The Intersection of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students and Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities in Canada: A Scoping Review

Abstract

In the Canadian educational landscape, there is an increasingly diverse student population in schools. Educators may struggle to differentiate between linguistic and special education needs, thus potentially contributing to the over-representation of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students in special education programs. At the same time, if educators do not pay attention to the potential special education needs of CLD students, they may inadvertently cause them to fall further behind their peers academically. The disproportionate placement of CLD students in special education programs is highly prevalent and documented in the United States. A scoping review provides a body of evidence on this topic to better understand the intersection of CLD students and inclusive education for students with disabilities and other special educational needs in Canada. The key research question that we explored was: What does the English language scholarly literature from 2013 to 2023 indicate about the prevalence and experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education programs in Canada? The major finding of the scoping review is that there has been extremely limited scholarly literature from the past ten years on the intersection of CLD students and special education in Canada. The literature that does exist is only focused on a few contexts within Canada, and there are no comparative studies that examine the issue from a pan-Canadian or inter-provincial perspective. There is also a tendency within the scholarly literature to generalize the findings from studies completed in the United States to the Canadian context without congruent research completed in Canada. Some limited research within Canada discusses the ambiguity of how students are referred for formal psycho-educational assessments and the ways in which supports are provided to CLD students with special educational needs in Canadian jurisdictions. The issue is important when considering globalisation since diverse student populations are increasingly transitioning between educational jurisdictions and require effective supports.