ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon Carol Bacchi’s (2009) notion of the ‘representation’ problem in policy analysis to understand how notions of inclusion are constituted within discourses of schooling in the Australian context. In making this case, we draw upon key federal and state (New South Wales (NSW)) government policy documents to understand whether and how dominant discourses within this policy milieu enable and/or constrain the promotion of genuinely inclusive approaches to schooling. To help further ground this analysis, we also draw upon empirical data of principals from three schools serving a relatively prosperous regional community in the state of NSW. The research reveals that, at the same time that key policies constitute the ‘problem’ of ‘quality’ schooling as broadly economistic and as able to be gauged through national tests (particularly the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy), principals constitute the problem of inclusion in relation to national testing as associated with concerns about policy overload in practice and funding. In revealing this discord, the research cautions that how inclusion is understood needs to be investigated for not only what seems to be foregrounded within both policy and practice, but also the lacunae that simultaneously and necessarily attend this process.
