‘A School Under Scrutiny: A Personal Account of The Impact of Inclusion on a Small Primary School in England’

This paper presents a personal account of a teacher who has
responsibility for the coordination of pupils with special educational
needs. In this paper she has been referred to as Sally. Sally teaches in a
school in England with a significantly high proportion of pupils with
special educational needs. The account demonstrates how current
measures of school effectiveness in England have disadvantaged a small
school which has an outstanding local reputation for inclusion. This has
led to increased levels of surveillance for the teachers who have chosen
to work in this school, whilst other local schools enjoy the benefits of
having good reputations. The paper raises questions about whether
inclusion is too much of a risk for schools given that they operate within
a climate of performativity. Additionally, it raises questions about
whether current measures of school effectiveness are fair on those
schools with more diverse populations.