Inclusive education is internationally recognised as a fundamental right and a guiding principle for educational reform. Yet education systems differ considerably in how they translate this commitment into practice.
This initiative invites researchers to contribute their knowledge of a national or regional education system and to help build a comparative, evidence-informed dataset on the policy conditions that enable inclusive education to become a systemic reality.
The project takes a comparative policy implementation perspective. Rather than focusing only on schools or classrooms, it examines how educational systems create the conditions that enable or constrain inclusive education.

This initiative seeks to develop a comparative understanding of inclusive education policy implementation across educational legislation systems. Using a shared analytical framework, participating researchers will contribute knowledge from their own contexts to support systematic cross-case comparison to identify whether certain combinations of policy conditions are associated with more advanced implementation trajectories than others. Rather than searching for a single explanatory factor, the initiative adopts a configurational perspective, recognising that educational reforms are often shaped by multiple interacting conditions operating simultaneously.

The collaborative work will contribute to:

• the development of a comparative dataset on inclusive education policy implementation;
• the identification of recurring implementation patterns across systems;
• comparative analysis of policy implementation trajectories;
• the preparation of a joint international journal article.

Detailed methodological guidance will be provided to participating researchers throughout the project.

ECER 2026 Research Workshop (Tampere, Finland, 19 August 2026)

The initiative will be introduced during the ECER 2026 research workshop:

From Rights to Reality: A Comparative Policy Implementation Perspective on Inclusive Education

During the workshop, participants will discuss inclusive education as a policy implementation challenge and explore possibilities for contributing to a joint article.

Follow-up online meetings:

• 1 October 2026 – 13:00-15:00 Brussels time (CEST) (online): present preliminary results, define participating cases and contribution format.

• 1 February 2027 – 13:00-15:00 Brussels time (CET) (online): definitive results and conclusions to discuss; first thinking about a new format for ECER 2027.

• 25 march 2027 – 13:00-15:00 Brussels time (CET)  (online): preparation for journal submission; new format for ECER 2027.

Researchers in inclusive education, special educational needs, disability studies, educational policy, comparative education or policy implementation are warmly invited to register their interest. Registration does not imply a formal commitment. It allows us to contact you with further information about the article initiative and upcoming meetings.

​Register your interest 

Prof. dr. Aster Van Mieghem - Antwerp School of Education - University of Antwerp - Aster.VanMieghem@UAntwerpen.be

Dr. Kathleen Bodvin - Research Centre for Future-Driven Education  - Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Prof. dr. Elke Struyf  - Antwerp School of Education - University of Antwerp