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Approximately 1.3% (42,555 pupils) of secondary school pupils in England are autistic and there are numerous reports of poor academic and social experiences among this group. The intense interests that form part of an autism diagnosis relate to an increased focus on specific topics or objects and are reported to positively impact learning when effectively embedded into teaching. However, there is very little research into how interests may be used to support learning in secondary schools and little analysis of whether the utilisation of intense interests is conceptualised and implemented as an inclusive practice. This scoping review explored how intense interests are used to support the learning of autistic adolescents and provides a conceptual analysis of the six papers identified, all from the United States. Three applications of intense interests were reported: power cards, lunch clubs and responding to joint attention. A within-child, deficit-focused perspective was consistent throughout all papers, with the aim being to improve the 'appropriate' target behaviour of autistic children. There is limited research overall, and so further research is needed to examine how intense interests can be implemented in practice in more inclusive ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has long demonstrated the exclusion and Othering experienced by young people with disabilities in education. This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study conducted in an 'elite' sixth-form college in England, set against the backdrop of a shifting social, political, and cultural landscape, where neo-liberal discourses of dis/ability and healthism—centring on mental health and wellbeing—are becoming further embedded in educational policy. Drawing on theoretical work by Bourdieu and Foucault, we demonstrate how the students in this study appeared able to re-make disability as a liberal intellectual identity marker and use it as a form of capital within the bounded college sub-field. However, we argue that these empowered disabled subjectivities were strongly middle-classed and precarious. The findings have implications through advancing current understandings of young people's complexifying relationships with disability in education, of enduring inequalities around disability, and how social class is implicated in this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Purpose:Methods:Findings:Conclusion:The provision of inclusive education in schools is a global priority. However, provision in schools is often criticised for being varied and inconsistent, often perpetuating a rhetoric of exclusion [Warnes, E., E. J. Done, and H. Knowler. 2022. “Mainstream Teachers’ Concerns About Inclusive Education for Children with Special Educational Needs and Disability in England Under Pre-Pandemic Conditions.” Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs: JORSEN 22 (1): 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12525]. These concerns are raised across schooling and subject areas; and Physical Education (PE) is no exception.The present paper reported results from a scoping review of the literature conducted to answer questions about PE teachers’ subjective interpretations of the meaning and importance of inclusion, the ways PE teachers facilitate inclusion for diverse learners, and the barriers they encounter.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (extension for Scoping Reviews) informed this review. Adopting elements of the SPIDER tool (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type) the database search was conducted in three stages: 1) hand search of titles from key PE journals; 2) systematic search of six databases (EBSCO host , ProQuest, JSTOR, PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO and Web of Science), and 3) search of Google and Google Scholar . Of the 4007 records identified, 64 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Thematic analysis was carried out to identify key themes.Results suggest that inclusion is an important matter in PE provision across different national contexts. The various meanings that teachers attributed to the notion of inclusion appeared to provide a reference point/parameter of how inclusion was enacted in practice. Although the idea of inclusion was supported, most teachers were cautious about what was possible in practice. The most frequently mentioned barriers included the ‘child’, inadequate professional learning, and limited resources and support. Despite the various challenges teachers faced, they reported making efforts to implement a range of inclusive practices, including grounding tasks in students' needs, adopting student centred pedagogies, offering choice, promoting positive peer interactions and teaching by utilising differentiated instruction.Acknowledging the subjective nature of such a review, we conclude that findings reinforce but also extend those from previous reviews. The novel contribution lies with the observation that teachers not only faced common barriers to, but also identified shared features of effective inclusion,irrespective of the group of learners they were asked to reflect upon. We have identified key implications for teacher educators, and provided recommendations for future research, which include conducting research in diverse national contexts with cultural responsiveness, better understanding the relationship between teachers’ perceptions/understandings and practices in the context of their complex and diverse environments and cultures, exploring what teachers learn about inclusion, and providing tangible, evidence- informed pedagogies for inclusion as these are implemented in various contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore the ways in which behaviour features in the accounts of 'off rolling' processes in schools in England volunteered by participants – senior school leaders, SENCos and parents, in an ongoing multi-stranded research project. In addition to analysing these accounts, this paper draws on contextual features and concepts such as parrhesia and authenticity in a probing of methodological considerations. The status of such accounts as data will also be considered given the high stakes accountability environment in which school principals strive to fulfil their legal remit in the field of inclusion. The trustworthiness of findings in qualitative research is more usually the focus of attention; however, our studies to date imply that some professionals carefully manage the image of their school and visibility of exclusionary practices to the detriment of students with mental health and behavioural issues. The methodological implications of conducting research in politicised and highly sensitive areas will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home education is a phenomenon that has been increasing globally over the past decade, particularly for families of children with special educational needs or disabilities. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this phenomenon with many families continuing to home educate even after their children can officially return to school. This paper reports on a small-scale design-based research project that explored the needs of families who are home educating children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Working in partnership with educational settings, practitioners, and families during the second year of the pandemic, academic researchers in Malaysia and England designed, implemented and evaluated a home learning pack for children with ASD aged 6–12 years old. The findings emphasised the role of economic, social and cultural capital for the families involved and how this impacted their ability to work and educate their children successfully. This raises crucial questions in relation to the place of home education within the wider international inclusive education debate and matters of social equality whilst also highlighting key questions for future research in this field on how policy and provision might develop to meet a growing diversity of need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In support of their recommendations, recent policy pronouncements in England on behaviour (DFE (Department for Education). 