The disproportionate representation of a “minority” population in “special education” at school: the case of Spain

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18543/djhr.2787
Keywords: foreign nationality schoolchildren, school, disproportionate representation, special education, segregation, Spain, minorities

Abstract

Research on disproportionate representation in “special education” has been carried out in the international literature. In Spain, studies on this subject are scarce. In this case, we focus on the study of this disproportion, but within the framework of diversity management in the school context. To this end, a comparison has been made between the data on the foreign population and the Spanish population based on official statistics. In both cases, this refers to the population enrolled in schools in Spain. The statistical data presented in our work show very different percentages of special education for certain nationalities compared to the Spanish population. The evident differences show us the existence of inequalities in schools that are nuanced according to the territories and the ownership of the educational centres.

Received: 29 June 2023
Accepted: 28 September 2023

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Artiles, Alfrdedo J., Elisabeth Kozleski y Federico R. Waitoller, ed. 2011. Inclusive education: Examining equity on five continents. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Berhanu, Girma, y Alan Dyson. 2017. Special education in Europe, overrepresentation of minority students. En Encyclopedia of Diversity in Education, editado por James A. Banks, 2070-2073. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Berhanu, Girma. 2008. «Ethnic minority pupils in Swedish schools: Some trends in over-representation of minority pupils in special educational programmes». International Journal of Special Education 23, n. 3: 17–29.

Brandenburg, Janin, Anne Fischbach, Andju S. Labuhn, Chantal S. Rietz, Johanna Schmid y Marcus Hasselhorn. 2016. «Overidentification of learning disorders among language-minority students: Implications for the standardization of school achievement tests». Journal for Educational Research Online 8, n. 1: 42–65. https://doi.org/10.25656/01:12029.

Bruce, Susan M. y Kavita Venkatesh. 2014. «Special education disproportionality in the United States, Germany, Kenya, and India». Disability & Society 29, n. 6: 908–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2014.880330.

Cama, Alessandra y Francisco J. García Castaño. 2017. «La sobrerrepresentación de escolares de nacionalidad extranjera en el grupo de alumnado con necesidades educativas especiales». En Antropologías en Transformación: Sentidos, Compromisos y Utopías, editado por María Teresa Vicente, Pepa García Hernandorena y Antonio Vizcaíno, 331–347. Valencia: Universitat de València.

Chieppa, Mª Antonietta y Marta Sandoval. 2021. «La sobrerrepresentación de los estudiantes pertenecientes a minorías culturales y lingüísticas en itinerarios de educación especial: una revisión de la literatura en Europa». Revista Educação Especial 34, e67/1–25. https://doi.org/10.5902/1984686x67417.

Connor, David, Beth Ferri y Subini A. Annamma, eds. 2016. DisCrit: Disability Studies and Critical Race Theory in Education. Nueva York: Teachers College Press.

Connor, David, Wendy Cavendish, Taucia Gonzalez y Patrick Jean-Pierre. 2019. «Is a bridge even possible over troubled waters? The field of special education negates the overrepresentation of minority students: A DisCrit analysis». Race Ethnicity and Education 22, n. 6: 723–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1599343.

Cooc, North y Elisheba W. Kiru. 2018. «Disproportionality in special education: a synthesis of international research and trends». Journal of Special Education 52, n. 3: 163–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466918772300.

Coutinho, Martha J., y Donald P. Oswald. 2000. «Disproportionate representation in special education: a synthesis and recommendations». Journal of Child and Family Studies 9, n. 2: 135-156. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009462820157.

Cruz, Rebecca A. y Janelle E. Rodl. 2018. «An integrative synthesis of literature on disproportionality in special education». Journal of Special Education 52, n. 1: 50–63. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466918758707.

Deno, Evelyn. 1970. «Special education as developmental capital revisited». Exceptional Children 1: 229–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/002246699402700402.

Donovan, M. Suzanne y Christopher T. Cross, eds. 2002. Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/10128.

Dunn, Lloyd M. 1968. «Special education for the mildly retarded - Is much of it justifiable?» Exceptional Children 35, n. 1: 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440296803500101.

Gabel, Susan L., Svjetlana Curcic, Justin J.W. Powell, Khaled Khader y Lynn Albee. 2009. «Migration and ethnic group disproportionality in special education: An exploratory study». Disability and Society 24, n. 5: 625–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590903011063.

García Castaño, F. Javier y Silvia Carrasco Pons, eds. 2011. Población inmigrante y escuela: conocimientos y saberes de la investigación. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. García Castaño, Francisco J., María Rubio y Ouafaa Bouachra. 2008. «Población inmigrante y escuela en España: un balance de investigación». Revista de Educación 345, 23-60.

García Castaño, Francisco J. y Antonia Alcaraz, ed. 2012. Segregaciones y construcción de la diferencia en la escuela. Madrid: Trotta.

García Castaño, Francisco J. y María Rubio, eds. 2018. «Diversidad, escuela y construcción de la diferencia». Gazeta de Antropología 34.

García Castaño, Francisco J., Cristina Goenechea y María Rubio. 2025. «Evidence of the disproportionate representation of foreign populations in special education in Spain: A critical statistical approach». Two Homelands. En prensa.

García Castaño, Francisco J., Gloria Calabresi y Marta Zornoza. 2022. «A sobrerrepresentação de estudantes de nacionalidade estrangeira na chamada “educação especial” na Espanha». En Prácticas e políticas inspiradoras e inovadoras com imigrantes, editado por Elisete Diogo y Raquel Melo, 117-158. Lisboa: Edições Esgotadas.

