This article provides an introductory commentary to the papers in this Prospects special issue on inclusive education. In so doing, it stresses the need to be cautious as we read accounts of inclusive education from other parts of the world: whilst lessons can undoubtedly be learned from the accounts in this special issue, they must be adopted…

This article draws on its authors' experiences of engaging with the narratives of communities in Latin America implicated in the promotion of inclusion and equity in education. It illustrates how the voices of students, teachers, and families can throw light on the challenges involved. In particular, the article shows how their conditions,…

This article provides an evaluative account of its authors' involvement in three major national improvement initiatives. Set in the context of three of the countries that make up the UK, these developments were focused in particular on the promotion of educational equity. Unusually, the analysis provided compares evidence collected from an insider…

This paper draws on evidence from a study carried out in England to explore how schools can support one another's improvement within a policy context that emphasises competition. The findings offer some reasons to be optimistic, and are suggestive of the capacity and potential of the school system in England to "self-improve" through…

This article traces the development of Inclusive Inquiry, a new approach to the promotion of inclusion in schools. It explains how this builds on a programme of research carried out by the authors over a period of 20 years. Central to the approach is dialogue amongst teachers and their students about how to make lessons more inclusive. This…

This paper focuses on a major challenge facing education systems around the world, that of finding ways of including all children in schools. In economically poorer countries this is mainly about the millions of children who are not able to attend formal education (UNESCO, 2015). Meanwhile, in wealthier countries many young people leave school…

Drawing on experiences in England over many years, this paper explores the authors' efforts to use collaborative inquiry in order to foster greater equity within schools. All of this is set within national policy contexts that emphasise increased school autonomy, competition, and accountability as central improvement strategies. It is argued that…

Drawing on evidence gathered as a result of collaborative action research carried out in 8 secondary schools in 3 European countries, this paper proposes an innovative strategy for helping teachers respond positively to learner diversity. The strategy merges the idea of lesson study with an emphasis on listening to the views of students. The…

This paper reports on some aspects of a collaborative action research project involving teams from 25 schools in England working with researchers from three universities in an attempt to understand how schools can develop more inclusive cultures, policies and practices. Unusually in this field, the schools were not selected because of any…