ETHNIC MINORITY PUPILS IN INDONESIAN SCHOOLS: SOME
TRENDS IN OVER-REPRESENTATION OF MINORITY PUPILS IN
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES AT THE VOCATIONAL
The way categories, labels, and taxonomies are used depends upon national ideologies and nationally specific
conceptions of citizenship and normality. Ethnicity, differences, disability and deviance are social constructions.
Underachievement or overachievement in social (cognitive) performance or overrepresentation in special
educational placements of certain groups of students is as much the product of categorisation or definitional
processes as it is the workings of institutional procedures, patterns, and intransigence. In particular (Vocational),
schools’ inability to accommodate difference and diversity causes exclusion and alienation. Globalisation and
hegemonic neo-liberal ideology make it difficult to create a genuinely inclusive society, to produce complete
citizens, and to promote equity. This study analyses the placement of ethnic minority students in special
education programmes. It begins with a review of empirical reports that problematise the phenomenon of
overrepresentation of students with immigrant background in special schools for intellectually disabled students.
The analysis that follows is conducted through the prism of a number of perspectives, including
sociocultural/historical theory, the inclusive education movement, multicultural education, and critical
pedagogical theories. While there is no evidence to suggest that such overrepresentation is nationwide, the
phenomenon can be identified in large cities where there are concentrations of immigrants. Analysis
demonstrates that the problem is related to, among other factors, unreliable assessment procedures and criteria
for referral and placement; lack of culturally sensitive diagnostic tools; the static nature of tests, including
embedded cultural bias; sociocultural problems, family factors, and language problems; lack of parental
participation in decision-making; power differentials between parents and school authorities; institutional
intransigence and prejudices; and large resource inequalities that run along lines of race and class.
Keywords: Ethnicity, differences, disability and deviance are social constructions
