dont understand the UK schooling system at all. What is the thinking behind having non verbal, incontinent children, that are a danger to everyone including themselves in mainstream classrooms? Who is benefitting from this? Do children with this level of SN really do better in this kind of setting than in a specialised SN school? How does this impact the other children in the classroom, do they benefit by being in danger of harm whilst trying to learn?
I think the initial idea of "inclusion" was based around the idea of including those with mild learning needs, visual difficulties, physical disabilities to be taught in mainstream more often. There used to be a high level of separation. I don't think it was ever the intention that children with very high level needs would be sent to mainstream. There are many reasons why these children end up in mainstream. Sometimes parents want to try it out and see, sometimes the needs weren't picked up early enough at pre-school, or children weren't sent to pre-school, sometimes there are issues around not wanting their DC to be labelled. There are a few parents who don't seem to care so long as the kids are out of their hair during the day.
Yes, they can be highly disruptive. We have some who won't stay in their classroom and run into every class in the school, screaming. Once they are in school it is nigh-on impossible to remove them as allowances have to be made for children with SEND. Even if oarents realise they want a specialist setting, there are few places available and the process of getting an EHCP can take years. Our most disruptive pupil has been on school over a year and has had no visit from any professional because we can't get one in. There are hardly any EPs, SALTs etc because of budget cuts and waiting lists post-covid. The burden is overwhelmingly higher in the lower years because of lack of early diagnosis and because parents often realise by upper primary that they don't want their DC in a mainstream secondary.
Inclusion can work. When I first started teaching 20 years ago, there was a vastly better support system. Specialist teachers would come in at least once per half term and help teachers plan for each child with different needs. They would provide resources etc. Most of these specialist staff no longer exist due to budget cuts.
The worst thing for inclusion was the introduction by the DfE of the buzz phrase "Quality first teaching". This loosely translates as "We will be cutting funding for SEND and saying that untrained mainstream teachers should be able to cope fine with all needs so long as they are good teachers. If they can't cope, we will blame them and say they aren't good enough".