Inclusion for children with special educational needs: How can psychology help?

The broadest definition of inclusion is that it involves maximising the participation of all learners in mainstream community schools, regardless of ability, gender, language, ethnicity, economic status, social class, care status, religion, disability or sexual orientation. At the heart of inclusive education is the development of policies, curricula, cultures and practices that ensure diverse learning needs can be met, whatever the origin or nature of those needs, in mainstream educational settings (British Psychological Society, 2002; UNESCO, 2009). Although it is clear from such a definition that inclusion in fact pertains to all students, the focus here – as in the inclusion literature itself – is on the inclusion of children with SEN.