Creating and sustaining an inclusive culture in the primary classroom

This article explores what an inclusive culture in the primary classroom entails, and how it can be created and sustained. Drawing on my recent work (Eaude, 2018a, 2018b), it challenges several assumptions, especially about the standards agenda. In advocating a holistic approach, I argue that inclusiveness should be seen more broadly than is often the case, and highlight distinctive aspects of teaching young children and the challenges and opportunities that these present. Inclusion is often considered in relation to children with disabilities being educated alongside other children, and to raising the aspirations of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. It may usually be appropriate to educate all children together, but not always, particularly if specific individual needs cannot be met, and aspirations must be broad and realistic, as well as high. As Graham and Slee (2008, p. 278) indicate, ‘to include is not necessarily to be inclusive’. To be inclusive involves creatin