2010.The Importance of Teaching – The Schools White Paper. London: TSO) and on reform of special educational needs and disabilities make reference, respectively, to educator perceptions of poor behaviour by children and to practitioner views about social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). The evidence base for this analysis appears absent (DFE 2010) or is at best unclearly articulated (DFE (Department for Education). 2012.Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability – Progress and Next Steps. London: Department for Education). In response, this article offers a timely brief review of research, published since 2000, exploring educator perceptions of children who present with SEBD. Research included does not offer clear support to the views expressed by recent policy in England, although it does, in varied ways, suggest the need for positive change in educational practice which affects children who present with SEBD, with particular emphasis upon the need for enacting educational inclusion. Articles included in this literature review are also, briefly, analysed in terms of their: methodological features; theoretical basis, particularly applications of the theory of planned behaviour; broad disciplinary affiliations; and also underpinning rationale. Recommendations for future research and implications for international policy on this topic are outlined: particularly the role of research in persuading practitioners and policy-makers away from deep-rooted but simplistic conceptualisations about this highly varied population of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the process of policy formulation and implementation in relation to children commonly described as having ‘special educational needs’ and disability (SEND), in Cyprus and in England. Drawing on qualitative research evidence from key primary documentary sources including legislation, statutory and non-statutory guidance and reports, it provides a comparative analysis of the content and the spirit of policy in both countries over the cycle of a century. The findings indicate that Cypriot policymakers have engaged in a process of ‘policy snatching’ from England, following four phases: charitable segregation and categorisation; enlightened legitimisation and categorisation; integration, ‘special educational needs’ and categorisation; inclusion, SEND and categorisation. Using the analogy of Aesop’s well-known fable ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’, the paper concludes that England, symbolically characterised as the hare, appears, overtly at least, to have moved ahead; while Cyprus, characterised as the tortoise, has been following slowly behind. However, progress has been slow in both countries, and the hare may well have fallen asleep. It is argued that whilst some common ground exists between the two countries, there is an inherent danger in transplanting selected elements of policy texts from one socio-cultural historical context to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD) are at high risk of experiencing exclusion in both England and Greece. However, this particular category of Special Educational Needs (SEN) has so far received relatively little academic or political attention in comparison to other SEN. This paper attempts to point out the barriers that may prevent the inclusion of children with BESD both in terms of the theoretical conceptualisation of the category itself and in terms of the policies and practices that England and Greece may implement. In order to achieve a further yet coherent picture of the current situation, this paper has identified three different types of factors that may negatively influence inclusion. Therefore, by discussing the possible ideological, structural, and practical challenges, the paper aims to highlight the crucial need for further theoretical insight that would be able to inform and promote the establishment of a more cohesive and efficient legislative framework for pupils with BESD in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the standards agenda works in opposition to the inclusion agenda despite government rhetoric, which suggests that both agendas are complementary. The paper emphasises the need to embrace a broader understanding of what constitutes achievement in order to enable all learners to experience success. In developing this critique of recent and current policies of inclusion, the paper draws on earlier papers that have contributed to the debate. This paper argues that the current Code of Practice perpetuates a deficit model of the child, which is largely at odds with notions of inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies on inclusion are being increasingly embedded within education systems and teacher education across the world, with schools and teachers called upon to add 'inclusion' to their already large set of skills and tasks. There is, however, no consistent definition of what inclusion means or how it can be best promoted. The purpose of this paper is to explore the dilemmas that student teachers face when they encounter policy requirements to practice inclusion, and how they mediate the tensions. Drawing on two exploratory studies with science student teachers in two Initial Teacher Education programmes in England, we focus on the conceptions of inclusion held by the student teachers and the links between inclusion and teacher education. Our findings suggest that conventional understandings in relation to ability still dominate, with ability-based differentiation viewed as the key teaching strategy to promote inclusion. In addition, student teachers find themselves having to negotiate contradictory and often conflicting approaches to inclusion, diversity, and academic attainment. The discrepancies highlighted by this study have implications for how teacher education courses need to be organised to promote the practice of inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual methods are often used in social science because of the potential for inclusivity and accessibility. In disability studies in particular, inclusive research is widely viewed as best practice and visual methods are often considered more accessible than traditional research methods. However, visual methods can encounter challenges at the stage of analysis: it is at this stage that either rigour or inclusivity are most likely to be compromised. This paper focuses on the use of interpretive engagement to overcome such challenges in the analysis of photovoice findings. Drawing on experience of using this method of analysis with 16 people with learning disabilities in the England, we first briefly outline some of the tensions that can emerge when attempting to improve inclusion in research, before going on to describe the analytic process used as way of addressing some of these tensions. The inclusiveness of interpretive engagement contributed to the rigour and meaningfulness of the findings by revealing layers of meaning which gave access to a multi-dimensional understanding of the phenomenon in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of the Transformative Difference Conference held at Liverpool Hope University in England on September 7 to 8, 2011. The factors that emphasized the need for disability studies as a specialism within his discipline of English literature were outlined. It discusses the opening plenary by Len Barton about inclusive education research.

