“Inclusion†is the current buzzword in education, and few disagree with the principle of it. Defining what an inclusive education system looks like in practice and baking that in so mainstream inclusion becomes an enduring reality in all of our schools is now crucial.
That’s why today we at the Centre for Young Lives have published an ambitious that includes our definition of inclusion and bold recommendations to give the government a flying start in transforming schools and boosting life chances for all children in every community.
Neither our definition nor the proposals that we make are soft or divorced from high standards or high aspiration.
Inclusion in schools
Led by Jonny Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance (TEAL) multi-academy trust, we have spent the past year listening to school leaders and education experts to devise a roadmap for moving to an inclusive system where every school takes responsibility for the progress and wellbeing of all of its pupils, including the most vulnerable or disadvantaged.
We have heard how many of those children are being failed by the current system.
- Around one in five young people leave school without basic qualifications.
- 32 million days of learning were lost to suspension and unauthorised absence in 2024.
- Just one in 10 children say they enjoy coming to school every day.
We know, too, that a small minority of schools subtly pick and choose which children can enter their gates - either through unfair admissions policies, catchment areas or gaming the system with managed moves or off-rolling.
Some of these schools have been rewarded by an accountability system that has pitted schools against each other and actively disincentivised inclusion.
The many schools pioneering whole-school inclusive practices have been doing so despite - rather than because of - the Ofsted framework and current performance measures.
The importance of robust school policies
We define those inclusive schools as the schools that are supporting all young people to succeed: they take a representative cohort of pupils from their community and achieve good outcomes for these children. Admissions arrangements are transparent and clear, and students’ ability levels play no part.
Their behaviour policies set clear boundaries and are underpinned by appropriate consequences for poor behaviour, while encouraging pupils to take ownership of their own actions and work with staff and peers to improve.
Their approaches to behaviour recognise and respond to the contextual drivers of repeated poor behaviour and involve a restorative approach. Exclusion is seen as a genuine last resort following a range of interventions.
There is regular outreach with parents, including home visits conducted in a sensitive manner to work with students and families, not against them. There is systematic collection of student wellbeing data to inform school policies. There are strategies to tackle absence, with notice given to how absence affects certain marginalised groups.
And there are strong links with local communities and community partners that enable those schools to better understand local issues that may be impacting pupils.
Curriculum needs and SEND support
An inclusive education system will also require a diverse curriculum and assessment system that allows students to demonstrate their progress and achievement through a variety of assessments and pathways.
We also call for new statutory guidance on inclusion that includes specific reference to meaningful inclusion for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and children from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, and racially inclusive practice.
We want to extend the live pupil attendance dashboard to include the school roll to reflect which schools are serving their communities and which are not. We believe this data should be used to hold to account schools and trusts that are not inclusive.
We want to see the remit of the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams extended to include monitoring and accountability for school roll data and supporting and developing inclusion.
And we think there should be a review of the legal right of academy trusts to be their own admissions authority.
These changes are all achievable and would embed inclusion into every school.
Why inclusion matters
Inclusion in education is not just an individual school issue, but one that is dependent on the wider community assets that any child, family or school has access to.
As our report shows, inclusion is still a postcode lottery, with children in London more likely to go to schools with lower rates of exclusion and absence and lower attainment gaps for vulnerable children.
But there is hope that change is already happening, and that it can be widened.
The challenge now is for schools and trusts to fully embrace a commitment to ensure that every child succeeds - and for the government to support schools to make it happen.
Baroness Anne Longfield CBE is executive chair of the Centre for Young Lives
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