Inclusion in an International Perspective: Introduction

On approaching the term "inclusion" from an international perspective, the diversity of groups that are meant to be included soon emerges. In Germany, the inclusion of people with disabilities into mainstream education is focused while in other countries, social, economic or cultural inclusion is highlighted in the context of different groups of individuals that are typically regarded as being excluded from education. Different dimensions of inclusion (societal scope / excluded groups) are evident in the following statement
"In the past few decades "disability" has climbed the academic ladder. Just as race, class and gender itnow is being considered an advantageous instrument for critically exploring a wide range of societal issues." (as found in the introduction on a website on "Disability History Lecture Series" at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium). Likewise, the discourse on inclusion occasionally reflects problems that are specific to individual countries or regions.
Similar to "disability", the term "inclusion" is experiencing a period of interest in academia - which is easily discernible from the number of publications on the topic.

To narrow down the scope of our dossier, we focussed on inclusion in the field of disability. Nevertheless, the boundaries between different definitions of inclusion are fluid. Especially international organisations like the UN or UNESCO stand for a rather broad definition of inclusion in all spheres of society and for all groups of persons.
The webdossier is ordered by continents. So far, it provides information on international and European, North, Central and South American as well as African issues. Asia and Oceania will be added gradually. The chapters for each continent are then sorted by type of resource (websites of organisations, networks, policy documents, reports, journals, conferences, ...).
Additionally, we provide information on inclusion in some individual countries.
Inclusion: International
Inclusion: Europe
Inclusion: North America (incl. Middle America)
Inclusion in South America
Inclusion: Africa
Inclusion: Individual Countries
Inclusion News

The International Handbook of Inclusive Education has been published in January 2021. It is available online and free of charge.
- Information about the book (on the German Education Portal)
- Go directly to the fulltext of the handbook
- Emerging from COVID-19 pandemic: A social inclusion approach to educating learners with disabilities (World Education Blog 19.10.2020)
- How are countries addressing the Covid-19 challenges in education? A snapshot of policy measures (World Education Blog 24.03.2020)
- New webdossier: Inclusion in South America
- "Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education" (2019) - Introduction & 1. Chapter
- The Coronavirus gets explained in easy language
- How is the coronavirus affecting learners with disabilities? (World Education Blog 30.03.20)
- How are countries addressing the Covid-19 challenges in education? A snapshot of policy measures (World Education Blog 24.03.2020)
- Results of the Ninth Consultation of Member States on the implementation of the UNESCO Convention and Recommendation against Discrimination in Education (2018)
- 10 messages and 10 recommendations on disability and education
- Learn, Inspire, Lead: 17th Inclusion International World Congress 2018
- ECER 2018: Inclusion and Exclusion. Resources for Educational Research?
- ÖFEB-Kongress 2017 - Bildung: leistungsstark. chancengerecht. inklusiv?
- Inclusive Early Childhood Education: An Analysis of 32 European Examples.
- Inclusive Education: Global Diffusion and Local Translations [Themenheft].
- Creating a culture of inclusion in higher education (University World News 04.11.16)
- 3ème Biennale du LISIS
- Inklusive europäische Bildung. [Themenheft].
- World Congress on Special Needs Education (WCSNE-2016)
- Inklusion im internationalen Kontext. [Themenheft].
- Building a School for All : 4th training course on inclusive education
- Blickwechsel | Diversity - Internationale Perspektiven der LehrerInnenbildung
- Tagung ´Bildungs- und Erziehungsorganisationen im Spannungsfeld von Inklusion und Ökonomisierung´
- UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to review Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic, Turkmenistan, Dominican Republic, Mongolia, Cook Islands (spring 2015)
- Sixth Annual GCES Symposium: Inclusion Not Exclusion: Comparative Educational Perspectives at the Heart of Sustainable Development
Take a look at Germany
Further International Dossiers
Partner
Events worldwide
- American Educational Research Association - AERA Annual Meeting 2021 "Accepting Educational Responsibility"
- LAK21 - International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge: "The impact we make: The contributions of learning analytics to learning"
- TCA "Kooperationen von akkreditierten Organisationen und der Wandel von "Schulpartnerschaften" zu "Mobilitäten""