INCLUSIVE ORIENTATIONS IN EDUCATION

Inclusive education is intrinsically associated with student diversity and the ways of handling it in schools. In this paper we support that inclusion is a process that gives positive significance to the diversity of a school’s student population and recognizes ALL children’s potential to influence and shape their school environment, to participate equally and progress in school. In this case the school functions as a means of inspiring and implementing changes so that it can turn inclusive, in the pursuit of a true prospect for combating discrimination and exclusion.

After a short discussion of relevant terminology (i.e., assimilation, integration, inclusion), the paper focuses on examples of inclusive activities in diverse classrooms. The examples are discussed in the framework of inclusive pedagogy, so that the dialogue of whether inclusive education is a viable endeavor begins and “good practices” for its application are discussed.