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Autistic children face significant barriers to having their views listened to in research. Inaccessible research encounters and inflexible communication strategies on the part of a research team can prevent opportunities for children to engage meaningfully in the research. Researchers must strive to offer opportunities for meaningful self-expression, and improve the way they seek autistic children's points of view. This article explores ways to engage with, and listen to, the views of autistic children in school-based research contexts. Twelve autistic children took part in view-seeking research about their school and playground environment, and reflected on their experience of taking part in the research. The children contributed their ideas through walking tours, photography, LEGO® models, and interviews with the researcher and their peers. The multimodal qualitative data were analysed iteratively and thematically, with findings highlighting issues of perceptions of audience, creativity, control and enjoyment. The different research activities stimulated diverse modes of expression and generated different kinds of insights. Implications are considered for how researchers can seek to creatively co-develop engagement and opportunities for self-expression with children who participate in research. This research emphasizes the importance of creating accessible and meaningful opportunities to engage with and foreground autistic children's perspectives.

Reference to teachers as agents of change has become commonplace in the education literature, including change toward more inclusive practice in response to the changing demographic of schooling. Yet, little is known about how teacher agency relates to (1) their understanding of, and commitment to any given change agenda and (2) the institutional and social structures through which they are able to access knowledge and resources within and beyond their schools. This study combined social and epistemic network analysis to examine teachers' understanding of change and their sense of agency as they use their social networks to mobilise support for furthering change that matters to them. Our study is the first to apply this learning analytic approach in a real setting context. We used theories of teacher agency and inclusive pedagogy to interpret teachers' social interactions in light of the extent to which they seek to make a difference toward greater inclusion. We collected data with an online log completed by teachers and other staff in two schools in Sweden over 6 months. The findings suggest that teachers understanding of change is embedded in their day-to-day activities such as student support, lesson planning, improvement of programs, and working conditions. Teachers tend to exercise agency toward inclusion when they seek to support student learning and well-being. When teachers act as agents of change, their social networks are bigger, more diverse and more collaborative than in situations in which they act as role implementers. We discuss substantive and methodological implications of these findings.

In 2015, South Korea hosted the World Education Forum as it considered issues of education for all and improving inclusion worldwide. Yet, as is the case in many countries, pupils with special educational needs in South Korea are often included by way of 'special or additional' support as 'compensation' for disability, raising questions about the extent to which support is a tool for inclusion or a reproduction of exclusion in the classroom. This study examined teachers' views and practice regarding teaching and support, the actual work of the support assistant, and the extent to which practice reflected the model set by official policy and guidelines. The modified Wider Pedagogical Role (WPR) model (Blatchford, P., A. Russell, and R. Webster. 2012. "Reassessing the Impact of Teaching Assistants?: How Research Challenges Practice and Policy." London: Routledge.) was used as reference for the data collection and analysis. The development of inclusive practices was also examined relative to the inclusive pedagogical approach developed by Florian and Black-Hawkins ([2011]. "Exploring Inclusive Pedagogy." "British Educational Research Journal" 37 (5): 813-828) to determine how the three principles of inclusive pedagogy were enacted in South Korea. Findings demonstrate how practice can comply, stretch or, in some cases, disregard the limits of policy. The study provides practical support for the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Purpose: This article presents a model based on a review of international and European policy and current European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education work on school leadership for inclusive education. The model aims to support analysis of the policy context and interactions between the structures and processes at different levels to ensure effective support for inclusive school leadership and development of appropriate competences. Key issues addressing competences for inclusive school leadership, support and professional development opportunities for inclusive school leaders and policy frameworks that support inclusive leadership across the whole education system are explored. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports on a current Agency project, Supporting Inclusive School Leadership (SISL), a cross-national project that considers how best to ensure that school leaders meet the needs of all learners in their school communities. The SISL project examines current theories of school leadership together with the core functions of school leaders in participating countries in order to develop a model specifically focused on inclusive school leadership. Findings: Agency projects such as SISL focus on research findings and policy developments that support countries to chart their own course toward a common goal. This process of cross-national working permits member countries with their distinctive national, ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversities to work together on common goals. In this project an ecosystem model of inclusive education was adapted to reflect on the policy context needed to enable school leaders to fulfill the complex responsibilities associated with inclusive school development. Originality/value: Although the Agency is strongly associated with the education of children with special educational needs and disabilities, all member countries have the shared vision to support inclusive education systems so that all learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community. While its projects are firmly rooted in the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, its work is also influenced by the concept of inclusion as promoted in the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4) "to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."

