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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]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including history of post-apartheid education policy, processes and policies of spatialisation for disabled students in Italy, and school gardening.

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]

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

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]

In this paper, I reflect on three questions arising from my recent research on student equity in higher education and gender in education. These questions relate to the goals, focus and politics of student equity research in the context of a changing higher education landscape in Australia. The paper concludes with an argument for student equity scholarship cognisant of, yet independent from prevailing policy imperatives and discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper reports on the first stage of a study that used Young People as Researchers to investigate the phenomenon of middle-year student engagement and disengagement. The first stage of the study focused on a two-day workshop that provided training for students and teachers from four secondary schools in conducting research in their schools. An overview of the three stages is presented and the workshop procedures and example activities for Stage 1 of the Young People as Researchers model are described. Further to this, the paper reports on data collected in the workshop to address the research question: How do middle-year students describe engagement and disengagement? [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 term 'social exclusion' in the context of new social and education policies being constructed in the UK. It examines the links with terms such as 'poverty', 'deprivation' and 'equality' and the implications of policy developments for those identified as socially excluded. Tensions and contradictions appear to be emerging between the UK government's stated policy intentions to address social exclusion, and local knowledge and experience. Issues of power, market power, participation and inclusiveness are explored specifically in the context of education. The paper draws on research being undertaken in a deprived inner-city area with voluntary sector organizations that provide education for marginalized young people. [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]

This paper explores the relationship between education, social exclusion and globalization, especially as it is found in the policies of the emergent supranational 'state' or sub-global bloc. The paper leads to an analysis of the discourse of social exclusion, and focuses on the part that education and training (ET) policies play in the individualization, pathologization and criminalization of socially excluded people. Following an initial sketch of the concept of globalization, the paper considers the development of supranational and nation state ET policy. The next section provides a brief sketch of the historic development of supranational ET policy. The final section returns to the main theme of the paper, namely education and the discourse of social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

In many developing countries, women's education has been a highly prominent issue which is not adequately addressed in their education policies. The participation of female populations in education in most of the developing regions of the world has been much lower than the participation of their male counterparts [UNICEF. 2005a. “Report Card on Gender Parity and Primary Education.”www.unicef.org/turkey]. As a developing country, Turkey engaged in fairly vigorous and determined attempts to address the issues regarding women's education [Aydagül, B. 2008. “No Shared Vision for Achieving Education for All: Turkey at Risk.”Prospects38 (3): 401–407] owing to the support, incentives, and pressure of the international organisations through various conventions in the last decade. The current paper scrutinises one of these attempts, namely, the campaign called ‘Come on girls, let's go to school’ which was initiated by the Ministry of National Education with the support of United Nations Children's Fund and World Bank, and considerably contributed to the increases in girls' enrolment and attendance rates in rural areas and southeast regions of Turkey. This paper utilises the social equity criteria as its conceptual framework drawing from Levin [1978. “The Dilemma of Comprehensive Secondary School Reforms in Western Europe.”Comparative Education Review22 (3): 434–451] and Stromquist [2011.Educational Equity[Lecture Notes]. College Park: University of Maryland]. The analysis yields that the girls' education campaign in Turkey addresses to varying extents the criteria of accessibility, probability of enrolment, probability of participation, and length of participation, whereas it fails to meet the standard of educational results. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Debates about the meanings of inclusive education are long-lasting, and the imperative to include disabled students in mainstream schools is currently under threat by the UK government's educational policies. This paper draws on critiques from inclusive education and critical pedagogy literature, as well as on findings from field research in a special unit in a secondary school in the UK, to argue for a thorough change in educational provision that is currently incompatible with notions of inclusion. The paper examines how changing the politics of disability, access and relations of belonging in the context of field research has had a positive impact on educational provision in accordance with critiques of education from disability, feminist and anti-capitalist standpoints. However, while the educational provision in the school's special unit successfully challenged many disabling barriers to education, its lack of engagement with issues of power and wider social structures made it vulnerable to recuperation. The paper points to the relevance of including ideas from critical pedagogy within research and practice in inclusive education, which provide a useful tool for dealing with such issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, some key findings of the Keeping Connected project are discussed in light of the methodological challenges of developing an analytical approach in a large-scale study, particularly in starting with open-ended, participant-selected, digital still visual images as part of 31 longitudinal case studies. The paper works to clarify the methodological and epistemological discussions of the visual data, an issue of great interest in qualitative research and visuality for researchers intent on developing understandings of participatory research methods in the field of youth studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although schools are usually regarded as important agents for social inclusion, research has shown that they may also function as agents of exclusion itself. The goal of this paper is to deepen our understanding of how schools function as agents of exclusion and how they can become more effective agents of inclusion. It is based on action research carried out with the ‘New Education Environment’, a programme aimed at helping secondary schools in Israel work more effectively with ‘at-risk’ pupils. This research led to the discovery of a self-reinforcing ‘cycle of exclusion’ that involves both pupils and staff in these schools and ‘frames’ of thinking and action that keep it in place. This paper also describes the cycle of exclusion and its frames as well as an alternative frame that has been used to help school staff to step out of the cycle of exclusion and act more effectively to foster inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