This paper explores the development, in both practical and theoretical terms, of the Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (CETT) based at Northumbria University. This is the only one of 11 new centres in England focusing on inclusive learning. CETTs are a critical component of a range of government reforms to teacher training within the learning and skills sector. CETTs are built on a partnership of organisations and the focus of the CETT for inclusive learning is to provide a source of expertise for those who teach or support learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD). The partnership brings together teacher educators, teachers, trainers, researchers and learners as a 'community of practice' (CoP). In doing so, the CETT has developed an inclusive community of local providers working in higher education, further education, adult and community learning, work-based learning, offender learning, specialist colleges and voluntary sector organisations. Early evaluations of this new community indicate that it is helping to reduce the isolation felt by some practitioners and provide peer and financial support to an area of work that is often overlooked. With reference to the CETTs own and external evaluative work, this paper goes on to examine the challenges and opportunities faced in setting up this project and the lessons learned in terms of both the meaning of inclusion within this group and how the training and research conducted by the CETT can effect change within the wider CoP. In presenting the track of this ongoing project, it is hoped that similar endeavours will have a better understanding of how inclusive practice can be obtained for such a complex and diverse group of participant organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a small-scale research project which took place in one primary school in the north-east of England. The study aimed to listen to children’s views about how the practices of teachers helped and/or hindered their sense of inclusion in classrooms. Inclusion was understood here in a broad sense rather than specifically relating to children with special educational needs. Participatory research tools were used as part of group interviews with children from three different year groups. Even though the children were mostly happy with their school experience, it was noticeable that there were some areas for concern for some children that related to four interconnecting themes: unfairness, shouting, loneliness and seating plans. All of these themes seemed to be connected with children’s interpersonal relationships – with teachers and with each other – and can be seen as crucial in terms of understanding inclusion in schools and further developing existing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Various models of providing for the inclusion of children with disabilities and special needs exist in different European countries. Central to all these models is the notion that support for children and teachers is pivotal in ensuring effective inclusion. This article draws from three qualitative studies on the role, employment and deployment of support teachers in Italy and teaching assistants in England to examine similarities and differences between the two models of provision. The analysis of questionnaires and interviews show that, despite differences in relation to professional qualifications and responsibilities, both support teachers and TAs carry out similar supportive roles, but also share similar feelings of marginalisation, isolation and professional dissatisfaction. The paper raises questions about the effectiveness of providing support from additional adults when such adults are not fully included in the life of the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to read closely the National Curriculum Statutory Inclusion Statement in England (2007) alongside Hard Times to see if Dickens offers any insights into ethical responsibility and conceptualisations of inclusive education. I begin by presenting some of the meanings and associated problems of the term ‘inclusive education’ held by academics, activists and practitioners in the field before introducing my approach. I argue that evidence of three logocentric discourses, the technical curriculum perspective, ableist normativity and developmentalism can be detected within the language of the Inclusion Statement. I present a historical account of their provenance and links to population improvement discourses in the past before introducing Derrida's ideas about différance and deferral. Deconstructive reading of the Inclusion Statement reveals the sorts of technical thinking, hierarchisation, naming, norm-referencing and age-related expectations identified in the logocentric discourses described earlier. The story of Hard Times garnishes insights into the idea of inclusion throughout the paper with the main focus on the novel emerging in the final section, when the circus community is likened to the arrivants – those unexpected visitors who transgress the established order to create space for new, more responsible thinking about education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to examine the experiences of pupils and professionals who are affected by actual or threatened permanent exclusion (what used to be called being expelled) from school. An ethnographic study based on the writer's employment within secondary schools and the Children's Services department of an urban local authority in England explores the idea that professionals may be forced to make decisions about pupils in the face of powerful competition between the politically unchallengeable concepts of tolerance, inclusivity, attainment, and choice. The paper argues that the tensions of multi-agency working are focussed within what will be called the contested space of the pupil's 'extended body'. Permanent exclusion, along with its tendency to prompt a pathological reading of a pupil's issues, is therefore seen as an authoritarian strategy designed to ameliorate the inherent paradoxical tension experienced by the various professionals working within an education system dedicated to the concept of 'full inclusion' but measured and funded on the grounds of academic league tables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying is a serious problem in schools. This paper reports on a project in which the authors worked with a group of secondary students in an innovative school in the north of England to research issues of bullying and safety. The student researchers used photographs to stimulate conversations with focus groups of their peers. The data showed that while there was little serious bullying in the school, there was an everyday practice of name-calling, isolation, and physical hassling associated with the formation and maintenance of a hierarchy of sub-cultural groupings in the school. The students' research not only challenges the notion of bullying as necessarily involving a perpetrator and victim, but also offers a lens through which to examine