A critical qualitative study of inclusive education in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

In 2016, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Education released an inclusive education initiative with the aim of shifting the education system away from exclusion towards inclusion. This initiative resulted in the development of an inclusive education policy and the implementation of an inclusive approach that was piloted in a number of schools in Saudi Arabia. The current study investigates this movement by scrutinizing the educational policies and the inclusive approach implemented in schools. This thesis examines how educational discourse and practice have changed in Saudi Arabia as a result of the country’s move towards inclusion, particularly in relation to students with disability. The research aims to critically investigate the Saudi Arabian inclusive education approach to students with disability in relation to historical, cultural, political and social factors and the international context. The study adopts a critical qualitative position towards Saudi Arabia’s inclusive education to investigate issues in education tied to power and privilege. A post-structural discourse analysis was employed to analyse governmental policies and interviews undertaken with key stakeholders in inclusive education in Saudi Arabia. Inclusive Education Theory (Slee, 2011, 2018) was the main theory applied in this research supplemented by Critical Disability Theory (Goodley, 2011, 2017). Both were utilised as a means to conceptualise, interpret and think analytically about the ways in which power maintains exclusion within Saudi Arabia’s education. The study's findings highlight that while educational policy language in Saudi Arabia has changed to some extent within the global push for inclusive education, practice in schools seems to fall well short of reforms beyond increasing enrolment numbers of students with disability. The findings suggest that the potential of inclusive education in Saudi Arabia is contested and undermined by a raft of political, ideological and cultural forces. It is hoped that the findings of this study will contribute to a better understanding of inclusive education policy enactment and the reconceptualization of inclusive practices for students with disability in Saudi Arabia.