García Castaño, Francisco J., María Rubio y Ouafaa Bouachra. 2015. Immigrant students at school in Spain: constructing a subject of study. Dve Domovini. Two Homelands, 41, 35-46.

Grünberger, Axelle, María Kyriazopoulou y Victoria Soriano. 2009. Multiculturalidad y necesidades educativas especiales. Odense: Agencia Europea para el Desarrollo de la Educación del Alumnado con Necesidades Educativas Especiales.

Gutiérrez-Saldivia, Ximena. 2018. «Desproporcionalidad de estudiantes de grupos minoritarios en la educación especial». Espacios 39, n. 4: 33.

Jørgensen, Clara R., Graeme Dobson y Thomas Perry. 2020. «Migrant children with special educational needs in European schools. A review of current issues and approaches». European Journal of Special Needs Education 36, n. 3: 438-453. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2020.1762988.

Kramarczuk, Catherine, Edward Fergus y Kathleen A. King. 2017. «Pursuing equity: Disproportionality in special education and the reframing of technical solutions to address systemic inequities». Review of Research in Education 41, n. 1: 61–87. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X16686947.

Morgan, Paul L, Adrienne D. Woods, Yangyang Wang, Marianne M. Hillemeier, George Farkas y Cynthia Mitchell. 2020. «Are schools in the US South using special education to segregate students by race?». Exceptional Children 86, n. 3: 255–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402919868486.

Morgan, Paul L. y George Farkas. 2016. «Evidence and implications of racial and ethnic disparities in emotional and behavioral disorders identification and treatment». Behavioral Disorders 41, n. 2: 122–31. https://doi.org/10.17988/0198-7429-41.2.122.

Morgan, Paul L., George Farkas, Marianne M. Hillemeier y Steve Maczuga. 2012. «Are minority children disproportionately represented in early intervention and early childhood special education?» Educational Researcher 41, n. 9: 339–351. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3624763/pdf/nihms412728.pdf.

Morgan, Paul L., George Farkas, Marianne M. Hillemeier, Richard Mattison, Steve Maczuga, Hui Li y Michael Cook. 2015. «Minorities are disproportionately underrepresented in special education: Longitudinal evidence across five disability conditions». Educational Researcher 44, n. 5: 278–292. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X15591157.Minorities.

Morgan, Paul L., George Farkas, Michael Cook, Natasha M. Strassfeld, Marianne M. Hillemeier, Wik Hung Pun y Deborah L. Schussler. 2016. «Are black children disproportionately overrepresented in special education? A best-evidence synthesis». Exceptional Children 83, n. 2: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402916664042.

Morgan, Paul L., George Farkas, Michael Cook, Natasha M. Strassfeld, Marianne M. Hillemeier, Wik Hung Pun, Yangyang Wang y Deborah L. Schussler. 2018. «Are Hispanic, Asian, native American, or language- minority children overrepresented in special education?» Exceptional Children 84, n. 3: 261–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0014402917748303.

Oswald, Donald P., Martha J. Coutinho, Al M. Best y Nirbhay N. Singh. 1999. «Ethnic representation in special education: The influence of school- related economic and demographic variables». The Journal of Special Education 32, n. 4: 194-206.

Sandoval, Marta, María Álvarez-Rementería y Leire Darretxe. 2022. «Evolución de la escolarización del alumnado en Educación Especial en España: a 25 años de la Declaración de Salamanca». Aula Abierta 51, n. 4: 385-394. https://doi.org/10.17811/rifie.51.4.2022.385-394.

Strand, Steve y Geoff Lindsay. 2009. «Evidence of ethnic disproportionality in special education in an English population». Journal of Special Education 43, n. 3: 174-190.

Vouyoukas, Constantinos, Maria Tzouriadou, Eleni Anagnostopoulou, Lito Michalopoulou. 2017. «Representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students among students with learning disabilities: A Greek paradigm». SAGE Open 7, n. 1, en. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016686150.

Waitoller, Federico R., Alfredo J. Artiles y Douglas A. Cheney. 2010. «The miner’s Canary: A review of overrepresentation research and explanations». Journal of Special Education 44, n. 1: 29–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466908329226.

Zouganeli, Anna y Konstantinos Mastrothanasis. 2019. «Representation of immigrant students in special education: Evidence in Greece during 2003- 2013». European Journal of Special Education Research 4, n. 2: 53-72.

Published
2024-06-27
How to Cite
García Castaño, Francisco Javier, Marta Zornoza Madrid, and Raquel Martínez Chicón. 2024. “The Disproportionate Representation of a “minority” Population in ‘special education’ at School: The Case of Spain”. Deusto Journal of Human Rights, no. 13 (June), 11-40. https://doi.org/10.18543/djhr.2787.
Issue
No. 13 (2024)
Section
Articles
Deusto Journal of Human Rights / Revista Deusto de Derechos Humanos is an Open Access journal; which means that it is free for full and immediate access, reading, search, download, distribution, and reuse in any medium only for non-commercial purposes and in accordance with any applicable copyright legislation, without prior permission from the copyright holder (University of Deusto) or the author; provided the original work and publication source are properly cited (Issue number, year, pages and DOI if applicable) and any changes to the original are clearly indicated. Any other use of its content in any medium or format, now known or developed in the future, requires prior written permission of the copyright holder.