What is an inclusive school community?

How do stakeholders perceive their roles and responsibilities towards inclusive school communities?

How can school communities become more inclusive through engagement with individual perspectives?

Diverse Perspectives on Inclusive School Communities captures and presents the voices of a wide range of stakeholders including young people and their parents, teachers, support staff, educational psychologists, social workers, health practitioners and volunteers in producing a collection of varied perspectives on inclusive education.

In this fascinating book, Tsokova and Tarr uniquely assemble a compilation of accounts collected through in-depth interviews with over twenty-five participants, met throughout the course of their professional lives. The authors focus on how we can ensure all children receive the best education and social provision in inclusive school communities.

Key learning points in this book emphasise:

links between early life and educational experiences;

constructions of inclusion;

an understanding of roles and responsibilities;

the power of agency in relation to inclusive school communities.

The text contributes to current debates surrounding educational policy initiatives, highlighting similarities and differences across people and professions, and illuminating a way forward for the consideration of a broader range of insight into the concept of inclusion and ways this can be achieved. Including both UK and international perspectives that illustrate different stages of the inclusive education process, this text will be invaluable to anyone affiliated with inclusive schooling in a personal or professional capacity.

Contents

Acknowledgements Dedication 1. Introduction 1.1 The organisation of this book 1.2 Why researching inclusive education and inclusive school communities through perspectives? 1.3 Theoretical framework 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Research process 1.6 Rethics 1.7 Context 2. Stories 2.1 The stories of mothers and young people 2.2 Teacher’s stories 2.3 Stories from support staff 2. 4 Stories from governors/community members 2.5 Stories from Educational Psychologists 2.6 Stories from Social Workers 2.7 Stories from health practitioners 2.8 The authors’ stories and reflections 3. Discussion of key learning points References Index

Author Bio

Diana Tsokova is Lecturer in Psychology and Special Needs in Primary Education at the Institute of Education, University of London

Jane Tarr is Associate Head of Department for Childhood and Education Studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol