‘You’re probably going to catch me out here’: principals’ understandings of inclusion policy in complex times

ABSTRACT

In this article, we reveal the complex and contested nature of principals’ understandings of inclusion policy in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drawing upon critical policy sociology, research into inclusion, and interviews with 18 principals from rural, regional and urban areas throughout the state, the research shows how principals expressed a range of absences and uncertainties about the nature of policies pertaining to inclusion. They also tended to refer to a limited range of domains in their understandings of inclusion policy, and conflated different forms of inclusion. While principals exhibited a belief in the importance of including students with a variety of needs in a range of ways, their responses reveal how such inclusive desires can be simultaneously confounded by policy settings characterised by complexity and nebulous conceptions of inclusion. Given the importance of principals in guiding schooling practices in their respective sites, the research argues a need for increased attention to the broader policy conditions within which principals seek to exercise more inclusive practices. It also shows how such conditions need to cultivate a coherent and contextualised understanding of inclusion, rather than simply fostering principal policy enactment as merely ‘coping’.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusion
• policy
• practice
• principals

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Every Student Every School is a NSW government resource allocation/funding model designed to enhance provision of education for students with disabilities and additional learning needs.

2 The Melbourne Declaration of 2008 was a broad agreement between the federal government and the states to attain specific national educational goals in schooling deemed essential for Australia’s well-being.

3 New South Wales schools (as for many other state and national jurisdictions) have regulations upon who is able to attend schools in a given neighbourhood, particularly in more popular, densely populated areas. In such school precincts, parents/carers have to provide elaborate evidence of their residential status for their children to attend these schools.

4 Local Schools, Local Decisions was a policy designed to enhance local authority decision-making about how to best meet the needs of students, particularly in relation to resourcing and reducing bureaucratic requirements.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stuart Woodcock

Dr Stuart Woodcock is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University. Dr Woodcock's research focuses on inclusive education and classroom management, and the systemic support that is in place for teachers and principals to manage and teach inclusively.

Ian Hardy

Dr Ian Hardy is Associate Professor in the School of Education, The University of Queensland. Assoc. Prof. Hardy's research focuses on educational policy and politics, with an emphasis upon policy enactment, including in relation to teachers' learning.