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Inclusive education in Ireland has made major advances in the past two decades, with an increasing number of students with special educational needs (SEN) attending mainstream schools. This paper is part of a bigger study which examines the Special Education Teacher Allocation Model (SETAM) (Circular 0013/2017 Department of Education and Skills 2017) as the current model to support inclusion in practice in Irish primary schools. Guided by a constructivist paradigm, a mixed-methods approach was adopted to reveal the workings of the SETAM, in the Context of Practice. This paper presents the findings from the first phase of data collection; a national, online survey. Findings show that greater teacher autonomy to identify students' needs and allocate support, under this model, was welcomed by participants. However, limited continuous professional development sees some teachers feeling underprepared to identify such needs. More collaborative and inclusive practice is evident since the introduction of the SETAM, with increased use of in-class support for students with SEN. These findings may inform key stakeholders in inclusive education policy and practice, at a national and international level, by unveiling areas of success and potential for improvement, as recognised by Irish teachers. [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]

Schools are critical spaces for young men from refugee backgrounds. They play an integral role in literacy development, educational attainment, and providing a sense of belonging. Inclusive education practices for this group are largely absent in Australian schools. Research shows focusing on these young men from a non-deficit position assists with inclusivity. There is a lack of research exploring the agentic practices of young men from refugee backgrounds within schools. This paper explores the symbolic value of swagger for a group of young men from refugee backgrounds at a high school in Australia. A Bourdieusian theoretical framework guided critical awareness of power in schools. This research shows how a group of young men found a meaningful way to acquire social and cultural capital. Despite the school's constraints, this group developed a group identity reflected in their clothing and embodied dispositions referred to here as swagger. Our findings demonstrate the complex power relations at work, including the opportunity for the young men to resist and be included. In the spirit of Bourdieu's concern for reflexivity our findings point to the need for schools, teachers, and education policy makers to consider the workings of power in schools in more considered ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the year 2000, most parents have emigrated en masse due to a deepening socio-political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, leaving their school-going children in the country. This paper assesses the experiences and challenges faced by these Left-Behind Learners (LBL), and ascertain the challenges faced by teachers in meeting the needs of these learners through inclusive education. The study followed a qualitative research approach with data collected at two high schools in Harare using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The results of the study indicate that LBL faced numerous challenges: excessive household chores, lack of help from guardians, inadequate representation at school meetings, and non-payment of school expenses. Teachers in the sample were not aware of the vulnerability of LBL, and were inadequately equipped to deal with this 'new' vulnerability. The study recommends the crafting of an inclusive education policy for the country so that new vulnerabilities are holistically dealt with, and that teachers be trained in inclusive education methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English schooling context has seen radical and rapid reform in recent times with the processes of devolution or deconcentration of centralised school governance, on the one hand, and the instating of ever-increasing and rigid external accountabilities, on the other. These reforms driven as they are by neo-liberal and neoconservative ideologies have created a new kind of ‘system’ of schooling in England, one that is ‘heterarchical’ in governance, increasingly complex in its overlap, multiplicity and asymmetric power dynamics, but one that remains strongly tied to and regulated by the reductive and narrow measures of ‘success’ imposed by the state. Against this complex and changing backdrop, what constitutes quality and equitable schooling has been transformed. This special issue explores these concerns and, in particular, focuses on how the current demands of the English schooling context construct student achievement and identity, teachers' work, conceptualisations of knowledge and pedagogy, and school organisation and collaboration. The issue has a strong equity focus. Many of the papers to this end focus on how teachers and schools are navigating through the demands of current policy reform to mobilise spaces of possibility for equity and good schooling. In this paper, we provide a context and framework to set the scene for the subsequent papers in the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Large-scale assessments reveal the ‘global learning crisis’. Yet, many children with disabilities are excluded from such assessments. The global learning crisis is critiqued for narrowing the educational landscape. Drawing on concepts of ableism and the DisHuman child, this paper sets out to examine ableism within education policy by explicating the assumptions of normativity and how boundaries between the normal and the ‘aberrant’ are preserved and maintained. Through critical discourse analysis of the post-Sustainable Development Goals education policy landscape in India, the paper examines the 2018 Samagra Shiksha Integrated Scheme for School Education Framework for Implementation, the 2020 National Education Policy, and the 2021 National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat. The paper identifies three processes that underlie the construction of disability and difference in Indian education policy: constructing urgency as a crisis of quality; assessing deviations in quality; identifying and mitigating difference to achieve quality. The DisHuman child calls on us to both trouble and disrupt ableist norms within educational policy and grapple with how policies aid access to services, rights, and entitlements that may be crucial for the everyday participation of disabled children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, a new system of collecting data on school-aged students with disability is in the early phases of implementation. The nationally consistent collection of data on school-age students with disability (NCCD) establishes a mandatory data collection process in which teachers categorise and report on individual students' level of additional educational needs. This data is used to determine funding allocations