Including Inclusion: Exploring inclusive education for school leadership

Educational inclusion has become a contested and conceptually "fuzzy" terrain. Originally rooted in special education (SEN) as a move away from integration, the concept has broadened over time to cover diversity in all its forms. However, the author argues that these attempts at inclusion have often devolved into a "recalibration" of status-quo practices. Rather than fundamentally restructuring schools to support all learners, many systems merely add layers of policy and targeted initiatives while maintaining a rigid, normative centre. This approach effectively treats the "need" as a defect to be fixed, often resulting in tokenistic practices that fail to address deep-seated exclusionary norms.

At the heart of the paper is a critique of the "centre." The author suggests that inclusion is often framed as "bringing in" students to an existing, ideal model of schooling. By invoking the works of philosophers such as Derrida and Foucault, the paper argues that this "centre" is a social construct that privileges certain ways of being—and specifically, certain socio-economic and cultural norms—while pathologizing those who do not fit. Inclusion initiatives that ignore this underlying power structure are doomed to fail because they leave the definition of "normal" unchallenged, ultimately reproducing the same patterns of privilege and exclusion.

For school leaders, true inclusion requires more than the technical management of resources or the implementation of specific programs. It demands a shift in mindset—a "deconstructive" approach that accepts ambiguity and rejects the notion of a single, correct way to educate. Leaders must critically examine the power dynamics in their schools, such as ability grouping, streaming, and exclusionary disciplinary practices. Instead of searching for the "exception" or focusing on disability diagnostics, leaders are encouraged to view diversity as a strength and interrogate the institutional habits that sustain inequality.