The Ethics of Inclusive Education: Presenting a New Theoretical Framework by Franziska Felder, London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2022

In this compelling book, Franziska Felder sets forth a clear framing of inclusive education by reformulating the concept of inclusivity and its purpose in an education system. As she points out early on in the book, her re-examination of inclusive education should not be understood in a “purely conceptual” manner (Felder, 2022, p. 20). Rather, the book aims to navigate the issue of inclusivity in education in a non-ideal theoretical space and from a practical perspective. Emphasizing the issue of disability and setting out a historical analysis of the emergence and continuation of special education for students with disabilities, Felder also offers several concrete solutions to achieve inclusive education. This book, therefore, puts forward a multifaceted view of inclusive education with a clear point of departure, the goal of which is to lay out a non-ideal theory of inclusive education with a special emphasis on disability. One of the distinctive features of this book is its holistic approach to inclusive education. Chapter 1 begins with a common perception of inclusivity in the public eye, and by the end of chapter 3, the author has gradually moved toward a sociohistorical analysis of the conceptualization of inclusivity, particularly regarding the way students with disabilities have tended to be excluded from educational opportunities since the Enlightenment. Through these opening chapters, she argues that in order to avoid common misconceptions about inclusive education – which, the author claims, has become an “empty” concept due to having been negatively defined in the literature as an absence of discrimination or exclusion – the focus should be on a more substantial understanding of the social dimension of inclusivity, and we also need to shift our viewpoint on schooling from a place to merely welcoming everyone to a social institution (ibid., pp. 3–7). Thus, the author veritably suggests that by changing perspectives on schooling, there will be a turn in approaching inclusive education as well. Felder’s unique approach to inclusion consists of a multilayered view for which she successfully develops a conceptual as well as a normative framework of inclusion and explains how both work together. The author highlights that while there is a split between the normative camp on inclusivity in education (see, for example, Barton 1997) and the conceptual camp (see for example, Stainback & Stainback, 1990), challenging the two camps might open up the possibility of moving toward a holistic approach that incorporates both. Distancing herself from committing to “all-or-nothing” inclusive education, in chapter 4, Felder argues that inclusion, as a thick concept, is “both action-guiding and world-guiding” (Felder, 2022, p. 55). Hence, in this chapter, the author draws the conclusion that not only does inclusion encompass both conceptual and normative aspects, but both are “somehow intertwined” to serve a practical purpose (ibid., p. 56). From this point of departure, in chapter 6, Felder argues that in order to achieve inclusive education, re-examining the purpose of schooling as a social institution is crucial (ibid., p. 149). It is ultimately in chapter 7 that the author provides a unifying account of both the conceptual analysis and the normative framework of inclusive education by drawing attention to the ways in which societies value inclusivity. She argues that one of the reasons why it is important to pay attention to the normative content of inclusivity is because this prevents us from viewing inclusion as something “in addition” to other core values in society such as dignity or equality. Thus, in light of Felder’s multidimensional view of inclusivity in education, by the end of chapter 7, it becomes clear that inclusion is an actualization of the core values of …