Conclusion: inclusion comes together piece by piece

The chapters of this book contain many suggestions by authors with different perspectives of inclusion based on their own interpretations and cultural experiences. In our concluding chapter we try to synthesize these important themes and ideas. Theories of inclusion - what exactly is 'inclusion'? Definitions of inclusion have been presented in many different ways by many different theorists (e.g. Topping and Maloney 2005; Boyle et al. 2011). In this section views about what inclusion entails from practical, educational, socio-political and fiscal standpoints are discussed. In Keith Topping's chapter (1), he advocated that the conception of inclusion should be regarded much more widely than is currently the norm. He considers that there are four levels of inclusion(see Figure 1.1 in Chapter 1) with the highest and most expansive being the complete social involvement of the student in the community, thus suggesting that effective inclusion cannot only be school-focused. In a similar vein, Fraser Lauchlan and Roberta Fadda (Chapter 3) refer to 1844 people with special needs where their involvement in mainstream schooling had a positive effect, in that they felt that they had a sense of belonging to the community. Not being separated from the mainstream population (whether physically or socially) seems to have a strong bearing on whether inclusion is seen to be a positive experience for the population with special needs.