The document emphasizes the importance of inclusive practice in fostering diversity and ensuring equitable access to opportunities for all individuals, particularly children. It outlines the principles of equality, equity, and the need for a positive environment that supports belonging and participation. The aim is to create a barrier-free culture that values individual needs and enhances overall well-being through adaptive practices and policies.

1. Inclusive Practice
INTRODUCTION
All mainstream practice needs to Celebrating diversity
change in order to ensure fairer • It is about being valued for who
opportunity for all. Understanding we are, and not been treated
inclusive practice is fundamental to the same.
the good practice development • Being equal is being treated as
within any organisation. Furthermore, individuals, this individuality
an inclusive environment is a right to needs to be respected and
which we are all entitled, and one celebrated.
that we all have a responsibility to • As humans, our basic needs are
make happen. similar, but the way we get them
satisfied will be different.
Intentional Welcome and Active • If we feel safe, secure and
Listening included, we can be ourselves,
• Practitioners need to encourage and be honest about what our
diversity to come through door, needs are, so that these can be
and have a multitude of met.
• All individuals need to feel in
strategies on offer to suit all
types of individuals. control about what happens to
• Get the welcome right and then them, both physically and
really listen! emotionally.
• Safety and belonging are • It is about recognising choice
everything! (or its lack as an abuse of
• What do we need to feel both power), and also recognising
confident and competent in that there are some demands
delivering our service. on our lives where we cannot
• We can all participate when we always make a choice, but
get what we need, in order to be being aware, particularly as
catered for, we need to be providers, of the difference
listened to. between the two.

2. Defining Terms
Definitions of ‘inclusion’ vary practice, engages all Social justice: justice requires
deliberate and specific intervention to
widely according to context, participants, by creating an
secure equality and equity.
and many existing definitions environment that fosters
are highly contradictory. To belonging. The development of (Chapman & West-Burnham 2009)
reflect a never-ending process inclusive practice articulates the
in this document ‘inclusive underpinning philosophies of Inclusive practice is an important
component of a wider move towards
practice’ has been chosen, in equality and diversity. It builds enabling environments and positive
preference to ‘inclusion’, to on existing success by relationships, one which will ensure all
reflect the understanding that it changing practice and policies children can reach and exceed
expectation, fulfil early promise and
is not a state but a way of in mainstream settings, and
develop latent potential. At the heart of
working. Furthermore, it ultimately strengthens inclusive practice is the expectation of
reinforces the idea that both relationships improving the lives participation, fulfilment and success.
practice and ideas are subject of whole communities. (NCSL West-Burnham 2008).
to change. The emphasis is on
practice, which means to do Everyone Matters On the most basic level
something repeatedly in order The development of belonging is nurtured when the
to adapt to changing inclusive practice fundamentally culture is accepting and allows
circumstances, and implies tackles the issue of equity - each individual to be honest
development and equal outcomes. Changes in about his or her needs. Getting
transformation. Development is practice made to address it right can often be
ongoing and this needs to be culture will ultimately secure a straightforward, if the strategies
clearly articulated in the way better entitlement for all put in place help people feel
people work. children and ensure an they belong. However things go
increasing quality and better wrong when practice and
Inclusive practice is an standards across all provision. language do not support
emergent process: rather than The principle of equality has acceptance, and people are
offering an alternative to to be reinforced and extended expected to fit in.
existing habits, it builds on by the practice of equity. On the
existing best practice and basis of the discussion so far It is the ‘shared and
develops different action that three broad principles about the common agreement’ that often
eventually transforms culture. It nature of inclusive practice will is not expressed in language
is vital that inclusive practice is inform the rest of this and behaviour, and further
not understood as a tool to document: reinforced by rigid systems. All
‘mainstream’ the difficult or the Equality: every human being has an too often decisions are made
needy. Crucially, practice needs absolute and equal right to common without enough thought as to
dignity and parity of esteem and
to become flexible and person- entitlement to access the benefits of who holds power in decision
centred so that it respects and society on equal terms. making. It is all too tempting for
responds to individual needs. Equity: every human being has a adults to take charge and
right to benefit from the outcomes of organise activities in ways that
society on the basis of fairness and
Consistent steps towards suit them and not the wishes of
according to need.
greater equity through inclusive the child.