This study explores the opportunities and dilemmas that have been encountered by researchers seeking the views of young people with autism. Twelve researchers were interviewed about their experiences in this field. Through exploration of the complex methodological and ethical issues that they encountered, this study aims to better understand how researchers can improve the way they listen to, and engage with, the views of children and young people with autism. This article discusses four themes that emerged from the interviews: power dynamics; building rapport; communication; and meaningful processes and outputs.

While many distinctions between 'special' and 'inclusive' education have been made and continue to be forcefully debated, the two concepts remain strongly evident in policy and practice in many countries. This paper discusses the interrelated history of these concepts. It explores how conceptualisations of them have changed since Salamanca and reflects on whether inclusive education has, can or should replace special education. It considers the extent to which 'special' and 'inclusive' education are understood as the same or different today. The paper argues for a clear a distinction to be made between how special educators can work in support of inclusive education and the task of inclusive education which addresses the barriers to participation faced by members of marginalised groups.

A key assumption underpinning formative assessment strategies is that individual pupils must be fully involved in the process. While such engagement and attention on the individual is important, studies suggest that teachers do not always readily engage with formative assessment as a reciprocal process which involves pupils. Additionally, a focus on individual differences between pupils can be problematic if the work that is set for some is differentiated to such an extent that they are not able to participate in classroom activities with others. Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that attends to individual differences between pupils but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when pedagogical responses are designed only with individual needs in mind. Using participant observation and video footage from three classrooms that captured 'learning moments' identified by teachers and pupils, this study documents how the professional craft knowledge of teachers develops as they learn to use what their pupils have to say about learning in the context of whole class teaching. By concentrating on the findings from one site, this paper shows how teachers can use what they learn from listening to pupils' self-assessments of their learning in ways that meet the standard of inclusive pedagogy.

This article is based on a keynote address to the Learning for All Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education School-led Symposia, Palmerston North, Christchurch, Napier and Auckland, New Zealand, June 2006. It considers "special education" teaching strategies, and the extent to which they overlap with "mainstream practice", in order to answer the question of whether or not there is such a thing as a specialist pedagogy. Selected research on this topic is summarised, and the need to develop a notion of pedagogy that is inclusive of all learners is suggested. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

This article is the first of a 2-part synthesis of an international seminar on the classification of children with disabilities. It synthesizes 6 papers that address broad questions relating to disability classification and categorization, cross-national comparisons on disability in education, the World Health Organization's "International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health" (ICF), and Amartya Sen's capability approach. The focus of the article is the intentions, purposes, and future directions for disability classification in education. The authors argue that these advances offer researchers and policymakers the opportunity to examine the relational nature of disability classification in any recalibration of statutory standards or educational policy reforms. Such developments are necessary to move beyond discrete categorical classification systems traditionally used in education that (a) do not recognize the complexity of human differences, (b) unnecessarily stigmatize children, and (c) do not always benefit the individuals who are classified.

Policies around the world increasingly call for teachers to become 'agents of change', often linked to social justice agendas. However, there is little clarity about the kind of competencies such agency involves or how it can be developed in teacher education. This paper draws on theories of teacher agency and inclusive pedagogy to clarify the meaning of teachers as agents of change in the context of inclusion and social justice. Inclusive practice requires the collaboration of teachers and others such as families and other professionals. Agents of change work purposefully with others to challenge the status quo and develop social justice and inclusion. We discuss the possibilities of combining theories of inclusive pedagogy and teacher agency for developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice in teacher education. These possibilities include: 1) nurturing commitment to social justice as part of teachers' sense of purpose; 2) developing competencies in inclusive pedagogical approaches, including working with others; 3) developing relational agency for transforming the conditions of teachers' workplaces; and 4) a capacity to reflect on their own practices and environments when seeking to support the learning of all students.

