Parental perception of inclusive education: mothers’ narrative construct of the school space

Abstract

ABSTRACT For many decades the emphasis of inclusive education policies in England and Western countries has been on schools and educational professionals. Recent research on the concepts of family and parents’ involvement in their children’s education emphasises reciprocity and shared responsibility between family and school programmes and recognises that schools play an important role in supporting families and encouraging them to become actively involved in schools. This approach requires further empirical knowledge about parents’ experience of school space, the cultural and linguistic resources in families, parental aspirations and expectations and, significantly, their own biographical experience of education. This article focuses on perceptions of school space as described by mothers of primary and pre-primary school children who participated in the EC H2020 Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society (ISOTIS) project qualitative study (2017–2019) in England. The variety of local and personal contexts within these cases allowed for comparative analyses that reveal the impact of mothers’ experiences on their perception of school space. The article addresses a wide range of ways for parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling, such as individual, social and cultural.