ABSTRACT
Inclusive education is built – in schools and in local authorities – in many ways. New bricks are added to replace the old. Some forgotten friends are remembered and added with new cement. What makes the ‘inclusion’ wall secure, stops cracks developing, or stops it from leaning in directions where it could topple is partnership. Real partnership. Participation based on mutuality and respect. This book takes as its starting point the assumption that this crucial element of what makes inclusion robust is often absent, given lip-service, badly done or wrongly assumed. Partnership and participation are explored through what we know about what is currently happening, what we know about what makes them difficult to secure and ideas for practice. This chapter explains the key understandings that inform the book – some of them theoretical – and explains the structure of the book. It makes a case for the particular partnerships that are to be considered and explores what is meant by inclusive education.