This paper uses Ireland - one of Europe's most rapidly changing societies - as a case study and examines progress towards an inclusive education system. It explores policy and progress on developing an inclusive system under a number of key headings: social class, ethnicity, gender and disability. On the basis of analysis of official statistics and of research evidence from a study of the inclusion of children with disabilities and special educational needs, this paper assesses whether the impact of recent state policy and legislative change has significantly increased the degree of inclusion in the education system under the four headings. There is a particular focus on the area of disability. The particular questions explored in this paper are whether the unprecedented changes which have taken place in Ireland since the mid-1990s have resulted in a more inclusive system, an increase in equality, and an increase in inclusive practices in schools. On the basis of the available evidence, the results appear to be mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study into schooling responses to youth crime in south-western Sydney, Australia. The project was a partnership between the New South Wales Department of Education and Training and the University of Western Sydney's School of Education. Specifically, the paper analyses interviews with school leaders who were interested in understanding how to support young people constructed 'at risk' of engaging in criminal activity. A content analysis, drawing on the concept of 'emotional capital', revealed discourses of safety, hope, engagement, and justice and fairness in the narratives of participants. The various ways in which 'emotion' is operationalized in education is explored so that the nature of emotional capital and its class and gendered inflections are made clear. Emotional capital, as a theoretical framework, also provides new insights into the strategies used by school leaders and helps situate the experiences and interests of the participating principals and key staff in the schools in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Taking as its starting point a critique of policy for inclusion which I published 6 years ago after the publication of the Green Paper Excellence for All Children; Meeting Special Educational Needs (DfEE, 1997), the present paper presents a critical analysis of subsequent policy relating to the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in the mainstream of education which claims to secure for them a genuinely equitable educational experience. The results of this analysis suggest that far from ensuring full participation as a right, the policy for inclusion can be seen to have done little to increase genuine access to the mainstream for these pupils and may well have even increased exclusionary practices therein. The paper focuses particularly on the potential of current government strategy, presented in Removing Barriers to Achievement. The Government's Strategy for SEN (2004), to drive forward and realize the inclusion agenda. This examination reveals that, as in previous policy, there is a failure to recognize the complex and controversial nature of inclusion; no attempt is made to address the exclusiveness of the curriculum, assessment procedures, and practices of mainstream provision and that the strategy is founded on notions of normalization, compensation and deficit approaches to SEN. The paper argues that there is a need to recognize that as long as policy is founded on the idea that inclusion into the mainstream of schooling, as it is currently conceived, and achievement measured against a set of norm related standards is the route to good education children with SEN will continue to be disadvantaged and to receive an inferior educational opportunity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is set against a background of Ireland's endorsement of a 'unique' social partnership model wherein educational policy measures are being shaped by emergent change factors in a so-called new era of lifelong learning. Despite a number of policy responses focusing on the need for greater social inclusion, the paper highlights how the Irish education system continues to mirror and produce notions of 'advantage' and 'disadvantage'. It is argued that while educational strategies appear extensive in addressing this social stratification, serious questions remain concerning their far-reaching impact. In particular, the paper points to a critical concern for how notions of 'disadvantage' and 'social exclusion' are ideationally conceived and used within an Irish policy context. It is contended that the inadequate treatise of this concern impedes real progress towards meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups in society. A case for reassessing the ideological treatment of social exclusion is therefore made in the interest of promoting effective educational measures for social (and cultural) inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent Ontario policy directives aimed at improving literacy levels among boys in addition to the perspectives underlying these policies. By drawing on the school experiences of four high school young men, the authors examine how boys read and misread masculinities through socially literate practices. This paper argues that these kinds of reading practices routinely inform how boys think about social identities, literacy and schooling more generally. The paper concludes by arguing that the textual practices involved when high school boys read the bodily texts of their male peers are useful entry points for opening a dialogue that highlights how and what boys can read in a particular context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Select Committee Report Access to Higher Education (2001) states that 'prospects for widened participation will be transformed when schools succeed in persuading students from poor backgrounds to stay on in school beyond the age of 16'. Many schools located in areas with low staying-on rates are already involved in projects designed to raise students' aspirations towards