3. Every Child Matters and the Children’s Plan
Equity means all children getting • Children and young people
equal levels of satisfaction and need to enjoy their childhood
benefit from shared activities. as well as grow up prepared
Having an opportunity to share in for adult life
all setting activities enables the • Services need to be shaped
personal development that by and responsive to children,
supports increasing levels of life young people and families,
satisfaction, physical and mental not designed around
health. When children enjoy an professional boundaries.
equal experience, inclusive • It is always better to prevent
practice is working well. That is failure than tackle a crisis later
why equity is an unpinning aim of
recent strategy and legislation - (DCSF 2007 pp5-6)
Every Child Matters and the
Children’s Plan.
The principles serve to help
Strategies for change also need workers to plan new provision and
to be developed in accordance achieve the outcomes that address
with the principles of the Children’s every child’s wellbeing.
Plan. As is clearly articulated in
local government strategy (Every Child Matters, The Children’s Plan
and The Workforce Strategy documents
are all available in full through the Every
The Children’s Plan: Child Matters and Council websites.)
• Government does not bring
up children – parents do – so
government needs to do more
to back parents and families.
• All children have the potential
to succeed and should go as
far as their talents can take
them;

4. Every
Child
Ma.ers
Five
Outcomes:
THE
PRINCIPLES
THE
PRACTICE
Be
healthy
Enjoying
good
physical
and
mental
Understanding
personal
health
health
and
living
a
healthy
lifestyle
Making
healthy
choices
about
diet
and
lifestyle
Strategies
to
enhance
mental
and
emoFonal
health
Awareness
of
issues
relaFng
to
sexual
health
and
drug
abuse
Developing
a
posiFve
self
image
Stay
safe
Being
protected
from
harm
and
Strategies
for
personal
safety
neglect
Freedom
from
bullying,
inFmidaFon
and
abuse
Freedom
from
discriminaFon
Access
to
appropriate
support
and
intervenFon
Living
and
learning
through
secure
relaFonships
Enjoy
and
achieve
GeMng
the
most
out
of
life
and
Access
to
balanced
and
relevant
learning
experiences
developing
skills
for
adulthood Support
in
learning
how
to
learn
A
culture
of
high
aspiraFons
and
expectaFons
Opportunity
for
success
and
achievement
An
integrated
and
developmental
curriculum
Make
a
posiFve
contribuFon
Being
involved
with
the
community
ParFcipate
and
contribute
to
all
aspects
of
life
and
society
and
not
engaging
in
anF-­‐ Share
in
social
learning,
acFviFes
and
projects
social
or
offending
behaviour
Volunteer
and
provide
to
the
wider
community
Develop
tolerance
and
respect
Engage
in
social,
cultural
and
sporFng
acFviFes
Achieve
economic
well-­‐being
Not
being
prevented
by
economic
Opportunity
to
develop
skills,
abiliFes
and
interests
disadvantage
from
achieving
their
Awareness
of
career
and
employment
possibiliFes
full
potenFal
in
life Awareness
of
economic
and
social
opFons

5. Stereotypes and prejudice
The next challenge is to listen to both experience and expertise. It is quite
people, starting with those among us another to jump to an initial reaction to
who already experience discrimination. something or someone, based on a
• How does the perception of lifetime’s accumulation of negative media
fairness differ across our communities and biased information.
and organisations?
“Our first impressions are generated by our
• Have we learnt from past
experiences and our environment, which means
injustices?
that we can change our first impressions - we
• Have we really listened? can alter the way we thinslice - by changing the
• Have we changed our behaviours? experiences that comprise those impressions....
• Who writes the new rules? It requires that you change your life so that you
• Who decides who is heard? are exposed to minorities on a regular basis and
become comfortable with them and familiar with
the best of their culture, so that when you want
Establishing the balance of power
to meet, hire, date, or talk with a member of a
fairly and safely should be a priority and minority, you aren't betrayed by your hesitation
benefits all parties. Our life histories, and discomfort. ”
social culture and systems will inevitably Malcolm Gladwell, (2005) Blink The power of
influence the outcome of any meeting. If thinking without thinking. Penguin.
we are not aware of how we are
influenced we may fail to consider the There are still too many people who
truly important issues leads us to assess have been subjected to rigid, exclusive
clothes, accents and appearances and systems and negative attitudes and who
to make judgements corrupted by our fear the additional burden they might
own prejudices. This in turn will influence face when joining a new group. Every
our thoughts, direct our actions, and one will quickly pick up on even the
hinder openness and acceptance in each subtlest signals given out by those
new encounter. around them. Attitudes translate into
behaviour and will impact on a person’s
We need to be clear in our feelings of empowerment and their
understanding of stereotype and expectations. To feel welcomed enables
prejudice. Whilst stereotypes are us to join in with a game, activity, routine,
essential in our ability to process or the life of a community group.
difference and enable a fine-slicing
based on experience and instinct. Every person has a right to be heard:
Prejudice means being lead by our their strength needs recognition, their
stereotypes into making assumptions; expertise needs appreciation and their
we need to be careful to challenge and experience must be valued. If those in
re-evaluate these assumptions, and hold power are overly concerned with their
them up to scrutiny at every opportunity. own position, will they have the
It is one thing to hold a set of ideas on a strength to really listen?
subject we know a lot about, through

