Between capacity development and contestation: a systematic review of the involvement of inter- and non-governmental actors in inclusive education

ABSTRACT

The adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has brought about extensive education policy reforms towards inclusive education in many countries around the world. At the same time, it has been observed that intergovernmental organisations and non-state actors have been extensively involved in establishing these reforms. To better understand the roles of these actors in this field, we conducted a systematic literature review combined with network visualisation techniques. Specifically, we applied the policy cycle framework to analyse peer-reviewed articles published between 2006 and 2020 on the implementation of inclusive education and the roles of intergovernmental and non-state actors therein. The systematisation of findings from the studies included in our review indicates that inter- and non-governmental organisations are the dominant actor groups, which become involved through the provision of capacity development support and implementation in practice. At the same time, researchers and experts are becoming increasingly involved at different stages of the policy cycle, from policy formulation, to capacity development, to implementation in practice. Overall, our results provide a comprehensive picture of intergovernmental and non-state actor involvement in inclusive education and can contribute to a better understanding of implementation processes in the field of inclusive education.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• non-state actors
• systematic review
• intergovernmental organisations

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Quynh Römer and Simone Hermes for assisting in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We selected the different groups of IGOs and non-state actors based on initial research and professional experience; ‘organi*ation’ included both IGOs and NGOs, and ‘civil’ covered more general descriptions of civil society engagement.

2 Some countries were included multiple times and some studies referred to more than one country; one study examined developments in Africa and several studies were conducted in the Pacific Islands region.

Additional information

Funding

This work was support by the German Research Foundation under the grant number KO 4997/4-1.

Notes on contributors

Johannes Schuster

Johannes Schuster is a research associate at Leipzig University in Germany. He holds a BA in Educational Science from the University of Jena and an MA in Educational Research from Freie Universität Berlin. His research focuses on the implementation of inclusive education and disability rights, education policy, innovation diffusion, and social networks.

Nina Kolleck

Nina Kolleck is a full professor of education policy at Leipzig University in Germany. She holds a PhD in Political Science and a Habilitation in Educational Science (postdoctoral qualification), both from Freie Universität Berlin. Her research interests include education policy, inclusion, comparative and international education research, heterogeneity, social network analysis, sustainability, innovations, democracy education and educational reforms.