This paper reports on a three-year research project, set up as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, the largest ever research initiative in education in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project involves researchers from three higher education institutions working in partnership with twenty-four schools, in three local education authorities. It is co-directed by Professors Mel Ainscow (University of Manchester), Tony Booth (Canterbury Christ Church University College) and Alan Dyson (University of Newcastle). The project is investigating the way that in practice schools attempt to realise the aims of inclusive education. We will report on interim findings from the arm of the project managed by a team at the University of Newcastle and their implications in terms of the development of organisational strategies and classroom practice in schools, the ways in which the actions of schools are shaped by the policy environment and our understanding of inclusion. Expanded Abstract In recent years, inclusive education has generated a great deal of activity in terms of practice, policy and research. Despite this, studies of schools that are attempting to become more inclusive remain relatively rare and, when they are available, often content themselves with illustrating the possibilities for more inclusive approaches. There is a relative dearth of studies which explore the complexities and contradictions of the move towards greater inclusion - a situation which this paper attempts to address. The paper reports interim findings from a three-year research project, set up as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme, the largest ever research initiative in education in the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project is a cross-institutional study, involving teams of researchers from higher education institutions working in partnership with twenty-four schools, in three local education authorities. It is co-directed by Professors Mel Ainscow (University of Manchester), Tony Booth (Canterbury Christ Church University College) and Alan Dyson (University of Newcastle upon Tyne). The project is concerned with investigating in an English context the way that in practice schools attempt to realise the aims of inclusive education. It examines changes taking place in schools that are committed to identifying and evaluating practices that can help to improve outcomes for all their pupils. In doing so, it seeks to answer four research questions: What are the barriers to participation and learning experienced by pupils? What practices can help to overcome these barriers? To what extent do such practices facilitate improved learning outcomes? How can such practices be encouraged and sustained within LEAs and schools? In this paper we will report on findings two years into the study from the arm of the project managed by a team at the University of Newcastle. Over this period, we have worked with a group of schools which have evolved their own definitions of inclusion, identified their own priorities for development in this area and evaluated the initiatives they have taken to meet those priorities. This process has been fraught with complexities, contradictions and ambiguities. We will discuss the implications of our research in terms of the development of inclusive organisational strategies and classroom practices in schools, focusing particularly on the impact of changes in practice on the participation and learning of pupils. We will analyse the ways in which the actions of schools are shaped by the policy environment in which they operate - for example the ways schools attempt to reconcile what are often perceived as the competing demands of the inclusive education agenda on the one hand, and the standards agenda on the other (we would suggest this is a dilemma which is common across many countries). Finally, we will attempt to make a contribution to moving debate in the field of inclusive education beyond issues of ideology and principle, towards a more dynamic understanding which takes into account the interplay of principles and practice in the everyday contexts in which schools operate.