Tensions between diverse schools and inclusive educational practices: pedagogues’ perspectives in Iceland, Finland and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

Despite a global commitment to guarantee access to and participation in high-quality education for all, the acceptance of marginalised pupils into mainstream education and changing policies and practices to support the aim are still contested challenges. This article discusses how inclusive education policy is understood and applied by pedagogues at the micro level in three different countries, Iceland, Finland and the Netherlands, focusing on tensions. A qualitative thematic analysis of 22 interviews with teachers, tutors and school directors reveals that an inclusive policy frame does not prevent pedagogues from favouring a normative ‘centre’. Pupils’ local language competence becomes crucial for in-/exclusion. In addition, we find more emphasis on inclusive actions at the micro level as a response to exclusive policies and settings. This comparative study highlights the interplay among policies, practices and pedagogues’ beliefs and attitudes and how they affect one another in striving to achieve inclusive aims.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• inclusive practices
• language competence
• comparative research
• social inequality
• marginalisation

Acknowledgments

This research is part of the MAPS project, which is funded by a Nordforsk grant 86103, sponsoring practice and policy research related to Inclusive Education Across Borders. https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/mixed-classes-and-pedagogical-solutions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NordForsk [Project number 86103].