The integration: the Italian way. From integration to inclusion: a European perspective

This paper refers to concepts and processes concerning the development of schooling for allstudents in Italy and in Europe at large. A particular concern is the research prospects inSpecial Education based on the so-called "Italian way to the integration". The authors examineinitially the historical, educational, political and legislative course that led Italy to implement anintegrative system in the seventies. They indicate that the prospects of present development inregards to educational rights require a general reform of methods implemented up to now inorder to fully realize the so-called inclusive model. Moreover, the article emphasizes that thestages on which the schooling rights for all was carried out, or rather the "segregated", "integrated"or "inclusive" stages, in their specific conception, refer to quite different arguments and paradigmsfrom a cultural and epistemological point of view.