the imbrication of educational differentiation via setting, testing and choice with youth identification practices. It is suggested that this project also has implications for the ways in which one understands and works for inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on some aspects of a collaborative action research project involving teams from 25 schools in England working with researchers from three universities in an attempt to understand how schools can develop more inclusive cultures, policies and practices. Unusually in this field, the schools were not selected because of any exceptional and explicit commitment to ‘inclusion’. A common process of development emerged across the schools, which started with the disturbance of existing practices and was nurtured by a range of institutional and external factors that included ideas about inclusion. The national ‘standards agenda’ was a major force shaping the directions taken by schools. Whilst it constrained inclusive development it also provided that development with a particular focus and led schools to consider issues that might otherwise have been overlooked. The paper concludes that inclusive developments — albeit of a highly ambiguous nature — are possible even in apparently unpromising circumstances and that there may be specific ways in which these developments can be supported. Encouraging such developments may be a necessary complement to the continued radical critique of current educational polices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools in England are currently being asked to pay greater attention to the issue of educational inclusion. This paper reports some of the findings of a collaborative action research Network that was set up to address the implications of this trend. The Network involves teams of university researchers in working with practitioners in order to encourage the development of inclusive practices. As a result of this work, it is argued that the development of such practices is not about adopting 'recipes' of the sort described in much of the existing literature. Rather, it involves social learning processes that occur within a given workplace. The paper attempts to provide deeper understandings of what these processes involve. To assist in this analysis use is made of the idea of 'communities of practice', as developed by Etienne Wenger, focusing specifically on the way he sees learning as a characteristic of practice. It is argued that the development of inclusive practices involves collaborative working arrangements; that they can be encouraged by engagement with various forms of evidence that interrupt ways of thinking; and that the space that is created through such interruptions can enable those involved to recognize overlooked or, indeed, new possibilities for moving practice forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents the outcomes of an in-depth case study of a secondary school in the south-west of England, identified as inclusive by the local education authority (LEA). The study, which formed the second part of a 'bricolage' approach, utilized ethnographic research methods, with the aim of investigating inclusion in a holistic way, at the school level. Data were collected through interviewing of a variety of school constituencies and participant observation. The analysis suggested that: (a) the participants were enculturated into the integration model; (b) although there were strong perceived academic benefits for the included students, the evidence is contradictory regarding the social outcomes of inclusion; (c) successful implementation of inclusion requires restructuring of the physical environment, resources, organizational changes and instructional adaptations; and (d) there was a perceived need for ongoing professional development. The findings reported in this investigation may be used to illuminate current practice in the LEA and to provide directions for formulating policies to support 'inclusive practice' in ways which are acceptable to teachers, parents and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion is an expectation of all mainstream schools across England yet research into strategies concerning how teachers and teaching assistants facilitate effective inclusive practice remains limited. This study explores the enactment of Florian and Black Hawkins (2011. "Exploring Inclusive Pedagogy." British Educational Research Journal 37 (5): 813–828) approach to inclusive pedagogy through the lens of teachers and teaching assistants working with children across year 4 within one primary school in London to redress this balance and identify any challenges they may encounter with this approach. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed several key themes: whole-class approaches; emphasis on learners' capabilities; flexibility; commitment to ongoing professional development; diversity of needs; TA interventions; and ability-based tasks. While practitioners exemplified inclusive pedagogy on a regular basis it was difficult to implement in all aspects of classroom life, given the complex nature and diverse range of needs they encountered in mainstream classrooms. The importance of acknowledging individual needs was recognised and some key strategies to accommodate these without causing feelings of marginalisation were highlighted. Practitioners voiced positive experiences and placed great value on, working flexibly with one another to create welcoming environments for all children yet the effective deployment of TAs was not consistently realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, students have been more willing to disclose their disability status when entering higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom (UK). Concurrently, higher education institutions (HEIs) have adopted disability policies and service teams for enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion in the UK. The purpose of this integrative review is to understand the basis of these trends. The article suggests that there have been three major key paradigm shifts that underpin this cultural change. (1) There was a paradigm shift in terms of changing the dominant models for conceptualising disability from a medical model of disability to a social model of disability and to an affirmative model of disability, together with a debate and policy development demonstrating a concern for greater social inclusion and exclusion; (2) with a massive increase in students entering HE and the rising importance of league tables and ranking systems, universities experienced a paradigm shift from teacher-centred learning (TCL) to inclusive student-centred learning and teaching (SCLT); and (3) the increase in autism disclosure in HE signifies a shift in a conceptualisation of autism from a disorder to a disability and an example of neurodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including role and operation of special schools in England and Ireland, inclusive education in Poland and children with special education needs.

