Inclusion: Responding to diversity and ideological confusion

This chapter focusses on how educational systems can become inclusive and looks at the ideological shifts and policy attempts to respond to diversity amongst learners in England as part of a wider global move towards greater inclusion. Tensions that arise and lead to ideological confusion are discussed and these show that education cannot be considered without thinking about wider social systems. The overall failure of the education system to respond to diversity and meet the needs of all learners and how this marginalizes some groups is introduced. This leads onto a moral imperative to build capacity in schools and to start to redesign the system along the principles of Universal Design. The way in which schools can respond to diversity at a local level is then considered through reflecting on several research projects that encourage teachers to learn together and to solve practical problems in order to remove barriers to participation and engagement. Common themes are identified that can then support the aspirational Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the move towards full inclusion in mainstream schools by 2030.