Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
The BERA Guide to Implementing Inclusive Education offers a critical exploration of how inclusive education is understood, shaped, and enacted across the four countries of the United Kingdom: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Bringing scholarly debate into dialogue with legislation, policy, and practice, the book reveals how devolution has produced distinctive national approaches, while exposing the shared challenges that continue to define inclusive education across the UK.
Drawing on rich case studies of promising practice alongside barriers that can hinder meaningful inclusion, contributors from across the UK—including academics, school practitioners, and early career researchers—offer a rigorous and wide-ranging account of each country’s policy landscape. Chapters map the legislation and research shaping inclusive education today, while critically assessing how national context influences both ambition and implementation.
Published in partnership between the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and Emerald Publishing, The BERA Guides series provides concise, research-informed, and accessible introductions to key interdisciplinary issues in education.
Rhiannon Packer is a Senior Lecturer in Additional Learning Needs (ALN) at Cardiff Metropolitan University, where she also leads the ALN pathway for the National Doctor of Education (EdD) programme. With a background in secondary education and a PhD focused on Welsh-medium education, Rhiannon’s work bridges inclusive practice, bilingualism, and learner wellbeing.
Chapter 1. Implementing Inclusion: Setting the Scene; Rhiannon Packer, Megan Hicks, and Laura Williams
Chapter 2. Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities in England: Inclusive Approaches to Curriculum Design and Pedagogy; Jonathan Glazzard, Sue Rolfe, and Steve Hoey
Chapter 3. Breaking the Barricades: The Evolving Landscape of Special Educational Needs in Northern Ireland; Geraldine Parks and Fionnuala Leneghan
Chapter 4. Understanding Inclusive Education in Scotland: Creating Inclusive Environments; Elizabeth F.S. Hannah, Joan G. Mowat, Divya Jindal-Snape, Suzi Gasparini, Shun Ito, and Haruna Takeuchi
Chapter 5. Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion in Wales; David Vittle Thomas, Kristina Kelly, and Nanna Ryder
Chapter 6. Uniting Diversity: A Critical Examination of European and International Perspectives on Inclusive Education; Anne Hodgson, Clive Underwood, Aoife Brennan, Edda Óskarsdóttir, Jude MacArthur, and Lisa Darragh
Chapter 7. Policy Approaches and Decision-Making in Inclusive Education; Carmel Conn and Cathryn Knight