Ethic of Critique

This perspective is concerned with structural and systemic oppression, inequities, and barriers; and questions social constructs like impairment v. disability, equal v. equitable, and medical v. social models of disability. Rather than accepting the status quo as neutral, the Ethic of critique challenges assumptions around whose interests are served, how power structures are perpetuated, and how they might be disrupted and reformed. 

There is a distinction between ‘doing good’ and avoiding harm. The intersection of the Ethic of Critique helps us identify and consider structural and systemic inequities (Radd et al., 2021), and Occupational Justice helps us frame those inequities in terms of student access and participation (Townsend & Wilcock, 2004). 

Inclusive French Immersion is not simply a matter of instructional adaptation; it is a question of who is permitted to participate meaningfully in the occupation of bilingual schooling, and under what structural conditions that participation is made possible.

Relevant policy rooted in this paradigm are: 

• One Million Children: A National Study of Canadian Children with Emotional and Learning Disorders (1970), also known as the CELDIC report, established the scale of need for inclusive education in Canada (1, 000, 000 children) and emphasized the need for systemic resolutions. 

• Salamanca Statement (as in Ainscow, 2005) was adopted by UNESCO in 1994 at the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca, Spain. It established inclusive education as an international norm, and a systemic responsibility. It explicitly acknowledges linguistic diversity as an element of inclusive education. 

• UNESCO Education 2030 (2015) offers a critical normative lens within which to consider the global imperative for inclusive education, and the framework to examine whether current systems equip educators with the tools they need.