In this paper we examine different aspects of the inclusion debate, including how it has been shaped by the political context in England over the past 30 years. We then give consideration to the key argument that has dominated the inclusion agenda over the last decade: should effective inclusion be considered only as placement in mainstream school settings, or can one consider inclusion in a specialist placement as successful? Research studies examining the views of children, parents and teaching staff are also discussed. Consideration is given as to whether a 'universalist' view of inclusion (in which special schools should not be offered) is one that is feasible and desirable. The key arguments highlighted include those relating to 'quality' in education, academic and social inclusion, human rights, parental choice and teachers' attitudes and skills. The role of some professional groups in supporting inclusion, such as educational psychologists ( EPs) and Special Educational Needs Coordinators ( SENCos), is also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Derrida this paper considers how inclusive education in England was defined and operationalised within New Labour's educational policy and by those teachers who reconstructed this policy within the confines of schools and individual classrooms. The paper has two critical ambitions. First it argues that the epistemology of inclusion was mediated by ontological ghosts which moved it away from its creation as a construct of social justice to recreate it on a stage of the phenomenological reduction of competing policy initiatives. Second, the paper demonstrates how teachers although fully accepting of inclusion's theoretic nevertheless interpreted it in such a way that it became nothing more than spectacle where social presence cloaked educational absences. Based upon such findings the paper concludes that New Labour's inclusion policy was illusionary and perhaps was as much about presenting inequity as it was equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines teachers' perceptions of their working relationships with learning support assistants (LSAs) when seeking to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with special educational needs (SEN) within mainstream physical education (PE), an area that has been a largely neglected aspect of research in inclusive education. The findings indicate that teachers spoke positively of these relationships when LSAs were perceived as making a positive contribution to the development of pupils' learning and when they supported teachers as they did in other school subjects. Conversely, when LSAs and other support staff failed to provide teachers with information that was related to pupils' needs in PE, and when LSAs did not possess the required skills, knowledge and expertise of the subject, teachers were rather critical of their relationships with them. In this regard, LSAs were seen as placing a particularly significant constraint on teachers' ability to meet the needs of pupils in PE lessons. It is concluded that teachers' perceptions of the constraints they experience from working with LSAs to help support pupils, and the extent and quality of support they receive, cannot be understood adequately unless they are located within the context of the relational constraints experienced by teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy in England identifies pregnant schoolgirls as a particularly vulnerable group and emphasises the importance of education as a way of improving the life chances of those who become pregnant while young. This paper draws on repeat interviews conducted over a twelve-month period to compare and contrast the stories of four young women. The narratives show that despite a common policy framework, there is great variability between schools in staff attitudes towards and responses to pupil pregnancy which produce different accommodations and support for pregnant girls, and seem likely to produce very different outcomes. We mobilise Iris Marion Young's five faces of oppression to conduct a second reading of the stories. This situates the specificity of the girls' school experiences into a wider socio-cultural and economic framing and indicates what might be involved in actually initiating and implementing the kinds of changes that the first 'face value' reading suggests are necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that before Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) can begin to contribute to the realisation of inclusive possibilities in and for education, critical attention must be given to the ways educational difficulties and space are considered and produced within educational institutions. A detailed study of a sixth form college in the south of England is drawn upon to elucidate the ways in which fixed and exclusionary perspectives on educational difficulties can entwine with prescriptive views of and approaches to educational space to marginalise LSAs and the students who received their support. Inclusive conceptualisations of both educational difficulties and space are developed to illuminate the potential of the LSAs to make unique and useful contributors to educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enabling pupils with special educational needs to participate more fully in the assessment, planning and evaluation of their own learning has become a principle enshrined within the legislation of many countries in recent years. Educational policy in both England and the Republic of Ireland has recognised the desirability of increased pupil involvement, and this is reflected in policy documents and in legislation which highlights the requirement of schools to take greater account of the views of pupils. This paper documents the approaches to increased pupil involvement in decision-making adopted in England and Ireland and provides an overview of the key challenges that face policy-makers and educators in ensuring meaningful participation for children and young people with special educational needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings about placement questions relevant to disability in education. It is part of a larger international study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and administrators in England, the USA and The Netherlands to several dilemmas of difference. