Effective versus Inclusive Schools?

Abstract

It is possible that the search for a short but provocative title to hook the reading of this editorial has caused us to miss the focus of the question. Let's try another way: can an inclusive school be ineffective, can an effective school be non-inclusive?

Both questions are thought-provoking and the answer is not as easy and immediate as it may seem. The basic problem is that if the answer to both is negative, i.e. if we consider that a school to be effective must be inclusive, and a school to be inclusive must be effective, we find that an inclusive school and an effective school are the same thing. And few people will take the latter as true: too many years of struggle to get to a familiar place. But are they really such different concepts?