Why now?

Because the recipients of a substandard level of education that leads to social and economic
exclusion have had enough, and they are beginning to contact the media when education providers
breach legislation that entitles them to reasonable adjustments. Because governments can only conduct
reviews and inquiries that all report the same thing for so long. Because Australia is legally bound by the
CRPD, and the committee has made it very clear through GC4 what inclusive education is and what must
be done to achieve it. And because we all need to join the 21st century.There are green shoots
emerging. Educators are beginning to support each other through collaborative networks on social
media, providing advice and resources, as well as affirmation and solidarity. The School Inclusion
Network for Educators (SINE) on Facebook is one such network. The Australian government has invested
in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD), which allocates
disability loadings based on the adjustments that teachers make to enable students with disability to
access and participate in education (see Chapter 6), as per the Disabil-ity Standards for Education 2005.
And the Queensland government is leading reform efforts through its Inclusive Education Policy State-
ment, which draws on the CRPD to define inclusive education. Other Queensland initiatives that support
its Inclusive Education Policy include annual scholarships for twelve school principals to under-take a
Master of Education (Inclusive Education) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and there
is a dedicated annual Inclusive Education Showcase Award—sponsored by QUT’s Faculty of Education—
that also draws on the CRPD definition of inclusion. At the time of writing this chapter, other Australian
education systems are considering the Queensland approach, but the success of any policy relies on
those charged with the responsibility of enacting it. Without deep knowledge of inclusive education, its
guiding philosophy, funda-mental concepts, frameworks and practices, the teachers and school leaders
upon whom reform ultimately depends cannot make inclusion a reality. This book has been written to
help all educators develop that deep knowledge. Welcome to the good fight, #Inclusionistas!

MLA 8th Edition (Modern Language Assoc.)

Linda Graham. Inclusive Education for the 21st Century : Theory, Policy and Practice. Routledge, 2020.

APA 7th Edition (American Psychological Assoc.)

Linda Graham. (2020). Inclusive Education for the 21st Century : Theory, Policy and Practice. Routledge.