ABSTRACT

The education of students with disability has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Universal declarations and conventions have underpinned many of these changes at both an international level and within Australia. In the early 1970s, the philosophy of John Rawls provided a theory of justice to preserve social justice and individual liberty within communities. This mirrored attempts to advance education to ensure social justice, rights and access to education for learners with disability. This micro-historical ethnography provides a review spanning the past half century in Australia of changes to the education of students with disability. Underpinned by an ethnographic epistemology through interviews with the presentism of eight educators involved in Western Australian education for learners with disability, and viewed through an interpretivist lens, major elements of change are identified. An analytical framework deduced from the work of Rawls is used to reflect upon the changes and discuss the degree that Rawls’ justice as fairness has been enacted in education for learners with disability from 1970 to 2021 in Australia. Key words: Australia, learners with disability, special education, inclusion, Rawls, equity, social justice

摘要

在过去的 50 年里，残疾学生的教育发生了巨大的变化。世界宣言和公约在国际层面和澳大利亚国内支持了许多这些变化。在 1970 年代初期，约翰·罗尔斯的哲学提供了一种正义理论，以维护社区内的社会正义和个人自由。这反映了促进教育以确保残疾学习者的社会正义、权利和受教育机会的努力。这部微观历史民族志回顾了过去半个世纪澳大利亚残疾学生教育的变化。通过对八位参与西澳大利亚残疾学习者教育的教育工作者的采访，以民族志认识论为基础，并通过解释主义的视角观察，确定了变化的主要因素。从罗尔斯的工作中推导出的分析框架用于反思变化并讨论罗尔斯的正义作为公平在澳大利亚从 1970 年到 2021 年在残疾学习者教育中的实施程度。关键词：澳大利亚，残疾学习者，特殊教育，包容性，罗尔斯，公平，社会正义