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives to a presented placement dilemma about the consequences of having inclusive/separate placements for children with more severe disabilities/special educational needs. The data are presented in quantitative terms (degrees of recognition and resolution of dilemma) and qualitative terms (reasons, justifications and suggested resolutions). The findings show the continued recognition of this dilemma and commonalities in the resolution of the dilemma across the countries. Variations in responses to the dilemmas that relate to national differences are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the use of images to promote reflection and analysis of inclusive practices. The image-based work was set in the context of a two-year action research study, which took place in Tanzania and Zambia, 2001–2003, in collaboration with researchers from the Enabling Education Network (EENET), based at the University of Manchester's School of Education. This study, entitled, ‘Understanding Community Initiatives to Improve Access to Education’ involved the use of a wide range of processes to promote reflection, analysis and documentation, including a range of different types of images. We reflect here on the learning, which took place among the researchers in all three countries in using images as a basis for reflection on inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Salamanca Statement and subsequent international calls to action around inclusive education aim to meet Education for All goals and foster inclusive communities for learners within mainstream education. However, there are diverse interpretations of what inclusion means in practice that vary across local, national and international contexts. In developing inclusive pedagogies with teachers at the forefront of providing support, the use of labels to categorise particular groups of learners according to perceived learning needs can further marginalise them, affecting their sense of belonging in school and their academic and social identities. We present case studies drawn from two doctoral studies conducted in contextually and culturally different settings to understand learners' experiences of marginalisation in education. The experiences of learners of English as an additional language transferring from primary to secondary school in England illustrate marginalised positioning assigned by teachers' perceptions. The ability to 'settle in' to school of street-connected children transitioning (back) into education in Kenya is influenced by their interactions with peers, teachers and the wider community on and after the street. Findings emphasise the need for understanding experiences through shared narratives and dialogue, starting with learners' experiences to develop pedagogies and foster inclusive communities within and beyond schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of the Somerset Inclusion Project and Gary Thomas (professor and reader in education at the University of the West of England, Bristol) discuss the need for schools to become more inclusive in response to the Government's recent Green Paper (DfEE, 1997), which emphasises that special schools need to work in different ways and to provide services to local mainstream schools. The notion that inclusion is right and segregation is wrong led the staff to convert the Princess Margaret School (PMS) in Taunton, Somerset to an inclusion service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are an estimated 50,000 LGBT teachers in English schools. In common with all workplaces, under the Equality Act 2010, schools have a responsibility to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) teachers from harassment in the workplace. From September 2020, for the first time, schools in England have been required to teach Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) that is inclusive of LGBT relationships. Representatives of faith communities and parents of school children in Birmingham and other major cities have protested outside school gates in opposition to the introduction of LGBT inclusive RSHE. This article explores what is at the heart of the moral panic about the inclusion of LGBT identities in the curriculum. As schools introduce inclusive RSHE, we must consider the impact of protests on LGBT teacher health, well-being and identity. More than half of LGBT teachers have suffered from anxiety or depression linked to their sexual identity and role as a teacher and so supportive and unequivocal support and intervention is needed to ensure schools are safe places, free from hostility, for LGBT teachers, pupils and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the schooling experiences of secondary‐aged pupils with and without SEND attending three mainstream schools in England. Thirty‐seven young adolescents with SEND and eight without agreed to be interviewed. Thematic analysis revealed the challenges these young adolescents with SEND encountered to feel included in their schools and light is shed on their perspectives of what an inclusive school should be. Of significance contributing to pupils' positive or negative feelings about school and their feelings of being included or excluded were: their perceptions of the implementation of approaches to behaviour management; their perceptions of the equitable allocation of teacher support and/or teacher attention; relations with their teachers; whether they found their lessons engaging or 'boring'; and the extent to which they perceived their voices were heard and subsequently, acted upon. The findings of the study are discussed with reference to Farrell's model of inclusion and an elaboration of the model is proposed as a self‐review tool to be used by educational practitioners as an aid to facilitate their inclusion in mainstream provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusion is positioned at the forefront of global educational reform. The study reported focused on a national Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Inclusive Physical Education (IPE) in England. The research was designed to critically explore how CPD providers (i.e. tutors) variously conceptualised and practiced inclusion in the context of running a day-long CPD course for physical education teachers. Using qualitative methodology, data were collected via course observations (n = 27), informal interviews with tutors (n = 10), and a tutor questionnaire (n = 18). Findings suggest that although tutors' theoretical interpretations of inclusion were largely consistent with contemporary, broad understandings, there was notable variability and inherent tensions in the ways they talked about and enacted inclusion in practice. In many instances, inclusion was infused with particular perceptions about ability and ability grouping. Only a small number of tutors encouraged teachers to question and 'disturb' their current practices. Findings from this research extend insights into the contested nature of inclusion in contemporary PE and highlight the need for research to engage with multiple stakeholders in physical education teaching and CPD. This research reflects that CPD providers have a key role to play in extending teachers' understandings of inclusive pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the Widening Participation conference of the Open University in Great Britain in April 2012 is presented. Topics include the inclusion in higher education, social justice and the higher education system. The conference featured several speakers including David Watson, Louise Morley and Trevor Gale.

