This paper explores the implementation of formative assessment through the "autism lens" in order to analyse why the process can be exclusionary for some learners on the autism spectrum. The central thesis of the paper is that, where teachers have no understanding of the autism learning style, they are likely to revert to a normative,…

In the province of Quebec, Canada, a trend towards full inclusion has impelled teachers to adapt their instruction to meet the needs of both advanced and weaker learners in regular school settings. The main purpose of the present investigation was to develop and validate the Differentiated Instruction Scale (DIS), which assesses the use of…

In 2007, Swedish authorities introduced open publication of comparisons of students' results at the end of compulsory school. In this study, we investigated a municipality that had succeeded in breaking a negative trend from a bottom position in the ranking in 2007 to a top position in 2010, apparently through inclusive practices. The purpose…

This narrative essay weaves personal recollections of my encounters with Ellen Brantlinger and a sampling of her works that continue to exert a profound influence on my own thinking and writing within Disability Studies in Education. I begin by describing how, as a first-year doctoral student, I encountered the scholarly work of Ellen and…

A concern with formal and epistemological access to schools can neglect the importance of access to the informal school and the friendships and sense of belonging that this implies. Despite the challenges of "voice" research, listening to what young people have to say about their experiences of, and attitudes towards social inclusion and…

This paper reports a national study on the prevalence of childhood disability designed to inform initiatives promoting improved school attendance by children with disabilities in Iraq. The study was commissioned by UNICEF, coordinated by the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, and designed by academics in the UK in consultation with Iraqi…

This research was undertaken to understand how general education teachers who work in inclusive classrooms conceptualise inclusive education and understand their individual commitments to this practice. This study intended to make explicit the social meaning that resides in and is constituted by teachers doing their everyday work in schools…

Ellen Brantlinger's research and activism created opportunities for scholars who seek to locate and interrupt the social processes that shape educational inequities. In this essay, we reflect on Ellen's contributions by identifying three key "signposts"--lessons from Ellen's work that guided our own journeys and shaped the…

As a result of exclusionary tactics, social, cultural or economic disadvantage or disability, vast numbers of pupils have poor educational experiences and are either marginalised or demonised due to "difficult differences". In the context of Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach, where she suggests that we ought to be who we want…

Teachers in regular schools have a responsibility to accommodate the needs and interests of all learners. The attitudes and willingness of teachers to include learners with intellectual disabilities in their classes in regular schools in a district with a semi-nomadic pastoral population in north-eastern Uganda was investigated. A survey of 125…

Being victims of racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, disempowerment and language loss it could be expected that indigenous people would be supportive of the Inclusion Movement with its philosophy of valuing and acceptance of all people. This supposition is examined for Maori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand. In…

There is a widely held view that learning to play a musical instrument is a valuable experience for all children in terms of their personal growth and development. Although there is no statutory obligation for instrumental music provision in Scottish primary schools, there are well-established Instrumental Music Services in Local Education…

Martin Buber offers an account of a tendency towards polarisation in responses to the perplexing question of inclusion in education. On the one hand, the educator can be identified as one who includes what is present and becoming within individual young people in isolation from the world. On the other hand, the educator can be recognised as one…

This article draws on data from an ethnographic study that begins with the experiences of educational professionals doing the "work" of educationally supporting students with long-term health conditions in a paediatric health-care setting in Victoria, Australia. The study was conducted over the same period of time but separately from the…

Rates of chronic illness are increasing around the world and, accordingly, numbers of adolescent students living with chronic illness are also increasing. The challenges faced by these students and their teachers are complex. One of these challenges is the need of the adolescent with chronic illness to achieve some level of social conformity.…