post-compulsory education. This paper looks at one such initiative targeting 13 and 14 year olds, encouraging them to 'aim high'. Drawing on data from a series of semistructured interviews with pupils and staff, it examines the ways in which the process perpetuated inequalities rather than encouraging disadvantaged students. The paper concludes that this project was initiated and imposed from an adult's perspective rather than that of the young people taking part, reflecting the class and habits of the former. Strategies designed to 'persuade students' to stay on post-16 need, therefore, to recognize how inequality structures both practice and student response and take into account both the student 'voice' and their cultural and social background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores recent policy approaches aimed at addressing school exclusions. It begins by exploring some of the ways in which social exclusion is interpreted. The limitations of 'weak' versions that work indirectly to 'blame' the excluded and work 'on' this constituency rather than taking a broader view which encompasses those who exclude are critically evaluated. This is done through locating the debate in two UK settings: the context of exclusions from school and the policy context of multi-agency interventions that have been set up to redress this form of exclusion. The paper argues for a stronger version of exclusion that incorporates a challenge to those who exclude. The paper is divided into three sections: a discussion of what is meant by social exclusion, an account of exclusion from schools in the UK and an exploration of the potential for change which resides in multi-agency or 'joined-up' policy work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the idea that 'education for the social inclusion of children' is similar but different to 'inclusive education' as it has come to be understood and used by some authors and UK government documents. 'Inclusive education' tends to carry an inward emphasis on the participation of children in the education system (with discussions on school culture, transitions, truancy, exclusion rates, underachievement, and school leaving age). In contrast, education for the promotion of children's social inclusion requires an outward emphasis on children's participation in 'mainstream' society while they are still children. The latter emphasis is seen to be lacking in educational policy discourse in Scotland though a recent shift in policy towards education for active citizenship is noted. Examples are provided to show how many policy statements enact a limitation on the scope for education to promote children's social inclusion by emphasizing children's deficits as social actors and focussing on the 'condition' of social exclusion. The paper draws on an empirical study of children's participation in changing school grounds in Scotland. The analysis shows how the enclosure of learning in books, classrooms and normative curricula was challenged. Learning from school grounds developments was constructed relationally and spatially, but the scope of what was to be learned was often delineated by adults. The paper closes with a discussion of how education that promotes the social inclusion of children will benefit from seeing both children and adults as current though partial citizens and using socio-spatial opportunities for the generation of uncertain curricula through their shared and/or differentiated participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated within a pro-feminist perspective, this paper analyses the backlash against specific policies for girls in Australian schooling. It contextualizes this backlash by considering the effects of globalization, masculinity politics of various types and media representations of a 'gender war'. Feminist responses to this situation are also considered, as well as what 'success' in schooling is taken to mean. These responses to the current policy moment stretch from those who underplay to those who overplay the success of girls in schooling. The latter stance, however, differs substantially from that of recuperative masculinists in that this feminist response recognizes the career disadvantages and the burden of the double shift of paid and domestic work still experienced by many women. The paper then analyses two political interventions in the debate: a research report to the federal government and a House of Representatives' Inquiry into the Education of Boys. Finally, the paper suggests some possible ways ahead for new gender equity policies in education with specific reference to considerations of social class, difference and the achievement of a more gender equal society. These considerations are set against the current restructuring of educational systems, schools and policy approaches: the move from a policy active state to arguably a need for policy active schools working towards a re-articulated conception of gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scotland is a small country with a dominant white majority and relatively small, varied and dispersed minority ethnic groups. This paper draws on a review of educational research relating to minority ethnic groups at all stages of education in Scotland, conducted in 1998. The review aimed to evaluate research conducted in the areas of: access to educational opportunities, learning and teaching, attainment and staff. We found that existing educational research relevant to minority groups in Scotland is scarce, fragmented and on too small a scale to contribute significantly to policy. In this paper, we put forward various arguments to explain the lack of policy and consequent practice likely to enhance the education of minority groups and draw attention to significant developments in Scotland since 1998 that are likely to affect educational research concerning minority ethnic groups. How can small countries where minority groups comprise a tiny proportion of the overall population ensure that the interests, educational needs and aspirations of these groups are addressed? [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]