for students with disability. Under this policy, teachers are responsible for assessing students' needs, and for documenting their own teaching practice. This paper reports on the early phases of policy implementation. It presents data from teachers at two schools to make visible the new work teachers must undertake. Drawing on Dorothy E. Smith's sociological contributions, we show how the NCCD reorients teachers' work towards documentation and the production of evidence. After exploring teachers' work, we analyse how the NCCD is being taken up in ways that do not contribute to policy aims of ensuring teachers are better able to understand and meet student requirements. Our aim is to understand how the everyday realities of how teachers' work intersects with NCCD goals, and whether this new national policy is likely to make sustained inroads into achieving broader inclusive education ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugee-background youth in the Australian context have long been confronted with a series of challenges surrounding their living and educational conditions. However, limited research has been conducted to examine the underlying factors of such problems. This paper critically explores possible factors that contribute to or intensify the challenges that refugee-background children and youth face in Australia by scrutinising related legal documents and education policies (e.g. inclusive and language transition policies). It is argued that the living and learning crisis among refugee-background youth in Australia is a result of: (a) restrictive refugee law; (b) incomplete education policy; and (c) deep-rooted political and historical views on refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees are seldom admired or applauded for their resolve and resilience, and their post and pre-migration experience rarely serves as the basis for the development of educational practice or policy solutions. Using a postcolonial theoretical framework this paper argues that while the maligned mobility and disparaged figure of the 'refugee' serves to establish and reconstruct exclusionary national identities, the same identities can be re-presented to offer new possibilities for inclusive education. Informed by southern epistemology and the sociology of absences and emergence (Boaventura de Sousa Santos, 2012. "Public Sphere and Epistemologies of the South", Africa Development. 37(1) 43–67; Boaventura de Sousa Santos, 1997 "Toward a Multicultural Conception of Human Rights", Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie, (10) 1-5), this paper discusses the anticipatory and emergent dimensions of refugee education. A focus on the pre- and post-settlement experience of refugees brings to light both their determination and strength as well as the complex and sometimes contradictory effect of racism and racialisation. Consideration of absences in relation to the anticipatory and emergent dimensions of education illuminate how inclusive education can serve as an instrument of resistance, transformation, and reconstruction. It shows how refugee mobility can open up possibilities for new forms of intelligibility, community and humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how refugee students construct pathways of access to higher education by drawing on interviews with 15 Syrian university students studying at different universities across Turkey. The research is located within a capabilities-based human development paradigm from which it outlines the factors that enable students' transition into university and looks at how they navigate complex higher education spaces. The refugees' narratives show that access to university is intersectionally shaped by personal ambition, family encouragement, community support, and the social and education policy. On the other hand, their educational experiences highlight that higher education works as a site of justice where the everyday racism, xenophobia, and discrimination is alleviated to a significant degree through providing a peaceful and safe space for coexistence with others despite its financial and pedagogical constraints. The paper draws attention to the agency of students in mobilising the assets they have gained for the good and well-being of their communities and fleshes out the values universities should promote for refugee students who have accessed university against the odds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the views of key members of the educational community about student engagement and retention in rural, regional and disadvantaged areas of the Australian state of Tasmania. It provides insights into the attributed reasons for the longstanding low levels of student retention in Tasmania, and the possible ways to militate against the widely censured problem of students leaving school too soon. The paper draws from principles of Bronfenbrenner's model of ecology to situate the 25 participants who formed the sample of the study in the exosystem of the environment of the young people whose educational attainment and retention in schools is the focus of this work. Data analysis generated three major themes: families and the socio-cultural environment; teachers and teaching; and the school system. The study's findings play an important role in prompting us to question when, and if, the dire situation of student dropout in the state and in similar contexts worldwide will begin to be reversed. Implications of the work include the need to develop and sustain a strong policy environment in which high-quality education and schooling success are contextualised as key features to which members across the systems and sections of society can contribute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the accommodations for the inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools in Trinidad. A multiphase mixed methods design consisting of three phases is used. In the first phase, the environmental accommodations essential for the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools are identified. This information is obtained through interviews with parents and advocates of children with various disabilities. Five themes emerge, namely, qualified human resources, educational materials, physical access, supportive learning systems, and supportive school policies and rules. A questionnaire is then developed in the second phase based on these qualitative findings which is administered to a representative sample of primary and secondary schools in the third phase. Qualitative data are also collected in the third phase. Particularly, data on inclusive education policy are collected from primary and secondary schools and data on legislation supporting inclusion from government officials. The integrated findings indicate that existing environmental accommodations, law, and policy do not fully support the inclusion of children with disabilities in Trinidad. They further illustrate the need for national discourses to move beyond access to maximum participation, and for stronger