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Understanding and Developing Inclusive Practices in Schools

Grant reference: L139251001

Journal article details

Title Making sense of the development of inclusive practices

Description Schools in England are currently being asked to pay greater attention to the issue of educational inclusion. This paper reports some of the findings of a collaborative action research network that was set up to address the implications of this trend. The Network involves teams of university researchers in working with practitioners in order to encourage the development of inclusive practices. As a result of this work, it is argued that the development of such practices is not about adopting 'recipes' of the sort described in much of the existing literature. Rather, it involves social learning processes that occur within a given workplace. The paper attempts to provide deeper understandings of what these processes involve. To assist in this analysis use is made of the idea of 'communities of practice', as developed by Etienne Wenger, focusing specifically on the way he sees learning as a characteristic of practice. It is argued that the development of inclusive practices involves collaborative working arrangements; that they can be encouraged by engagement with various forms of evidence that interrupt ways of thinking; and that the space that is created through such interruptions can enable those involved to recognize overlooked or, indeed, new possibilities for moving practice forward.

Url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0885625032000079005

Url Description Original Document

DOI 10.1080/0885625032000079005

Language English

Primary contributor

Author Mel Ainscow

Additional contributors

Co-author Andy Howes

Co-author Peter Farrell

Co-author Jo Frankham

Additional details

Volume number 18

Issue number 2

Is this item peer reviewed (refereed)? Yes

ISSN 0885-6257

Publisher Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Date of publication 01 June 2003

Page reference 227-242

Place of publication Abingdon

Is this item a pre-print or post-print? Post-print

Title of journal European journal of special needs education

Cite this outcome

Citation Style:

Harvard

Ainscow, Mel et al (2003) Making sense of the development of inclusive practices. European journal of special needs education. 18 (2), pp. 227-242 Abingdon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Vancouver

Ainscow Mel et al. Making sense of the development of inclusive practices. European journal of special needs education 2003; 18 (2): 227-242.