Turkey regulates the special education of students with disabilities and, particularly, those who have intellectual disabilities (ID) based on international and national legal texts. However, the gap between law and practice cannot be denied. The existence of obstacles to special education for students with disabilities or ID continues in Turkey.…

In Sweden, as in many other countries, inclusion has been on the political agenda for a long time and has served as a blueprint and guiding principle for practical work in school. However, inclusive education has, by and large, been associated with special education measures, which seriously limit the chances of achieving the vision of inclusion.…

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse research about inclusive education. Prior reviews and the outcome of a recent search of databases are analysed with regard to (a) how inclusion is defined and (b) what empirical knowledge there is regarding factors that make schools and classrooms more inclusive. Our point of departure is that we…

Portugal was the first country decreeing the mandatory use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health: Child and Youth (ICF-CY) framework for guiding special education assessment process and to base eligibility decision-making on students' functioning profiles--in contrast with traditional approaches centred on…

Abundant research exists on the transition from school to work of youth with disabilities. However, few studies investigate their subsequent long-term participation in working life. This study, drawing on a life course approach, aimed to examine how former students with special educational needs succeeded in finding full-time employment with…

In this study the implementation of cooperation directed learning of peer tutoring in elementary general inclusive physical education (GPE) setting in three elementary city schools in Sweden was studied. The purpose was to assess the impact of peer tutoring on the interaction behaviours between students with and without disabilities in GPE. A…

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief background about special education system in Jordan and particularly describes the present types of programmes and legislation provided within the country to students with special needs, as well as integration movement. Jordan has historically provided a limited number of educational opportunities…

This paper presents outcomes of a qualitative interview study conducted in four Turkish primary schools that had been identified by the Ministry of Education as engaging in the inclusion of disabled students. The main purpose of the study was to examine school staff views on inclusion in their schools. Data were collected through semi-structured…

This paper seeks to compare the evolution of inclusive education policy in the four countries of an EU-funded research project (QualiTYDES) operating under the shared policy environment of the UN, EU and European Commission. A shared policy cannot of course be assumed to result in common legislative or provisional outcomes at national level. The…

This study explored the knowledge, experience and confidence of student teachers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in relation to disablist bullying. Adopting a mixed methodological approach of four focus groups (N = 18) and a pencil-and-paper questionnaire (N = 257), the study explored the students knowledge, experience and…

This paper reports findings from a study about young people's preferences for social interaction with similar and different others, in terms of a tension between social inclusion and homophily--the concept that similarity breeds connection. The issue was explored empirically using moral dilemmas scenarios to conduct in-depth semi-structured…

Schools in England (as elsewhere in Europe) have a duty to promote equality for disabled people and make reasonable adjustments for disabled children. There is, however, a degree of uncertainty about how well-placed parents are addressed to use the legislation to ensure their child's needs. This paper presents data drawn from a national…

Teacher education for inclusive education is a key priority in the UK and internationally, with much research exploring how pre-service teachers can be prepared to educate pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN). However, this has resulted in less consideration of how pre-service teachers can be prepared to work with the "parents" of…

Positive changes to pre-service teacher education programmes (PSTEPs), driven in part by changing worldwide policy frameworks around inclusion, are occurring, albeit slowly. After briefly reviewing international trends and key policy and legislation platforms in New Zealand and Australia, this paper explores some of the challenges in enhancing…

The project reported in this paper addresses the issue of trainee teacher learning with regard to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) during the school placement element of one-year postgraduate teacher training programmes in England. Through a focus on the university/school partnership, school organisational and classroom pedagogic…