6. It is all about a positive attitude
Positive attitudes to families, to how the people around us feel they
children and difference are belong. It is through other people’s
essential. It is important that: acceptance that we get a measure
• the child is seen as a child, of our sense of belonging. So to
first and foremost express acceptance we need to
• the child’s needs are viewed behave in ways that say to those
holistically, rather than being around us that they are both
defined by a diagnosis of difficulty valued and wanted. We need to
or disability expect levels of complexity within
• the rights of children and our relationships when expressing
families and the limits on these feelings and we cannot
professional involvement expect everyone we meet to
professional are clearly understood experience the same feelings in the
• professionals understand that same way. Doing nothing and
each family will have its own needs leaving it to chance is not
and circumstances. No two acceptable, particularly if we are in
families will be the same positions of power within a
• professional interventions relationship. We need to take
should be designed to strengthen responsibility for the part we play
families in each new relationship.
• professionals need a positive
‘can-do’ attitude and a Expressing acceptance
professional disposition to successfully demands far more
‘support’ but not to ‘rescue’ than just a statement of tolerance.
Tolerance is a passive state of
Making Inclusion Happen in North East acknowledgment of difference; it is
Lincolnshire, Sharing Good Practice (October
2006)
too shallow to convey meaningful
intent to work together as equals.
A feeling of belonging is crucial Tolerance fails to acknowledged
to participation and engagement of different and examine stereotypes
people within any community. - it avoids engaging in interaction
Because belonging is an emotion it that may, for some, feel raw and
can only be owned and uncomfortable to begin with. In the
experienced by the person, we long-term, meaningful relationships
cannot deliver or impose it on unlock understanding that can fuel
others. However, what we say and learning.
do will have a serious impact on

7. Developing Respect
Tolerance is only part of the people get different treatment.
answer, people are entitled to an However, if your definition of fair
unconditional acceptance of their is: everyone gets the same, then
presence within our communities. the experience for each person is
Furthermore, by being honest and likely to be unfair. If we are to
open in our intent to actively create respectful environments
understand each other we can then we will need to expand our
behave in a manner that definition of ‘fair’ to mean
exemplifies this unconditional ‘everyone gets what they need to
acceptance. At the heart of participate fully’ (not necessarily
acceptance and belonging we what they want) and using this
need to find the meaning of definition in our practice we are
respect for each other. much more likely to accommodate
diversity and respect difference.
Respect also means honouring people’s
boundaries to the point of protecting them. If
you respect someone, you do not intrude. At
Many, sadly, still perceive
the same time, if you respect someone, you inclusion as a “disability” issue.
do not withhold yourself or distance yourself And that a solution will be
from them. I have heard many people claim
that they were respecting someone by achieved by changing practice to
leaving them alone, when in fact they were accommodate this ‘other’ group
simply distancing themselves from of young people; or by finding
something they did not want to deal with.
When we respect someone, we accept that these ‘others’ separate provision
they have things to teach us. more suited to their access
William Issacs (1999) Dialogue
requirements. Unfortunately, if we
and the art of thinking together
separate groups by order of
To feel respected as people we perceived potential we are
need to be understood as denying their basic human right to
complex individuals with a growth. We also run the risk of
multitude of facets. Unfortunately, behaving in a way that says that
all too often we draw conclusions our values, principles, and
from a single perspective, more practice are only relevant to
alarmingly if it is only from our typical children and can be
own. As humans, our basic needs ignored for those perceived as too
are similar, but the way we get different.
them met will be diverse. Some
will say that it is unfair if certain