legislation to ensure inclusion in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, Intercultural Understanding (ICU) is increasingly prevalent in the field of education. The recent evidence base includes a growing academic literature and examples of specified education policy and curricula. In regards to leveraging ICU, research suggests a multi-level and longitudinal approach is needed to ensure effective and sustainable school change. Significant gaps exist in the literature about the contextual factors across all school levels that facilitate or impede the development of ICU. These gaps include research and action pertaining to school leadership. This paper draws from interviews and visual data generated in a large Australian study and focuses on the centrality of a single architectural feature of the school, the school foyer, and how principals grapple with the (re)design of these spaces to assert themselves as interculturally capable schools. Discourses of educational leadership have historically relied on well-worn leadership models of operational practices rather than explicitly framing an understanding of diversity to support intercultural capabilities. During a period of mandated Australian curriculum reform and assessment, this paper offers another way of ‘Doing Diversity’ of interest to policy makers and school leadership keen to embed ICU in their schools while highlighting the significant role school leaders have in progressing ICU. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper revisits The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action through Jacques Rancière's writing about the distribution of the sensible. It questions the supports provided within the Maltese state education system and asks readers to 'think again' by asking what has been left out. The Salamanca Statement is seen as reflected within the Maltese education system, both of which, however, position people and services in particular spaces. As systems, they have a totalising quality, which disables thought or any possibility outside that which is given. They also make assumptions about equality that is achieved, whereas Rancière writes about equality as a starting point and a presupposition. This is what gives democracy and politics a possibility, two values that are at the heart of inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is upon an examination of the 'direction of travel' in European countries from special needs education to inclusive education – a development influenced by the Salamanca Statement. The 1994 Salamanca Statement argued that inclusive schools provide 'an effective education for the majority of children and improve the efficiency and ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the entire education system' (ix). Underpinning this assertion are issues around special needs and inclusive education are financed. The paper will examine the degree to which the critical issue of financing has – or has not – changed across European countries since Salamanca. This examination takes retrospective look at key issues identified in the European Agency 1999 study of funding models for special education in 17 European countries, compared and contrasted with those identified in a 2016 study of approaches to funding inclusive education in 18 European countries. This paper argues that the essential issues underpinning their financing mechanisms have changed very little. For many European countries, changing systems of financing of inclusive education can still be seen as a key lever for achieving the goal of more widespread inclusion of learners with special educational needs, as outlined in the 1994 Salamanca Statement. [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]

This paper explores the decisions made by one secondary school in a major English city to become a co-operative academy. This school is located in an area affected by economic hardship and social and cultural tensions. The school, prior to its conversion to an academy, was well known in the local area for its commitment to social justice principles. Drawing on interview data collected from senior administrators, teachers, governors and students in the school, this paper seeks to understand why a school with a commitment to social justice would go down the academy route given the social justice concerns raised by such a move. This paper also considers if becoming aco-operativeacademy presents an ironic opportunity to resist many of the current regressive educational trends epitomised by academisation. This paper suggests that within the current English context, as in many other locations, a socially just approach to schooling requires alternatives to be explored and that the case study school's engagement with the Co-operative Society might present one such exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws on interview data gathered as part of a broader study around issues of equity and schooling. It features the voices of the Executive Director and four Head Teachers from one of England's top performing academy chains, ‘CONNECT’. The notion of neoliberal responsibilisation is drawn on to examine, first, the ways in which Head Teachers describe their work and, second, the chain's expectations of them as CONNECT leaders. Responsibilisation of the self was apparent in Head Teachers' construction of themselves as ideal neoliberal workers – performing and enterprising subjects who readily accept the business principles and results-orientation of their ‘data-driven’ environment. Responsibilising of Head Teachers by the organisation was evident in the rigorous ‘non-negotiable’ standards and accountabilities at CONNECT that they were expected to comply with. These non-negotiables cultivated and rewarded Head Teachers’ entrepreneurial identity of achievement motivation. The paper illustrates how such neoliberal responsibilisation is both a crucial and highly troubling element in the work of academy chains as new modalities of state power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this appreciative discussion paper I provide an overview of the reforms made to education in England, and engage with the politics of education through examining the simultaneous and inter-related processes of politicisation, depoliticisation and repoliticisation of educational matters. I engage in a discussion of the papers in this special issue through this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For the past 15 years (2003–2018), Ghana has followed international frameworks and taken steps to implement inclusive education. This has triggered research that seeks to assess effectiveness of practices by documenting the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders such as parents and other educators. This study took stock of the research evidence to appraise the effectiveness of inclusive education practices, identify gaps in the literature and draw attention to areas that policymakers could strengthen to advance those practices. Adopting Ainscow and Miles's (2009. Developing Inclusive