The 2014 SERA Lecture provides an overview of the concept of inclusive pedagogy, a distinctive approach to classroom teaching offering an alternative pedagogical approach that has the potential to reduce educational inequality by enhancing learning opportunities for everyone. Inclusive pedagogy focuses on improving the quality of mainstream education by reducing variability in practice. It was developed from studies that focused on understanding the expertise of teachers who are able to work with diverse student groups and achieve good academic attainment results for all students, including those who have been identified as having additional support needs. As an alternative approach, inclusive pedagogy offers a partial response to three interrelated problems of educational inequality: (1) those that are associated with organisational and pedagogical strategies based on bell curve distributions; (2) the identification of additional support needs; and (3) the disproportionate statistical representation of certain minority groups in special education.

Autistic children face significant barriers to having their views listened to in research. Inaccessible research encounters and inflexible communication strategies on the part of a research team can prevent opportunities for children to engage meaningfully in the research. Researchers must strive to offer opportunities for meaningful self-expression, and improve the way they seek autistic children's points of view. This article explores ways to engage with, and listen to, the views of autistic children in school-based research contexts. Twelve autistic children took part in view-seeking research about their school and playground environment, and reflected on their experience of taking part in the research. The children contributed their ideas through walking tours, photography, LEGO® models, and interviews with the researcher and their peers. The multimodal qualitative data were analysed iteratively and thematically, with findings highlighting issues of perceptions of audience, creativity, control and enjoyment. The different research activities stimulated diverse modes of expression and generated different kinds of insights. Implications are considered for how researchers can seek to creatively co-develop engagement and opportunities for self-expression with children who participate in research. This research emphasizes the importance of creating accessible and meaningful opportunities to engage with and foreground autistic children's perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increasing emphasis on adolescents' participation rights, there are concerns about their participation in research on sensitive topics, such as trauma and violence. This review reports findings of a scoping review that examined the nature and extent of qualitative studies conducted with adolescents about their experiences of participating in research on sensitive topics. Studies were identified by searching electronic databases and grey literature and reported on qualitative and mixed-methods studies eliciting adolescents' experiences of participating in research on sensitive topics. Seventeen (17) studies were included after screening 4426 records. The scoping review revealed significant adolescent benefits from participation, relating to positive emotions, skill acquisition and enhanced self-efficacy and interpersonal relationships. To a lesser extent, participants also experienced burdens relating to negative emotions, concerns about confidentiality and privacy and inconvenience of participation, which were mitigated by careful attention to research design and researcher engagement and training. Participants shared insights into their motivation to participate, and factors that impacted their experiences of research, such as ethical considerations, including consent procedures, safety and connection in research, study procedures and documentation and researcher characteristics. There were tangible benefits and some burdens involved in adolescents' participation in sensitive research. This review considers implications for research and practice, such as the need to regularly publish findings of consultations, assessing caregiver consent requirements, obtaining adolescent views on study documents and measures and building on existing research, differentiated by age, gender and dis/ability status, especially in diverse and under-represented regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the concept of inclusive pedagogy, conceptualised as an approach to teaching that focuses on extending what is generally available to everyone (as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some) while taking into account that there will be differences between learners. It considers the concept of phronesis as a tool for exploring questions about teacher decision-making in relation to inclusive pedagogy and how phronesis might be taught. To this end, we review some of the ways in which phronesis has been used in teacher education, and consider the potential of broadening the term based on a Heideggerian rather than Aristotelian conceptualisation of it. We consider whether this broader conceptualisation may help to facilitate the development of teachers to understand the limitations inherent in traditional approaches to learner difference and adopt an inclusive pedagogical approach instead.

This study reports on the development and use of an analytical framework for interrogating the practice of newly qualified mainstream teachers recently graduated from a one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) that was informed by a concept of inclusive pedagogy. Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to respond to individual differences between learners but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when some students are treated differently. The analytical framework was based on the principles of inclusive pedagogy, which were linked to the core themes of Aberdeen University's PGDE course. Its purpose was to provide a robust and coherent framework for documenting inclusive pedagogy in action. This study describes how the framework was developed and used with new teachers in order to further understanding of how reforms of initial teacher education can impact inclusive teaching and learning. The framework was initially designed in the context of a teacher education project but has wider applicability as a research tool for exploring inclusive pedagogy in action. This is particularly relevant to the study of inclusive education in the practical setting of the classroom where there is little guidance to support systematic research on how inclusive education is enacted. (Contains 4 tables.)

