows every time you ask a question and one student answers in 30 seconds and another takes five minutes. How do you design a lesson that works for both?”
As the discussion progresses, the teachers no longer talk about equality, but about realism. Many believe the system has been politically hijacked: “Inclusion was a good idea used badly. It became a way to hide funding cuts and understaffing.”
Instead of equity, a form of general leveling emerged. Instead of support, exhaustion. Instead of a real chance, an administrative illusion.
