The INCLUSCHOOL project’s main objective is to gain new knowledge about inclusion and inclusive practices in school. Adopting a user-centered, collaborative approach, it explores inclusion in a super-diverse school.

Inclusive education is high on the global agenda. The UNESCO Salamanca statement (1994) declares that inclusion entails that regular schools are responsible for meeting the needs of all students and that inclusive education should be an issue of concern for countries all over the world. The UN Sustainable Development Goal on Quality Education (goal no. 4) emphasises that “Access to inclusive, high-quality education is one of the most important conditions for welfare, health and equality in all societies”.

Despite the declarations, political intentions and legislations, development towards inclusive education appears to be slow both internationally and in Norway. Especially some groups of students are at risk of exclusion and marginalisation, such as students with special needs, students with disabilities, minority language students and students with challenging psychosocial home conditions. This has severe consequences both for students’ present well-being and learning, and for their future education and participation in work and society. Particularly there is a need for student- and context-sensitive knowledge. Considering this, the INCLUSCHOOL-project intends to explore how inclusion is experienced, perceived and practiced by students, school staff, and other professionals in school. Through three sub-studies, the project will gain knowledge about students' perspectives on inclusion and their participation in the school's inclusion work, about inclusion as interactional practice in linguistically and culturally complex school environments, and about students' participation in interprofessional collaboration, and the process leading to special education and professionals’ perspectives of this.