Education Systems: How Can We Move Policies Forward. ) inclusive education measurement indicators as a conceptual framework, we reviewed empirical studies that have been conducted on inclusive education in Ghana since the policy was formally incorporated into the education system. Ten databases, along with manual searches in journals and the reference lists of selected articles, yielded a total of 426 studies, of which 35 satisfied the pre-determined inclusion and quality-assessment criteria. We found barriers to inclusive practices at all levels of education. Teachers in particular have not been adequately informed and supported to teach students with disabilities in regular classrooms. The implications of the findings for policymaking and future research are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India’s New Education Policy 2020 (NEP), released in the middle of a pandemic, aimed to provide a direction to the education sector through its multidisciplinary focus and restructuring of the existing system. The philosophy of the NEP claims inspiration from ancient knowledge systems which is a departure from the existing secular consensus of scientific temper in education. This exploratory study endeavours to understand and explores the antecedents of indigenous ancient Indian education knowledge systems (AIKS), its relevance in the contemporary landscape and the factors that may have influenced the ideation of such a policy. The issues such as nostalgia for an imagined past and the perception of Gurukul as an effective formal education model are the dimensions studied in this theoretical mixed method paper which combines quantitative survey, case study and discourse analysis. The NEP deserves greater scrutiny since it would have a long-term impact on education in India. Especially, for its claim of AIKS exceptionalism in an education policy document that would chart the future of the world largest demographic of young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian and international research consistently indicates that inclusive school cultures improve the educational outcomes and health and wellbeing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) students. Little is known, however, about how Tasmanian school staff are supporting LGBTI students or the needs of teachers and school staff in creating and sustaining inclusive school environments. To address this knowledge gap, this paper reports on findings from a qualitative inquiry conducted with teachers and school staff. Drawing on Szalacha's (2004. "Educating Teachers on LGBTQ Issues." Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education 1 (4): 67–79. doi:10.1300/J367v01n04_07.) three paradigms of LGBTI-inclusive education practices, this study found that teachers and school staff employ Safety and Equity approaches in an education system where there is little time or resources given to knowing and understanding relevant policy focused on supporting LGBTI students. We argue that the school staff's perception of school and departmental policy influences how they understand what is expected and what is possible in supporting LGBTI students. Findings from this study point to the need for inclusive education policies that inform and support teachers and foster potential for more critical approaches to equity and diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we will analyze the inclusive education policies and practices of a Province in Canada. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the planning of teaching and learning for students, with a focus on those with a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP). The process involved extended school and classroom observation, completion of questionnaires and analysis of documents, including lesson plans, individual student records, and PLPs of specific students. An observation grid and questionnaires were designed ad hoc. This province was an early adopter of an inclusive educational model. Schools in the province have a long tradition of developing accommodations for individual students in a 'common learning environment'. In this article, we analyze learning and curriculum planning and its influence on the development of inclusive practices in the classroom. We found that teachers continue to struggle to develop effective individual learning plans. Our analysis leads us to suggest a model for teachers to conceptualise appropriate strategies and accommodations for students in their daily lesson plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education in general, and disability-inclusive education in particular, is a high-level priority for development work in aid-supported countries. This paper presents a bottom-up process of developing disability-inclusive education policy in one country – the Solomon Islands. It is well understood that the promotion of quality in disability-inclusive education requires a clearly stated policy; however, in many developing countries, there has been a history of policy borrowing rather than culturally informed policy development. This paper will critically discuss how policy development occurs in aid-funded development work and then offers an alternative model of Australian aid-supported policy development as an in-depth case study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article is a position paper on inclusive practice in education with respect to students with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties (sld/pmld). It asks if children and young people with sld/pmld have been excluded from the policy and the practice of inclusive education. A review of the literature found that there is a research gap around inclusive education for learners with sld/pmld, and a review of historical and current practices indicated that this group of learners has indeed been excluded from both the policy and practice of inclusion in the United Kingdom with the use of curricula based on a mainstream linear and academic model reinforcing this exclusion. The study makes a theoretical and practical contribution to the continuing debate about inclusive education and will be of interest to teachers, parents, policy-makers and the learners themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques discourse surrounding language learning strategies within Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and argues for the creation of new definitions of language learning strategies that are rooted in the socio-political and socio-economic contexts of the marginalized. Section one of this paper describes linguistic imperialism theory and post-colonial education's responses to allegations therein: multicultural education theory, critical race theory, and technological egalitarianism. This section also highlights the difference between formal and informal learning in order to validate multiple learning strategies. Section two of this paper then analyses two prominent works by Oxford [2002.Language learning strategies around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. 2013.Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. South Melbourne: Heinle Cengage Learning]. This section suggests that even though Oxford [2002.Language learning strategies around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa] made attempts to incorporate diverse voices into language learning strategy theory, her efforts in turn potentiate those who already have access to education. Finally, the concluding section postulates five principles for including marginalized voices in the discourse of language learning strategies in order to propose contextualized definitions: (1) incorporate non-extractive research among the marginalized, (2) document local knowledges and practices in marginalized communities, (3) confront one's own identity of privilege before, during, and after research, (4) allow those on the margins to define learning strategies, and (5) develop diversity within TESOL. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In England, alternative education (AE) is offered to young people formally excluded from school, close to formal exclusion or who have been informally pushed to the educational edges of their local school. Their behaviour is seen as needing to change. In this paper, we examine the behavioural regimes at work in 11 AE programmes. Contrary to previous studies and the extensive ‘best practice’ literature, we found a return to highly behaviourist routines, with talking therapeutic approaches largely operating within this Skinnerian frame. We also saw young people offered a curriculum largely devoid of languages, humanities and social sciences. What was crucial to AE providers, we argue, was that they could demonstrate ‘progress’ in both learning and behaviour to inspectors and systems. Mobilising insights from Foucault, we note the congruence between the external regimes of reward and punishment used in AE and the kinds of insecure work and carceral futures that might be on offer to this group of young people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

COVID-19 pandemic led to temporary closures of public schools and increased need for technology to support students' access to learning capabilities. The situation created enormous burdens for all education stakeholders with teachers struggling on how to package learning materials that are easily accessible to students at home, and parents struggling to structure a home learning environment to support their children. This research was conducted to develop an understanding of challenges that African Nova Scotian (ANS) parents faced when supporting their learners throughout the COVID-19 crisis. The underlying concern was that COVID-19 related school closures combined with a seismic shift in the learning environment would widen pre-existing achievement gaps among ANS learners. Utilising a methodology framed from a Participatory Action Research perspective, ANS household survey data was collected and analysed. Gaining a better understanding of how ANS students and their support network experienced remote learning is critical for the successful implementation of the current inclusive education policy in the Nova Scotia education system. With an understanding of the challenges faced by ANS learner households and perspectives for the future presented through an ANS lens, our study can help inform a more productive and inclusive public education system in the post-COVID-19 world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, an increasing number of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are educated in inclusive classrooms. Research shows that teachers' self-efficacy beliefs impact the implementation of inclusionary practices. Eight pre-service teachers and eight recent teacher graduates were interviewed to gain insights into their experiences and perceptions of the inclusion of students with ASD. Specifically, this study explored the types of preparation: (1) university education, (2) experiences with students with ASD, and (3) support from school administration and its impact on participants' self-efficacy beliefs. Results indicated that participants who had more education, training, and previous experiences of engagements with individuals with ASD showed a higher level of self-efficacy. Participants' self-efficacy was linked to hands-on experience, guidance from mentor teachers, ongoing support from teacher-aides and school administration, frequent liaison with parents and professionals, building rapport with students, and undertaking ASD-specific coursework. Extending Bandura's theoretical self-efficacy framework, this study contributes to collective self-efficacy characterised by supportive administrations, colleagues, parents, health experts (e.g. psychologists) and educational authorities. Implications for policy, teacher education programmes and ongoing professional development for teachers are presented, including recommendations on considering wider avenues to increase teacher efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Salamanca Statement is held as a high-water mark in the history of the global development of inclusive education. It represented agreements bringing together representatives from 92 governments and 25 international organisations to advocate for a more inclusive education for students with disabilities. Since 1994 the Salamanca Statement has been referred to by international education organisations, national education jurisdictions, and disability advocacy organisations as a foundation for progressing inclusive education. In this respect the Salamanca Statement has been important for the inclusive education and Education for All [UNESCO 1998. From Special Needs Education to Education for All: Discussion Paper for the International Consultative Forum on Education for All. Paris: UNESCO] movements. However, international agreements and conventions are fragile in the face of local contingencies and become difficult to apply. We examine the case of inclusive education in Greece to reflect on this complex relationship between international aspirations and the real politic of individual nation states. Greece, like other nations, has embraced the discourse of inclusive education and its successive governments can demonstrate policy activity and public expenditure on the education of disabled students. This is remarkable in a climate of 'crisis' and 'austerity' where the only investment in the teaching workforce is in the area of inclusive education. However, is Greek education more inclusive in practice as well as rhetoric? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a survey of views of inclusive education expressed by nearly 300 Malaysian primary school teachers involved in remedial literacy and numeracy education under the country's Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. Overall, the views expressed were positive towards the principle of inclusion. However, despite common professional development on special educational needs, these teachers lacked a common consensus about the benefits of inclusion; they expressed concern about the lack of teacher skills in this area; and they articulated a negative view of children with disabilities and their families. The paper concludes that further professional development is required to address these shortcomings, and that, given the lack of sufficient teacher educators in this area, it seems likely that the government's aim of implementing inclusive education remains a distant goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an analysis of inclusive education policies across international, and Anglo-American national and provincial/state jurisdictions to reveal how policies discursively construct inclusion under current, increasingly neoliberal conditions. In making this case, the paper draws upon primary UNESCO and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development policies, and a selection of key policies in United States, Canada, England and Australia. To explore whether and how these policies discursively encourage inclusion under such conditions, the paper employs a broadly critical policy sociology approach. The research reveals a disparate array of approaches to issues of inclusion within and across specific policy contexts. Fostering more systematic and supportive inclusive policies is possible and essential for promoting conditions for more genuinely inclusive educational practices, but a lack of attention to issues of inclusion in policy settings also reveals how more neoliberal conditions have also influenced policy production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's move towards inclusion was given impetus by its participation in workshops and conferences set up under the auspices of the United Nations (UNESCO 1990; UN 1993; UNESCO 1994). Inclusive education was introduced in the Education Act 1996 as part of the continuum of services available for children with special needs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interpretation of policy pertaining to inclusion, its contradictions and its translation into practice within the Malaysian context; and to share experiences on how the national context explains and constrains inclusive practices. This paper examines the problematic issues associated with the interpretation and implementation of inclusive practices at community and school levels. Barriers to inclusion are also discussed from the perspective of conceptualisation and meaning of ‘special educational needs’ and competing priorities of the school system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inclusive education goes beyond the acquisition of discipline knowledge or skills. Inclusion is concerned with the participation and integration of all students (regardless of their intrinsic characteristics), helping them to develop civic competences. Civic and democratic values, equality and social justice became critical dimensions in this broader concept of education. This paper argues that the incorporation of civic dimensions, such as civic knowledge, civic skills or civic values in academic curricula could be an effective step towards more inclusive education. Specifically, this work intends to explore what civic dimensions are emphasised as a learning outcome in Portuguese higher education programmes. Adopting a qualitative methodology, typologies and incidence of civic learning outcomes were analysed and compared across three academic levels (first, second and third study cycles). The results provide a better understanding of what civic dimensions are stressed by institutions. All types of civic learning outcomes have been reinforced, defining civic values, civic skills and civic knowledge as expectable learning results. Both civic values and skills are well represented while civic knowledge is the less mentioned category. The enforcement of such civic dimensions is a valuable approach to enhancing education as a collective societal endeavour and as a common good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary early childhood classrooms in the United States are becoming even more diverse with increasing cultural, linguistic, and developmental complexity. Given the movement toward implementing universal early education and care and the changes in educational policy toward inclusive education, early childhood classrooms have become important sites for inclusion of diverse young children with and without disabilities. However, it is not uncommon to witness exclusionary practices that marginalize young children, especially those with immigrant backgrounds. Situated in a prekindergarten classroom in New York City, this study aims to counter common narratives in exclusionary practices that dehumanizes young children on the margins and to build evidence of inclusive practice from teachers' lived experiences in the classroom. Grounded in Freire's notion of humanization and framed by Salazar's tenets of humanizing pedagogy, this study highlights one immigrant teacher's perspective and her inclusive practice of humanization for immigrant students with and without disabilities. Through qualitative research methods, this study presents an emic view of incidences in her classroom that illuminate the meaning of inclusion and the critical role of the teacher as a mediator, facilitator, and visionary worker. Implications for future research and teacher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pacific Island countries are committed to promoting disability-inclusive education through enactment of the Pacific Education Development Framework. To support this move, key stakeholders have identified the need for developing local and contextually appropriate indicators for measuring progress of disability-inclusive education. This paper reports on the usefulness of a newly developed tool (Pacific Indicators for Disability-Inclusive Education – Pacific-INDIE) as a catalyst in implementing inclusive education in the Pacific. Data were collected from a range of stakeholders who have used the Pacific-INDIE in three countries (Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands). Thematic analysis was used to identify the key themes relating to the usefulness of the tool. The key themes that emerged from the data included, positive outcomes, challenges, planned future directions, and process issues. The findings discussed are related to how the indicators can best support future policy development and implementation of disability-inclusive education across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to compel educators to think critically about how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a prominent school-based legislation in the United States, and caregiver/parental participation relate to each other and to equity in special education outcomes. I use two illustrative case studies to show how educator's decisions about students, their use of disability policy, and their subsequent interactions with caregivers/parents result in vastly different outcomes for two young boys with a disability, one white and one Black. I outline how the racialized local context of the