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The 2022 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Review in England has proposed changes to the way in which SENCos are trained before working in English schools. Although the DfE collects data relating to the demographics of all teachers, the 2022 SEND Review Green Paper does not draw on this to support or inform the changes being proposed. A Freedom of Information request was made to the DfE, from which actual data could be acquired, with breakdowns by age, gender, qualifications and leadership status. The data describe a teacher who is still more likely to be female and approaching the middle of their career. Most SENCos are still on the class teacher pay scale rather than the leadership scale, with a minority holding a Master's‐level qualification. The DfE does not have an accurate overview of how many teachers hold the current SENCo qualification. The article provides a number of recommendations to policymakers based on the data provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, the Taiwanese Ministry of Education issued a policy on the internationalisation of schooling. The policy assumes that being 'international' has become necessary in order to maintain economic competitiveness in a globalising world. It was published in two languages: Mandarin, the official language in Taiwan, and English, presupposed as a lingua franca. Treating 'policy as discourse', the article analyses internationalism and its performativity through the publication and specific textual construction of this policy. The analysis considers the layout, target readerships, conceptual translation, and spatial representation and construction of 'Chineseness' in the two policy texts. This attempt at internationalisation is related to the very specific historical and geopolitical conditions of Taiwan and its liminal position in the globe. The significance of the article rests in expanding ideas of 'translation' in education policy studies and in the analysis of the specific geopolitics of East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interrogating the White Paper 3 of 1997 which upholds academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability, I make the case for justice through higher education using public accountability. I argue that the higher education system in South Africa is capable of fulfilling such a role in the context of extreme injustices but not without a critical engagement of the extent and causes of these injustices and an understanding of their implications for academic curricula, practices and deeply embedded conceptions of knowledge. A redefinition of higher education institutions' public accountability in terms of responsibility to their 'institutional locale' or community (the populations whose needs they should be meeting) can be an effective 'proactive tool' with which higher education can redress social injustices. This requires an interrogation of the social, political and economic conditions of possibility that either inhibit or aid educational desire and attainment. An investigation of this nature entails a rigorous reappraisal of all three of the key principles within which higher education systems operate—academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability—if they are to guard against the continued perpetuation of epistemic and social injustices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presents a bibliometric network analysis of the two most recent schools reforms in Norway. Two research questions have been pursued: First, do the government-appointed expert commission use (in Green Papers) the same type of knowledge as 'evidence' for their reviews and recommendations as the Ministry of Education and Research (as reflected in the White Papers)? How has the use of 'evidence' changed over the two reform periods? Second, which body of knowledge amassed by the expert commission has the Ministry of Education and Science actually used for policy formulation? The network analysis shows (i) distinct changes in reference patterns over the two reform periods (e.g., average number of references more than doubled and references to international texts increased significantly), and (ii) an unexpectedly low usage of the 'evidence' presented by the expert commissions. The Ministry of Education and Research only draws on 9.5 percent of the references presented by the expert commissions. Strikingly, almost all of the adopted references are from a commissioned report that locally adapted and translated OECD's Definitions and Selections of Competencies project. The authors suggest 'studying up' and paying more attention to how scientific 'evidence' is actually used, translated, and edited at the political level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of Black Papers project on education in Great Britain. The project is the way the sorting of people into gradations of intelligence and dullness can work against commitments to social justice. It also informs on editors C.B. Cox and A.E. Dyson became embroiled in a national conversation about the Harold Wilson government's attempts to dismantle the provisions of the 1944 Education Act and abolish the grammar schools.

