ABSTRACT
Inclusive schools respond to increasing student diversity through their curriculum policies, their pastoral systems and in their classroom practices. A key feature of inclusive schools for children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties is related to what a number of researchers refer to as ‘ethos’. However, the use of the term ethos, like special needs, inclusion, behaviour difficulties, disaffection, and so on, is problematic. There is no common agreement on what the term means but it is used in discourse on the assumption that there is a common understanding (Norwich, 1999). However, some features of what is meant by a school ‘ethos’ conducive to the inclusion of disaffected and challenging children can be discerned from research. Daniels et al. (1998) and Visser et al. (2002) perceive ethos as a calm atmosphere which is orderly. Carrington and Elkins refer to an ‘inclusive school culture’ described as a philosophy of acceptance where all people are valued and treated with respect’ (2002, p. 51) which is indicated in the inclusive language used in the school prospectus and expressed school policies (Radford, 2000).