suburban, primarily white, and wealthy school district of study shaped understandings of difference that influenced how educators related to caregivers/parents, how they determined what was a viable caregiver/parental request for educational services, and how they subsequently leveraged educational resources to meet student needs based on these assumptions. In doing so, I engage with the following overarching question: How do contextual influences affect educators' understandings of what is a viable caregiver/parental request when providing services to students with disabilities? I end with a critical discussion about the presumed benevolence of special educators and special education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the experiences of mothers of young adults with Down syndrome as their daughters and sons transition from schooling to adult life. These transitions occurred in a society shaped by neo-liberal political reform that commenced in the mid-1980s. The hallmarks of education are now expressed in terms of national achievement standards, aligned with the goals of economic gain, and efficiency in government services. In this climate being called disabled is a bad thing. For the mothers participating in this research, the roles and tasks associated with disability created a map of expectation for themselves and their children. Speaking with authority and reclaiming control so as to undertake their role in the longer term was to be as much a part of the transition from school as were the changes experienced by their daughters and sons. The shortcomings identified through the mothers' narratives signal a need for clarity and cohesion in professional and support processes for their disabled family members. The position is offered that the potential of the secondary school as a place for school-linked service integration and support warrants consideration. Understanding the value and impact of outcomes this model brings for a wide range of vulnerable school leavers would enhance the efforts around individuals such as those whose transition is discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An often-used idiom states:you can't lose what you never had. Yet contrary to this expression, itispossible to lose what you never had – at least when special education support is concerned. In Ontario, as in other jurisdictions, special education exists as a codified system. An ever-changing nexus of discourses and documents – including normalisation, legislation, regulations, and memoranda – set out how special education is to function in the province. The documents themselves articulate how learners' needs are to be formally identified, as well as how students are to be supported. Within this network a phenomenon ofnon-identificationhas arisen whereby some students do not get identified and yet would have qualified for special education support had they gone through the process. Yet what leads to this phenomenon? To what does the phenomenon itself lead? Should Ontario's special education system be readjusted to address the phenomenon of non-identification, or is identification itself an inherently flawed practice? To explore these three questions, this paper will analyse Ontario's identification policy, examining what it allows, what it dictates, as well as the challenges it creates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By placing emphasis on equity and social mobility, the current UK education policy for England focuses on narrowing the educational attainment gap between more and less advantaged groups of young people – an approach that has strong parallels in many other Anglophone countries around the world. We argue that these policy and associated practice proscriptions tend to privilege an individualised narrative of agency for young people, teachers and schools more generally. Our paper argues that this individualised approach is highly problematic in that it decontextualises the complex and real agentic work of young people in schooling, making it difficult to empirically and theoretically account for differences in educational outcome between and within groups of young people. Informed by a social realist perspective, and in particular the work of Margaret Archer, we propose a theoretical model that we suggest provides greater explanatory and predictive power. The model focuses on the way ecologies of development emerge for young people. We suggest that such ecologies reflect different structural and cultural factors and processes, combining in ways that enable and/or constrain young people's educational reflexivity and agency and their ensuing educational engagement and attainments. We believe that building a typology of such ecologies of educational reflexivity and agency provides improved ways of developing equitable educational policies and practice – ones that relate clearly to the compositional mix of young people in schools and enable the development of interventions that better relate to such ecologies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a detailed analysis based on the lived experiences of the study participants and the researcher (each with vision impairment) in education, post school and in the pursuit for employment is developed. The policy discourses of disability legislation – both at national and international levels – are explored with particular reference to their enactment in Australia. The analysis focuses on the collective indifference to detached others, which is evident in the linguistic construction of people with disabilities in the United Nations [(2006).Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. New York: United Nations] and theAustralian Standards for Education 2005[Australian Department of Education, Science and Training. 2006.Disability Standards for Education 2005 Plus Guidance Notes. Accessed March 12, 2012. http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-7692.]. Together, these elements reflect the neoliberal principles that cast a shadow over the discourses of the disability policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of a national two-year project, commissioned by the Portuguese Ministry of Education, to investigate the implementation of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) under Decree-Law 3/2008. The Decree-Law also introduced the principle that the documentation of students' functioning profiles should be the basis for eligibility decision-making – replacing the need of a diagnosis. Of specific interest was the study of the ICF implementation in the assessment, eligibility and intervention processes of students in need of specialised supports. To that end, the study was based on a document analysis of case records of 214 students. The analysis of functioning profiles showed that the ICF use promoted a functional approach in students' assessment. In addition, the use of the ICF contributed to the differentiation of eligible and non-eligible students based on their functioning profiles and addressed the most suitable educational interventions