This paper describes the Berlin Abitur examination in the twentieth century and its written documentation in files. By the late nineteenth century, the Abitur examination was fully established in Prussia and with it a graduation certificate that was obligatory for university entrance. Thus, the Abitur examination was part of the modern state entitlement system and an instrument to establish the state education monopoly. Thereafter, in every secondary school a new file was compiled for each class that took the exam every year. The resulting records provide a unique insight into the history of examination procedures. This article seeks to discuss the question of the Abitur files being simply products of bureaucratisation and rationalisation of examination practices at secondary schools, and the extent to which there was a ritualisation of the examination on paper. The building processes of the Abitur examination files in the twentieth century are reconstructed on the basis of a representative school archive located in Berlin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This position paper illustrates how Educational Psychological Services (EPSs) have been instrumental through ever more systemic and universal ways of working to identify links between the needs within Scottish schools and targeted and universal nurturing approaches. Method: This paper will initially demonstrate the appropriateness of a nurturing approach within a Scottish context, as a response to issues related both to mental health and to poverty. It will then continue by exploring how at both local and national levels, nurture-based practices have been embedded into policies and practice due to the influence of EPSs. It will demonstrate this through reference to the national context and the local authority (LA) level, using North Ayrshire Council (NAC) as an exemplar of how this can be achieved. Findings: This paper will state that, while national and local policy have influenced the focus of EPSs' priorities, so too has EPSs' knowledge of psychology influenced national and local policy regarding nurturing approaches. Limitations: This position paper is drawn from the Scottish education system and may not be fully representative of other contexts. Conclusion: There is an ongoing cycle of mutual influence, enabling the continual development of good practice within schools. This can offer a template of systemic working for the future development of the profession of the educational or 'school psychologist' on a wider scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing mathematical connections for pupils continues to be at the forefront of educational policies worldwide. One strategy suggested to support the connections pupils make is the idea of developing "coherence". Research regarding coherence has increased within mathematics education, however, the term is used widely. It therefore becomes necessary for coherence to be further conceptualised. In this systematic scoping review, five databases were searched for literature on the topic of coherence in school-based mathematics education. A total of 11,587 pieces of literature were extracted. Following further screening, 35 papers were reviewed. The findings suggest that there is limited consensus regarding the conceptualisation of coherence, leading to fragmented perceptions across the literature. This paper presents a framework for coherence based on the TIMSS curriculum model to support international comparisons of coherence and provide clarity for mathematics education researchers and school colleagues when considering which aspect of coherence they are addressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three questions: (1) (How) Is democracy promoted in secondary schools in England? (2) How is the promotion of democracy understood in education and teacher education policy? and (3) To what extent does existing education policy benefit the promotion of democracy in schools in England? To explore these questions, we first discuss the policy landscape surrounding democratic education in England. We then outline our data collection and analysis methods, which comprised (a) the coding of ten different policy documents, including curriculum specifications, teaching standards and inspection frameworks, and (b) the utilisation of an original survey of more than 3000 teachers working in approximately 50% of all secondary schools in England. Together, our data allow us to raise three important points. First, education and teacher education policy neglects to specify 'how' democracy should be promoted and by 'whom'. Second, schools are offering scant provision of democratic education. Third, the majority of teachers feel fundamentally underprepared to teach democracy. We conclude this paper by arguing that, if policymakers do wish to promote democracy, there is a need for a cohesive policy and teacher education approach that guarantees democratic education for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether enough highly qualified STEM workers are being educated and trained in the UK is an important question. The answer has implications not only for educators, employers and policymakers but also for individuals who are currently engaged in, or are considering entering, education or training in this area. Set against a policy backdrop that prioritises students studying more science for longer, this paper considers long-term patterns of participation in STEM education – from school science through to graduate entry into the highly skilled STEM labour market. Using a unique dataset that extends across seven decades and comprises many hundreds of thousands of students, the paper finds that patterns of participation in most STEM subjects have varied little over the period considered; suggesting that efforts to increase the numbers of students studying science in school has had limited impact on the throughput of students who study STEM, including the pure sciences, at university level and, subsequently, on the number of graduates who would be available to undertake highly skilled work in areas for which degree-level skills are a pre-requisite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the diaspora Chinese community in Limerick – an Irish county town in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland – and examines how Chinese parents have responded to the education policy shift resulting from the 2017 Irish foreign language strategy, which added Chinese to the official educational curriculum. A semi-structured group interview was conducted with four