Issues in primary and secondary teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education

Social inclusion is an important philosophy that has been progressively adopted throughout the world in the last few decades. The definition of social inclusion has steadily widened over the years to include more situations and to mean more thorough inclusion (Thomas et al. 2005; Webster and Blatchford 2014). Its primary purpose is the complete inclusion of all individuals, regardless of race, age, ideas, beliefs and religion in all aspects. In the education realm, it relates to the involvement of every child in every school as well as the adults in each school. Previously, “special schools” were used primarily for children with disabilities; however, inclusion has led to the accommodation of children with disabilities in mainstream schools (McConkey et al. 2015; Subban and Sharma 2006). This chapter will discuss how inclusive education has become the desired practice for progressive schools. However, there remains confusion and debate as people and organisations attempt to implement these inclusive models.