This article describes how a methodological memo (MM) was used in a research and development project designed to reform initial teacher education (ITE). A MM was used to explore what often remains an opaque part of the research process--the relationships between theory and practice that underpin many research studies. Yet, without detailed accounts of the research process, it is difficult to understand this relationship. In this case, a memo was used to record the methodological and analytical dilemmas that were encountered in a study of the theoretical and pedagogic processes involved in developing a new ITE course so that primary and secondary teachers are better prepared to respond to increasing diversity in schools. This article addresses how developing and sharing transparency in the research process can help clarify contested concepts associated with a research project and provides the foundation for rich theoretical debate.

The increasing cultural, linguistic, and developmental diversity of today's classrooms demands more inclusive approaches to schooling, but classroom teachers often report feeling unprepared for inclusive education. This article reports some lessons learned from the Inclusive Practice Project, a teacher education reform project that has developed an innovative approach to preparing teachers to enter a profession in which they take responsibility for the learning and achievement of all students. It identifies four crucial issues, describes how they were addressed, and considers the challenges of professional development of teacher educators that emerged from the project studies. Key lessons focusing on the professional development of teacher educators in the establishment of a new curricular approach to teacher education for inclusive education are discussed. (Contains 2 tables.)

Whilst recent decades have seen significant progress in research on inclusive education, many teachers still feel that the research literature does not fully address their professional concerns about how to enact a policy of inclusion in their classrooms. To help to bridge this gap, we drew on the concept of craft knowledge to undertake a detailed study in two Scottish primary schools of the practice of class teachers who are committed to meet the needs of all learners. This paper describes the processes involved, and considers how these helped us to develop a greater understanding of what constitutes inclusive practice, whilst also contributing to a more robustly theorised knowledge of what we have termed inclusive pedagogy, or the inclusive pedagogical approach. Methodological complexities arising from the use of the concept of craft knowledge are also explored. (Contains 3 tables and 1 note.)

Efforts to prepare teachers and other professionals for inclusive education in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS/CEE) region are heavily influenced by the legacy of Soviet defectology (the study of children with disabilities) and Soviet traditions of teacher education. The authors identify some challenges facing those concerned with preparing teachers for inclusive education and provide examples of current projects in the region that address the complex problems associated with providing inclusive education for children identified as having disabilities. The changing role of defectologists in inclusion policy and practice is also discussed. Case examples from Armenia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Serbia reflect current innovations in teacher education and professional development in the region.

This paper reports on a study designed to examine teachers' craft knowledge of their practice of "inclusion" in terms of what they do, why and how. The research approach offers an important alternative to studies of students with "additional needs" and the search to articulate the specialist knowledge and skill required to teach them. Through classroom observations and interviews with 11 teachers of students across the full age range in two Scottish primary schools, we investigated how teachers "make meaning of the concept of inclusion" in their practice by exploring theoretical assumptions drawn from the literature about inclusive pedagogy. The analysis enabled us to identify practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that met the standard of extending what is generally available to everybody, as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some. Examples of the inclusive pedagogical approach are provided. (Contains 1 note and 2 tables.)

As the concept of "inclusive education" has gained currency, students who would previously have been referred to specialist forms of provision, having been judged "less able", are now believed to belong in mainstream classrooms. However, it is often argued that teachers lack the necessary knowledge and skills to work with such students in inclusive classrooms. This paper reports findings of a study of a new initial teacher education course that starts from the premise that the question is not whether teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach in inclusive classrooms, but how to make best use of what they already know when learners experience difficulty. The theoretical rationale for the development of the course is outlined and examples of how teachers might engage in more inclusive practice are presented. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Inclusive education is based on the principle that local schools should provide for all children and young people regardless of any perceived social, emotional, cultural intellectual or linguistic difference or disability. This paper identifies key concepts associated with inclusive education and discusses them in relation to issues in the reform of teacher education. It argues that the reform of teacher education for inclusive education is an important activity in improving educational equity. It presents the study design and some early findings of an innovative research and development project, the Inclusive Practice Project, based in the School of Education at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. (Contains 3 figures and 1 table.)