8. Vision - Wellbeing for All
Children’s Wellbeing practitioner’s relationship with
the child is all-important to this,
Wellbeing has always been as they have to know the child
of great concern to all those well in order to know their
involved with children; they strengths, weaknesses, likes
know it promotes children’s and dislikes.
participation, social interaction
and ultimately gets results. Defining happiness
However, with wider pressures Happiness in the learning
arising from a culture of testing, context needs to be defined
there is a fear that new priorities more clearly than by common
will negatively affect teachers, and vague notions of
parents and children. In view of heightened pleasure or a
recent research children’s neutral state in the absence of
happiness need to be taken pain. It needs to be understood
more seriously to enable a as having quite specific
better learning experience. implications for performance,
and long-term implications for
achievement.
Happiness
Having a positive approach Research shows that
to life and finding pleasure in ‘subjective well-being’
developing personal skills does measures correlate closely to
a lot more than make the feelings of happiness, so
activity enjoyable. Happiness settings can determine levels of
literally unlocks creativity, wellbeing with accuracy by
enables flexibility of thought asking children how happy they
and allows openness to new are. This is essential knowledge
information, all vital to in view of recent legislation, as
motivation and making from now settings will need to
meaning. assess and evaluate the
effectiveness practice, policies,
Ensuring that children’s and strategies are having on
happiness takes top priority children’s wellbeing.
necessitates a wider choice and
flexibility in practice. The

9. According to Seligman (2007), In this way, ‘inclusive practice’ is
three routes to happiness enable a best understood as a journey
‘Full Life’; these are the ‘pleasant’, towards a barrier-free culture. This
the ‘good’, and the ‘meaningful’ life. takes time and must not be seen as
Together they enable children to immediately achievable or an
flourish, as they prevent what he alternative to present practice.
terms an ‘Empty Life’. It is worth Settings will have to develop new
noting that they all differ, some can ways of working, while they move
be changed more easily than others towards a more personalised service
through practice and training. - one that responds to every child’s
However, a person who can engage individual needs.
through all three dimensions will
have a ‘fuller life’ than a person who Evidence from the UK shows that
engages with one or two. irrespective of their differences all
children can be successfully
Essentially, the life satisfaction included in appropriately
produced by addressing the three accommodated mainstream
lives combined appears to be settings. However, the challenge is
greater than the sum of the parts, to make this a consistent reality so
and is therefore the most successful that all families can rely on high
route to flourishing.A further ‘time’ quality provision across the whole of
dimension also needs to be added, Bradford.
as present happiness is critical to
future wellbeing. Raising aspirations The development of inclusive
are needed to realise potential, practice will ultimately have a
because imagining a positive future positive impact on every child’s
is impossible when presently wellbeing as specific strategies are
unhappy. developed to change each setting’s
environment to give a richer and
Strategies for change: more enjoyable experience. The
Inclusion is a process of extent to which children’s happiness
identifying and breaking down is taken seriously and their
barriers which can be environmental, experience monitored will determine
attitudinal and institutional. This life chance for all.
process eliminates discrimination
thus providing all children and young
people with equal access to play.
(Play Partnership 2007)

10. Final words...
Core purpose: Human beings are very reluctant to
believe other people’s experience
Most sources agree that without when it comes to happiness, and are
clear purpose people drift and more inclined to believe their own
become unhappy. People are happier feelings about past or future
when having identified their strengths, situations. However, as past or future
can put them to good use in a thoughts are skewed by present
meaningful way. feelings, such as the ability to get
used to pleasure or underestimating
If the skills enabling happiness are the impact events will have on future
so important to people’s lives, why are feelings.
they not seen as higher priorities? Happiness needs to be taken as a
Children’s Services are quite prepared present quantity, it is useless as a
to teach children many skills, yet retrospective and anticipatory
happiness does not seem to be one measure; and the only way to teach
of them. As Gilbert explains, when he children about happiness is to ensure
compares to lack of time given to the they are happy at any given time.
development of happiness to that Once this is properly understood,
given to ‘potty training’: happiness becomes a basic skill and
… we also expect that with a few years, a priority invaluable for future
practice and coaching will begin to have their wellbeing.
remedial effects, innocence will yield to
From a rights perspective,
experience and education, and pooing errors will
disappear altogether. So why doesn’t this pursuing a value based approach,
analysis extend to errors of every kind? also delivers on fairness, is easier
(Gilbert 2006, page 196) than having to decide which children
are worthy of the label of achiever. As
One of the reasons is that Ainscow puts it, trying to define
happiness is viewed as deeply ‘social exclusion’ or ‘inclusion’ is
personal, however to enable children misleading, as some definitions imply
to flourish, practitioners need to that there are forms of exclusion that
understand its subjective qualities a are not social and therefore
lot better, in order to enable it in acceptable (2006). If the purpose of
children.
Children’s Services is to support
… if practice and coaching can teach us to
keep our pants dry, then why can’t they teach us young people in learning to be
to predict our emotional futures? (ibid. page 196) happy, by which criteria is
exclusion permissible – who does
deserve to be unhappy?
© L M Chapman - EQuality Training - 2010. For more information on any aspect please do get in touch with
us. www.equalitytraining.co.uk 01484 530 321, 0773 792 5573,