Truly included? A literature study focusing on the social dimension of inclusion in education

TLDR

Social participation of students with special educational needs is a key issue, yet the meanings of social integration, inclusion, and participation remain unclear, although recent preschool and primary school studies have clarified them. This study evaluates how these concepts are understood in secondary schools and compares them to preschool and primary school contexts. The authors performed a literature review of 19 secondary‑school studies, revealing substantial parallels with earlier research. The review finds that social integration, inclusion, and participation are synonymous, sharing key themes of relationships, interactions, pupil perception, and peer acceptance, while adding a self‑perception subtheme and omitting three earlier subthemes.

Abstract

Social participation of students with special educational needs (SEN) is a key issue in the inclusion debate. However, the meaning of concepts like social integration, social inclusion and social participation used in current literature is often unclear. Recently, these concepts were clarified based on preschool and primary school literature. The current study assesses the meaning of these concepts for secondary school samples and possible differences with preschool and primary school. A literature review on secondary school literature, including 19 articles, revealed large parallels, i.e. the three concepts can be used as synonyms and include the same key themes: relationships, interactions, perception of the pupil with SEN and acceptance by classmates. Although the subthemes within the key themes largely concurred, one subtheme (i.e. self-perception of social interaction) was added and three subthemes, mentioned in the scheme based on preschool and primary school, were not found.