Chinese-speaking parents. Analysis of the data revealed that identity preservation and maintaining bonds with extended family are the predominant expressed reasons for parents to cultivate their children's Chinese proficiency. English and Irish are prioritized over Chinese. Though the parents hold positive attitudes towards the inclusion of Chinese as a school subject in Ireland, they are disempowered from taking advantage of participating in the implementation of this national language shift due to a lack of access to social, cultural, and economic capital. Analysed through a Bourdieuian lens, the findings further expose the limitations or constraints placed on family language policy and the discrepancy between macro- and micro-level language policies. The paper is intended to shed light on education, social justice, and equality, bridging the gap between micro-level family language practices and macro-level language policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qatar's transition from a hydrocarbon-based to a knowledge-based economy spurred the development of Education City, which houses several International Branch Campuses and one home-grown university, Hamad bin Khalifa University. Through the case study of EC, this paper seeks to improve our understanding of higher education policy borrowing and the complex process of indigenisation. Using secondary data from prior studies, it offers a discussion on the key stages and challenges in Qatar's effort to indigenise higher education and outlines areas for further research. This paper uses Phillips and Ochs four-stage Model of Policy Borrowing in Education, as a guiding conceptual model. The paper is constructed as follows: first, a discussion on international branch campuses in Education City; second, outlining the conceptual model; third, a discussion on Education City through the conceptual model; and finally, the case of the home-grown university, Hamad bin Khalifa University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term tertiary education has gained prominence in recent policy debates in the UK [Morgan (2023). “Labour ‘would review whole landscape’ of tertiary education.” Times Higher Education, 28 November. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labour-would-review-whole-landscape-tertiary-education]. This paper presents findings from a review of the use of the term in academic and policy papers in the UK over the last 80 years. The analysis reveals the role of international organisations in defining this term initially as a synonym for post-compulsory education before using it as a statistical measure which became a normative guide for many member states. More recently, the term tertiary education has been used as a descriptor of systems of educational governance and by the World Bank for specific systems of organisation. Using these definitions as a guide, the review demonstrates differences in government policy in the four nations of the United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Here there is evidence of periodic and partial policy change, but little sustained full engagement with this agenda. The review suggests that if future tertiary education policy initiatives are introduced they should cover all potential learners once they have left the compulsory phase of education and should be advanced by regional bodies with involvement from learners, employers and community representatives allocating funds from a single tertiary education budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the intricacies of fostering bottom-up educational initiatives aimed at addressing power imbalances in societies marked by intractable conflicts. Focusing on the establishment of a Palestinian-Jewish integrated bilingual education program in Israel, the study examines archival materials and stakeholder interviews to uncover the divergent motivations of politicians, educators, and administrators. It highlights the multifaceted nature of NGO-government negotiations, emphasizing the entanglement of contexts and the presence of internal conflicts within each entity. By exploring the ideological and operational challenges faced at different administrative levels, from national ministries to local municipalities, the paper provides a nuanced understanding of the support mechanisms for integrated bilingual schools. Findings call for an in-depth examination of these complex dynamics and their broader implications for educational policy and practice in conflict-affected settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid debates about CRT in education, this paper critically analyses laws that have reportedly sought to expand ‘education on racism, bias, the contributions of specific racial or ethnic groups to U.S. history, or related topics’ with the hypothesis that there would be little evidence of anti-racist ideology in policies pertaining to curriculum. The research design thus leans on King and Chandler’s (2016) distinction between non-racist and antiracist stances, as well as Andreotti et al’.s (2015) social cartography that maps out ‘soft-reform’ and ‘radical reform’ spaces, to achieve a latent content analysis of 14 pieces of legislation across 13 states since 2020 to identify and analyse the ideological characteristics of these pieces of legislation. Only four of the 14 documents from four different states contain a significant anti-racist ideological leaning; the others express a liberal multicultural ideological position that celebrates difference and recognizes contributions, but does not examine systemic racism. Thus, among states that are legislating more ethnic studies, the vast majority do not legislate anti-racist positions. This paper concludes that there is little evidence of anti-racist ideas being legislated into primary and secondary education in the United States, and that most curricular reforms toe a non-critical ideological