Index for inclusion developing learning and participation in schools

The Index is a resource to support the inclusive development of schools. It is a comprehensive document that can help everyone to find their own next steps in developing their setting. The materials are designed to build on the wealth of knowledge and experience that people have about their practice. They challenge and support the development of any school, however ‘inclusive’ it is thought to be currently. Inclusion is often associated with students* who have impairments or students seen as ‘having special educational needs’. However, in the Index, inclusion is about the education of all children and young people. The Index offers schools a supportive process of self-review and development, which draws on the views of staff, governors, students and parents/caregivers, as well as other members of the surrounding communities. It involves a detailed examination of how barriers to learning and participation can be reduced for any student. The Index is not an additional initiative but a way of improving schools according to inclusive values. It is not an alternative to raising achievement but about doing this in a way that builds collaborative relationships and improvements in the learning and teaching environment. In attending to values and the conditions for teaching and learning it can help to sustain improvements in schools. It encourages a view of learning in which children and young people are actively involved, integrating what they are taught with their own experience. It is a practical document, setting out what inclusion means for all aspects of schools; in staffrooms, classrooms, and playgrounds. The Index was produced over a three year period, with the help of a team of teachers, parents, governors, researchers and a representative of disability organizations, who had wide experience of encouraging the inclusive development of schools. An initial version was piloted in six primary and secondary schools and then a modified version was evaluated in a detailed programme of action research in seventeen schools in four local education authorities (LEAs). The schools found that the materials helped them to identify issues for development that might otherwise have been overlooked and to put them into practice. They also suggested ways in which the materials could be improved. The first published version was produced in March 2000 and was distributed free to all primary, secondary and special schools and LEAs in England, by the Department for Education and Employment. This new edition, though broadly similar to the previous version, simplifies the language of the  Index and contains other modifications in response to comments on, and observations of we use the term students to refer to children and young people in schools irrespective of age.