This study explores the beliefs and attitudes that university students enrolled in teacher education programmes in Spain, England and the US (Texas) hold about individuals who differ. A beliefs and attitudes toward difference scale (BATD) was constructed using nine dimensions of diversity; culture, language, socioeconomic status/social class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political ideology, disability and special talent. A two-way factorial analysis of variance indicated significant main effects due to the respondent groups on culture, religion and sexual orientation; significant main effects of worldview of difference on political ideology; and no interaction between the two factors on each of the nine domains of difference. An exploratory factor analysis was also performed in order to explore the viability of the theoretical model. The data suggest that attitudes towards people who differ include "etic", "emic" and individual properties. These are discussed in terms of the uses of cross-cultural data and further research opportunities. (Contains 5 tables.)

While differences in national contexts are associated with variations in how teachers are trained and school systems are organised, the conceptual and philosophical problems of equity and inclusion in schooling are shared concerns. This paper describes how the structure and content of an initial teacher education programme for primary and secondary teachers has been revised to ensure that social and educational inclusion is addressed within the core programme. A rationale is presented for the development of "inclusive practice", followed by a discussion of the reforms and an outline of the effects that are expected in the classroom practices of teachers in schools. (Contains 1 table.)

In this article, Lani Florian, Professor of Social and Educational Inclusion at the University of Aberdeen, examines the relationships between "special" and "inclusive" education. She looks at the notion of specialist knowledge among teachers and at the roles adopted by staff working with pupils with "additional" or "special" needs in mainstream settings. She explores the implications of the use of the concept of "special needs"--especially in relation to attempts to implement inclusion in practice--and she notes the tensions that arise from these relationships. She goes on to ask a series of questions: How do teachers respond to differences among their pupils? What knowledge do teachers need in order to respond more effectively to diversity in their classrooms? What are the roles of teacher education and ongoing professional development? How can teachers be better prepared to work in mixed groupings of pupils? In seeking answers to these questions, Lani Florian concludes that we should look at educational practices and undertake a thorough examination of how teachers work in their classrooms. She suggests that it is through an examination of "the things that teachers can "do"" that we will begin to bring meaning to the concept of inclusion.

This paper reports on a multi-method study that examined the effects of including higher and lower proportions of students designated as having special educational needs on student achievement in secondary schools. It explores some of the issues involved in conducting such research and considers the extent to which newly available national data in England can be helpful in answering questions about inclusion and achievement. Questions pertaining to the effects of provision on achievement are discussed within a school reform agenda that emphasizes high academic standards, competition between schools and the identification of pupils with special educational needs. (Contains 10 notes and 5 tables.)

This paper considers the problems that were encountered in searching and using the literature (about practice) to answer questions about future directions for policy in teaching learners with special educational needs (SEN). It draws upon a recently completed scoping study on the effectiveness of different approaches and strategies used to teach pupils with a range of special educational needs (Davis & Florian, 2004) which foregrounded issues of search strategy, knowledge organisation and synthesis. The paper argues that a literature review is historically, culturally and socially produced knowledge and is an important but limited piece of evidence. Guidance for undertaking a review of literature on teaching practice is offered.

Recent developments in the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) have produced a national pupil database (NPD) that contains information about the attainments of individual pupils. Every child in the country has been allocated a unique pupil number (UPN), which means that the academic progress of individuals can be tracked over time. It is possible to combine data on attainment with the demographic information which is obtained from the pupil level annual schools census (PLASC). These innovations make it possible to combine value added information about pupil progress from one key stage of education to the next with data from the PLASC, which contains pupil background information, to produce a single matched data set. Thus the NPD and the PLASC are able to provide much of the necessary information to explore issues of individual pupil performance over their school careers. Notably, more specific information about the academic achievement of pupils who are described as having special educational needs is now available. Lani Florian, lecturer in inclusion and special educational needs, Martyn Rouse, senior lecturer in inclusion and special educational needs, Kristine Black-Hawkins, senior research associate, and Stephen Jull, research associate, are all based at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. In this article, drawing on their work in the 'Inclusion and Achievement Project', they explore the problems and possibilities for researching issues of pupil achievement and inclusion through the use of these new national data sets.