Children's Rights and Inclusive Education

The year 2014 marked the 25th and 20th anniversaries respectively of two of the most significant documents with implications for education. The first was the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), widely known simply as the UNCRC. The second was the Salamanca Statement and Framework on Action on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994), widely known as the Salamanca Statement. Both relate to the rights of children. The UNCRC was adopted by the General Assembly in 1989. It created an international legal framework for the protection and promotion of the rights of children and young people under the age of 18, and incorporated the full range of human rights-civil, cultural, economic, political and social (Coppock & Gillet-Swan, 2016). Children's rights are human rights; they are indivisible and interdependent such that denying certain rights undermines other rights (Freeman, 2007). The World Conference on Special Needs Education in Spain in 1994 reflected an ongoing human rights debate centered around growing dissatisfaction with segregated education for disabled students. It culminated in the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994). Signed by representatives of 92 governments and 25 international organisations from around the world, the Statement reflected a consensus on future directions for 'special needs' education to be underpinned by the principles of inclusion. The anniversaries of these two documents were the impetus for this book, which was begun in the same year, 2014. In this book we present the perspectives of children and young people on their school experiences. These experiences provide a first-hand account of the successes, issues and remaining challenges of application of two of the key principles of these landmark documents, the right to a voice and the right to inclusion.