Abstract
Even in countries where the principle of the inclusive school - the local school for all - has been an explicit part of educational laws for some decades, a gap between intentions and reality may still be observed. Questions about reasons for this are important if the gap is to be decreased. In my latest study an underlying assumption was that traditions play an essential part in deciding on priorities, in planning and in practical teaching. Traditions may be fresh or old, consciously expressed or parts of our unexpressed and even unconscious reasons for choices of actions. A further assumption is that traditions and ideas are not static and directly transferable from one historical era to another. They are assumed to be in continuous change in interrelations with other traditions and conditions.
These assumptions led me to the history of educational ideas. I started to look into the prehistory of the inclusive school and in the curricular/didactical soil of internal school activity, from where the principle of individual and special needs considerations in education for all is assumed to grow. Norwegian, Nordic and European educational ideas are re-examined in this perspective and in light of other cultural traditions and social conditions. The period in focus is from early eighteenth until late nineteenth century. This work may be viewed as a historical voice in the inclusion-debate at the turn of the millennium.
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