With moves towards inclusive education, there are demands for developments in initial teacher education as regards special needs and inclusive education. This paper outlines initial training in England within an international context. It then reports findings of a recent national survey of Programme directors and subject tutors of Post Graduate Certificate in Education programmes (PGCE) for primary and secondary teachers about the initial training provision in this aspect teaching. The main findings are about varied practices across placement schools, the commitment to the training partnership, coordination problems across the partnership and organising teaching experience of pupils with SEN. The implications of the study are also discussed in national and international terms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses a study on the role managers and leaders at senior and middle levels in further education (FE) colleges they think they can play in embedding a commitment to effective inclusion in the classroom, team and institutional level. This role is referred as that of telling a compelling story. Fifteen FE managers in colleges across England were invited to tell stories about themselves. It suggests that the ability of managers and leaders to build a compelling story can help in furthering the values espoused by their colleges.

The education of young people with profound and multiple learning difficulties continues to raise challenges and controversies. In this article, Ben Simmons, an ESRC funded PhD student and research assistant, and Phil Bayliss, programme director for the masters degree in special education and disability, both based in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Exeter, describe their research into provision for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties in a special school in the south west of England. Their work, based in an interpretivist, qualitative approach, set out to illuminate issues relating to the inclusion of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. The findings presented here suggest that the school, in spite of its strong reputation, struggled significantly to provide appropriate learning experiences for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Ben Simmons and Phil Bayliss discuss the need for improved staff development opportunities focused on enhancing current levels of knowledge and skills. They conclude by calling for a reappraisal of the established view that special schools necessarily provide the best learning environment for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from the primary to secondary phase of education has been highlighted as an area of concern for policy makers, educators and researchers alike in recent years. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that it is during this crucial phase of compulsory education that many pupils are at risk of becoming marginalized and disaffected -- thus, it is a salient topic for consideration in the broader discourse on inclusive education. The current paper reports on the attempts of a secondary school in the north-west of England to facilitate the learning, participation and psychological adjustment of new pupils through an innovative process called Transition Club. Using participant observations, questionnaires and a focus group interview we examined the views of 38 pupils who participated in its pilot. Qualitative content analysis of our dataset indicated that Transition Club was successful in providing pupils with a sense of belonging, helping them to navigate the 'maze' of secondary school. and making learning fun. There was also evidence to suggest that pupils who did not participate directly also experienced some of the benefits of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy reform around the globe has increased the autonomy that schools enjoy in spending on resources. This reform assumes that schools face strong incentives to use their resources to maximise pupil attainment and that they know best how to spend their money to achieve this aim. This study provides evidence of the relationship between governance and how schools choose to spend their money. It uses data for all state-funded secondary schools in England for the academic years 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2015/16. This enables a comparison of schools operating under three forms of governance: local authority maintained schools (LAMs); schools operated as a single 'academy' trust outside local authority control (SATs); or those in a network of academy schools governed by a multi-academy trust (MATs). The data provide no support for claims that academy schools will spend less on administration or that networks of schools will enjoy economies of scale. The data do show that academy schools spent proportionately less on teacher salaries and educational support, and more on back office costs, after taking account of pupil characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the experiences of teachers delivering an LGBTQ-inclusive education programme in four English primary schools serving faith communities. These teachers tended to start the work from an anti-bullying standpoint, finding that whilst they might need to strategically begin at this potentially pathologising starting place, they could later develop the programme to embed LGBTQ-inclusive input across the curriculum. Legislative and policy frameworks gave teachers the courage to deliver the materials, particularly the Equality Act 2010. Lead teachers found a range of ways to work with colleagues, with some drawing on their religious commitment to embrace the work. The children's openminded responses encouraged their teachers, and over time the schools were able to conduct LGBTQ-focussed community celebrations with parents from the faith communities they served. That these approaches offer a range of starting points to support LGBTQ-inclusive education in schools serving faith communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of inclusion has gained momentum worldwide, with most countries around the world embracing inclusive policies in their educational systems. However, there is still an ongoing debate as to what is inclusion and hence, the consequent challenge of coming up with an agreed definition, which could then be used to plan for and subsequently, evaluate, inclusion. This study adds to our understanding of inclusion by contrasting objective (i.e. School Census Statistics) and subjective (i.e. self-report questionnaire) measures of inclusivity in three mainstream secondary schools in England and by comparing the perceptions of school inclusivity of different groups of educational practitioners and pupils. The results of this study