line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Gibraltar in a state of linguistic transition. This transition is feared by many to culminate in the loss of Llanito among younger generations. Llanito is a local variety made up of code-switched Gibraltar-Spanish, Gibraltar-English, Genoese, culturally specific words, and loanwords from other Mediterranean varieties. To evaluate the scope of this loss, this paper presents interviews with Gibraltarian politicians, as elected representatives who can influence the language situation, and grandparents who have contributed to the generational replenishment of Llanito. Llanito reflects Gibraltar's culture of hybridity, and this paper interrogates why Llanito is in decline among younger generations. Gibraltar has the ability to transform this situation: educational policy, community effort, and oral and written preservation of Llanito can help to maintain Llanito and save its linguistic loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideological discourses of Central Asia have been subject to much research. However, the use and the role of ideological discourses in framing internationalization of education policy has been largely overlooked. While much has been studied on how and why internationalization of higher education (HE) became indispensable part of tertiary sector, the cases where internationalization of HE is confronted by a government ideology agenda has largely remained outside of scholarly attention. This pioneering research offers analysis on ideology-based resistance to internationalization of education in authoritarian regimes. The paper argues that it is the framing of internationalization as a threat to national ideologies and a national model of education that confronts HE internationalization in some authoritarian political orders. The paper uses the case of post-Soviet Uzbekistan that promoted national ideologies as the basis of its education model. To support its argument, the paper analyses the official discourses of former President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan (1991–2016) and the statements of government officials on the country's national education model. It also analyses the interviews held with staff of HE institutions in Tashkent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve education performance at home, countries cross nationally policy-borrow from jurisdictions ranked highly in international league tables. This paper examines a practical example of one such instance of policy borrowing, Teaching for Mastery (TfM). Over a six year period, interviews were conducted with teachers working in primary schools in the East Midlands region of England. The focus of these interviews was to explore informants' experiences of enacting TfM and their analysis of the UK government's motives for undertaking this borrowing. Applying Baudrillard's ideas around hyperreality and image to these data indicated two key themes: 1) TfM discourses masked crucial aspects of the original policy, with the result that 2) TfM became non-relational to the original and thus hyperreal. The paper suggests strategies that might mitigate against policy becoming hyperreal and concludes that government must carefully consider its motives for engaging in the borrowing process from the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to raise questions about the role that cultural capital might have to play in English schooling. With the term being used by both the Department for Education and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted, the English schools' inspectorate) as a means of describing certain key characteristics of a school's curriculum, the authors of this paper consider what the term actually now means in this educational context. To ground this consideration in a real‐world context, we present some data from a 2‐year study, which evaluated an intervention programme for disadvantaged young people in one English local authority. One aspect of this programme was the development of cultural capital for disadvantaged young people, and in the course of the evaluation a number of teachers were interviewed about how they saw this role and what cultural capital meant to them. As we explore in the paper, while English policymakers' and regulators' views of cultural capital are both narrow and perhaps, in some senses, deviate from both traditional and contemporary definitions of the term, teachers take a much richer and more flexible approach to the idea. With this in mind, we explore both the term itself and what it means for these teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies educational inequality in the Philippines from 1950 to 2015, examining changes in the association between social origin and educational attainment against a backdrop of educational expansions and fluctuating economic conditions. Using data from the World Bank STEP Skills Survey, the study employs a sequential logit model to illustrate trends in secondary and college completion, followed by a multinomial logit model to look into differences in college destinations (type and status) between advantaged and disadvantaged students. The findings indicate that despite sustained expansions in the past six decades, disparities in secondary and tertiary completion deepened in relation to social background. The paper also finds that although expansions occurred mainly in public higher education institutions, it did little to alter the trends in college destinations, with advantaged students still more likely to complete in "high-status" universities than disadvantaged ones. Finally, the paper sheds light on how economic recessions have varying consequences on educational attainment, routing disadvantaged students out of college in the short term, while resulting in significant declines in the likelihood of completing higher education for advantaged students enrolled in "high-status" public entities in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the study of computer technology in schools (often in the form of Computer Science subjects or coding initiatives) is seen to have undergone two waves of interest, one in the late 1970s/early 1980s and the other more recently since about 2010. Through a historical exploration of the rationales for the study of computer technology in schools in both the first wave and the second wave, this paper aimed to explore the various curriculum ideologies underpinning their justification. In doing so, the paper highlights the chameleon‐like nature of this change agenda in aligning with contemporary trends to advance the study of computer technology on the curriculum. The paper argues that current manifestations of the study of computer technology in schools are at odds with broader curriculum reform goals and international policies and raises questions about students' access to such knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich literature has argued that so-called aspiration-raising policies tend to individualize structural conditions and thereby reproduce forms of inequality through young people's aspirations. This paper explores how aspiration-raising policy discourses are lived in ways that both accentuate but that might also contest their terms. Drawing on Lauren Berlant, we theorize aspiration as ongoing performances that can be altered and remade in affective scenes of interruption. We put our theorization to work in a longitudinal study that followed a young woman, Marie, throughout her upper secondary education. Whilst Marie's performances of aspiration predominantly chimed with such individualistic policy discourses, she would also describe moments where these performances were seemingly interrupted. These were moments where Marie vividly experienced concerns related to planetary crises. The analysis carefully unpacks these moments, and we argue that they bring Marie into contact with the political stakes in her life and lead her to search for alternative, more sustainable, and collective modalities of aspiration. Hence, supplementing previous studies that have shown how inequality is reproduced through aspirations, the paper contributes with new understandings of how alternative modalities of aspiration may emerge that potentially exceed structural limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the reference societies of Norway and Sweden embedded in their education policy documents. We examined 4,260 bibliographic references in 19 white papers and green papers prepared for the 2016/2020 renewal of the Knowledge Promotion Reform in Norway and the 2015/2018 Knowledge Achievement Reform in Sweden. In addition, we interviewed 10 policy experts who participated in the preparation of the analyzed policy documents. The results show that the reference societies overall reflect the existing knowledge production and dissemination mechanisms in education policy; however, they significantly differed between Norway and Sweden regarding whether and to what extent they reference knowledge produced in other Nordic countries. Specifically, while Norway drew extensively on knowledge from its neighbors, particularly Sweden, Sweden seldom referenced knowledge produced in other Nordic countries. Policy actors identified similarity, relevance, accessibility, reform contexts, and institutional arrangements as reasons for (not) referencing neighbors. This study calls for further consideration of the political, social, and cultural embeddedness of the 'socio-logic' to understand implicit reference societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technical and vocational education and training (TVET) continue to occupy a prominent position in Africa's development, addressing the growing concerns about young women's under-participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related TVET has become urgent. This paper draws on the critical capability approach of vocational education and training (CCA-VET) to critique the TVET policy discourse on the participation of girls and women in STEM-related TVET. The paper employed the practical argumentation approach, a critical discourse analysis approach to achieve the paper's aims. The paper's central thesis is that for education policies to transform young women's under-participation in STEM-related TVET, it is urgent to move beyond human rights-based, and human capital approaches to adopt a comprehensive theoretical approach, such as the critical capabilities approach. The paper concludes that breaking this hegemony of human rights and human capital approaches to TVET policy can be achieved by re-conceptualising TVET policy discourses. The re-conceptualisation of TVET policy discourses can be achieved by admitting the critiques of these dominant theories that underpin most TVET policies and then adopting the CCA-VET as a better alternative approach to framing TVET policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis article offers a historical inquiry into behaviorism and its impact on standard of judgement concerning education policies. Drawing from Aldous Huxley’s reservation towards behaviorism as a scientific movement that naturalizes the role of control in human affairs, the paper maps the impact of behaviorism on economics of education. By tracing the influence of behaviorism in both rational (human capital theory) and quasi-rational (behavioral insight) economics, we draw attention to the activity of knowledge-making that describes and prescribes agency. The paper demonstrates how policy instruments and outcomes are intimately linked to assumptions about personhood, and in the case of behavioral insight, they contribute to the scope of decision-making entrusted to government and business. Utilizing a genealogical approach, the paper invites ethical reflections on the long-term implications