within the Individualised Education Plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1994, Brunei Darussalam adopted an inclusive educational policy and began a number of educational reforms to support the implementation of inclusion within the regular mainstream education system. These reforms include teacher education, which has witnessed the establishment and expansion of training and education opportunities for teachers to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to promote inclusion at pre-service and in-service levels. This paper begins by describing how teacher education has changed over the past decade to support and promote inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam. It describes the multi-pronged strategy adopted by the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE) to include the component of inclusive education within its teacher education programmes. Relevant research conducted by the academic community at the SHBIE to evaluate the quality of inclusion efforts as well as to inform the further development and implementation of the inclusive educational policy is also shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has been conducted to gain deeper understandings of policy change of piloting special educational need coordinators (SENCO) in a Chinese education community. In response to the change in policy towards regularisation of the SENCO, we examined a trajectory of policymaking for SEN support in Hong Kong's integrated education. Critical discourse analysis as a discursive method of analysing the local SEN practices in relation to the international policy development was adopted. The key questions are: What is the difference between this Chinese integrated education and international policy development for inclusion? What effects of the pilot SENCO have emerged in the policy and media texts in the Chinese integrated education? What recommendations can be derived to inform the regularisation of SENCOs in ordinary public schools? The findings shed light on the conceptual discrepancy between integrated and inclusive education in the policymaking. The economic considerations and administration accountability of the pilot SENCO affected the regularisation. As reflected in this Chinese integrated education, we also discuss the implications of changing the SENCO policy for quality SEN support in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses issues related to inclusive education and curricula development based on the principles of universal design for learning (UDL), and it reports on the results of a qualitative content analysis of the new national curriculum (NNC) developed for the public Greek-Cypriot schools in Cyprus. According to the findings, the NNC does not accommodate the principles of the UDL to an extent that would enable teachers differentiate their teaching. The argument is advanced that the UDL principles could act as a starting point in developing a more inclusive curriculum; a curriculum that reflects the expressed political commitment to inclusive education and is based on research findings that inform the way curriculum components are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a review of qualitative research on interprofessional cooperation between regular teachers and special educators published from 2005 to 2019. The aim of the review was to gain knowledge about how different forms of cooperation take shape and about factors at multiple levels that facilitate or constrain cooperation as a means of achieving inclusion. In total, 25 studies were selected. The results are discussed in relation to Thomas Skrtic's theory of bureaucracies within the school organisation in order to compare and analyse different forms of interprofessional cooperation and schools' organisations of special educational work. Cooperative teaching, special educational consultations and mixed forms of cooperation were found to entail different benefits and challenges related to communication and the cooperating actors' roles. Facilitating factors included personal chemistry, an equal distribution of power and responsibilities and support from the school management through provision of professional development and adequate planning time. In several studies, a flexible cooperation was argued to be hindered by curricular constraints and standardised testing. Education policy is therefore emphasised in this review as important for understanding the conditions under which school staff are responsible for inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This critical ethnography explains how and why refugee children experience schooling in specific ways by examining teachers' use and interpretation of local refugee accommodation policies. It argues that locals' understanding of refugee protection framework to host refugees generates discourses such as brotherhood/sisterhood and guest and these discourses have an impact on the schooling practices and teachers' approaches to educating refugee children. The findings show that teachers pedagogic decisions rely on these discourses, and refugee children are affected by their teachers' adaptation of these local discourses to their classroom activities. Although teachers claim that they use child-centred and politics-free instructional methods as mandated in refugee education policies, their practices often challenge their claims. As a result, refugee children experience isolation, assimilation and a form of restriction of their critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address social inequality, many western governments have sought to pursue principles of 'widening participation' as a key policy response in higher education. Though originally intended to complement social justice policy agendas, alignment of education policies with broader neoliberal policy frameworks has led policymakers, such as those in Australia, to focus instead on the potential for widening participation to foster social mobility through higher education. Resultant policy discourse focusing on mobility outcomes signals to students that the doxic utility of higher education studies is to pursue an occupation which enables social mobility. This study seeks to explore whether there is evidence that such shifts in policy discourse result in closer alignment with doxic aspirations amongst students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) and non-metropolitan backgrounds than privileged students. This study assessed applications data across fields of education (FoE) for Australian university applicants in 2018, disaggregated across two demographic characteristics (SES and location), to determine the proportionality of applications within and between each demographic sub-classification, as well as between and within each FoE. Through analysing student applications to courses of study at university, it was determined that there are significant differences in the manner in which students from disadvantaged backgrounds actuate their aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]