indicate that inclusion is a 'slippery' construct as the perception of inclusion of educational practitioners was found to be affected by their role at school while pupil perception on this matter depended upon their SEND category. However, despite these subjective differences in the way inclusion is perceived, there was also substantial agreement across the different categories of participants with regard to the relative ranking of inclusivity across the three schools suggesting that coming up with overarching themes on what is inclusion is achievable. The article ends with explaining the benefits of reaching an agreed definition at a national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation and migration have brought new challenges to education in the past decades, raising questions about how schools can promote inclusion within contexts of increased diversity (Vertovec, 2017). The concept of inclusive education itself remains contested, with different meanings across national contexts. This makes a comparative focus on inclusion particularly relevant to understanding different languages of inclusion and the ways in which these are articulated across national and institutional contexts. This article examines these challenges to inclusive education through a comparative lens, by looking at the identity narratives of children from immigrant backgrounds in primary schools in France and England. Drawing on data from a cross-national ethnographic study which investigated the experiences of thirty four 10 and 11 year old children of immigrants in two primary schools (one in France and one in England), this article looks closely at the narratives of four girls from immigrant background, to investigate the way they negotiated linguistic, ethnic, cultural and religious differences as part of their identities in school. The narratives of the four girls were selected as particularly relevant for thinking about the role of values, structures and children's own understanding in defining modes of inclusion and exclusion in school. This article explores the interplay between the girls' representations of school as an institution (formal spaces), their collective narratives of difference and Otherness (social imaginary in informal spaces) and their individual forms of positioning (identity narratives). This article shows how, despite contrasting approaches to inclusive education ("indifference to differences" in the French school and recognition of differences in the English school), the girls' experiences of inclusion/exclusion presented strong points of convergence across countries. Their experiences were less dependent on school approaches to inclusion than on children's capacity to understand "contextual clues" (Gumperz and Roberts, 1990), implicit expectations from teachers and school values. This holds implications for thinking about mechanisms of inclusive education and their implementation across institutional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we consider the rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in England, introduced under the Children and Families Act 2014, within the context of the wider reforms made by the Act. Drawing primarily on key informant interviews conducted as part of an ESRC project on Autonomy, Rights and Children with Special Needs: A New Paradigm? (ES/P002641/1), and making reference to the international framework of children's and disabled persons' rights, we present an analysis of the (mostly professional) viewpoints gathered and what they tell us about the progress towards the realisation of children and young people's autonomy and agency in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores inclusive and exclusive perceptions within early years practice settings in England. Inclusion is understood to involve the acknowledgement and celebration of difference, rather than its problematization. A deficit-based discourse regarding diversity is challenged and the concept of diversity gain is explored. A study was undertaken involving seven early years practice settings. The study involved the use of a critical communicative methodological approach due to its focus on exploration and listening with a view to understanding. The results and data analysis supplied three key findings. Firstly, practitioners are able to articulate their understanding of diversity gain and a desire for inclusion to a far greater extent than parents involved in the settings. Secondly, parental involvement within the settings is fundamental to authentic inclusion. Finally, practitioners felt that there was a distinct lack of resources, including funding, time and expertise, to support inclusive practice appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article forms part of a Masters Inclusive Education research project. Whilst most inclusive research focuses on a marginalised group, my research participants would not normally be deemed marginalised. Nevertheless, they have a pivotal role within the English mainstream education system to promote inclusive practice, improving outcomes for the most vulnerable young people. For this reason, I intend to explore the role of three Special Educational Needs Co‐ordinators (SENCOs) post 2015 reforms and firmly believe this is fundamentally inclusive research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central challenge for local skills strategies is whether they can contribute to 'inclusive growth' including more and better jobs across a local economy. Skills strategies, it has been argued, must go beyond simply boosting skills supply and be integrated with policies that shape employer demand for, and utilisation of, skills, including economic development and business improvement. Among developed countries, this is particularly challenging for neo-liberal economies, with weakly regulated labour markets where many firms compete through low wages and low-skill job design. How much progress can be made locally is unclear. The article focuses on England, a highly centralised neo-liberal economy, with high levels of low-wage work and over-qualification. Since 2010, UK governments have promised to empower local communities to drive growth, reforming the infrastructure for sub-national economic development and localising elements of skills policy, as part of a devolution agenda for England set in the context of austerity. There are important questions around how local actors understand the 'skills problem' and whether they can evolve integrative approaches that might contribute to inclusive growth. Drawing upon qualitative research with local actors in the Midlands, the article explores their assumptive worlds in order to shed light on opportunities and constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]