of behavioral economics in light of automation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly pervasive digital technologies in societies are placing complex demands on the development of young people's digital citizenship and digital competence. Social science education and teacher education (TE) play important, but poorly understood, roles in this development. Through reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper explores 15 Swedish teacher educators' (TEDs) views of teaching for digital citizenship, particularly social science TE's role. We also consider organisational and personal conditions that may influence TEDs' views of professional digital competence (PDC) for such teaching. Their views are examined through a postdigital lens, with a focus on democratic implications in evolving socio-technical environments. The results indicate that TEDs acknowledge the importance of social science TE in teaching for digital citizenship, but find maintaining responsiveness to societal changes challenging. Challenges are also posed by the multidisciplinary character of social science education, including how personal trajectories shape TEDs' views of their dual-didactic task of teaching to teach for digital citizenship. This paper contributes knowledge of how TEDs, as 'street-level bureaucrats' in social science TE, navigate between written and performed education policy in teaching for digital citizenship, with specific attention to the dynamic character of PDC in social science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this special issue, we explore the opportunities and challenges of using Generative AI (GenAI), in particular, text generators in higher education learning and teaching. As GenAI has become increasingly popular with many staff and students, this special issue provides an overview of the current state of the field and offers insights into future research. This introduction paper consists of four parts. It begins by providing an overview of AI and Generative AI, identifying the gap and framing the special issue relating to the gaps. The second part explores the opportunities and challenges of GenAI in higher education, as identified in the literature. The third part provides an overview of the papers included in the special issue. The final part is the self-reflection of the lead author. The special issue aims to serve as a valuable resource for higher education stakeholders, such as students, practitioners, researchers and managers. We hope this collection will help advance knowledge and future research, encourage innovation and inform evidence-based policy and practices in the field of Generative AI in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social movement for #PoliceFreeSchools (and the adjacent campaign on college and university campuses called #PoliceFreeCampuses) welcomes an opportunity to reimagine school discipline and safety in contradistinction to current carceral forms. Scholars have moved away from notions of "school to prison pipeline" by demonstrating the many ways schools are organized as carceral spaces (e.g., school-prison nexus). A conceptual framework of Anti-carceral leadership is put forward in this paper to underscore the need for a leadership paradigm that actively refuses the logics of the carceral state (e.g., social control). The paper underscores how the logics of antiblackness may sustain mechanisms of social control in education policy intended to undo racialized harm. The tensions of be(com)ing an anti-carceral leader and its significance for undoing technologies of punishment, confinement, and constraint that reinforce schooling as a site of Black pain and suffering are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, the emphasis on school reforms is increasing, and school leaders play a key role in realising reform initiatives for school development and change. Often, the formation of partnerships between researchers and practitioners for school improvement is promoted to facilitate professional development and enhance student learning. However, limited attention has been directed towards the underlying ideas, values and beliefs in government-initiated strategies for partnership in the policy context of educational reform. This paper examines how partnerships between schools and higher education institutions are conceptualised and legitimised in Norwegian reform policy documents. We analyse three government white papers, each coupled with an executive partnership strategy document. The analysis applies a discourse analytical approach to policy as text and transmission. Our findings show a shift in the official national discourse on partnerships in education, underscoring new tensions regarding the power to define focus areas in the local reform work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parallel support is a Greek type of special education provision aiming at providing additional support to students identified with special educational needs and/or disability in mainstream classrooms. Drawing from quantitative data for the school-year 2018–2019 this paper presents findings on certain characteristics of primary and pre-primary teachers who work in parallel support including gender, educational qualifications, teaching experience and further certifications in braille and/or sign language. In so doing, the paper analyses several shortcomings regarding the staffing of parallel support, especially in relation to teachers' qualifications and teaching experience. Additionally, it reports data on the recruitment procedures of teachers revealing significant delays in the hiring of teachers who work in parallel support. Finally, the paper discusses how the current educational policy creates structural barriers that hinder the educational inclusion of students with special educational needs and/or disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]