Inclusive education is an issue which has attracted relatively strong attention during the past twenty years, both regarding policy and practice, especially after the release of the United Nations’ so-called Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994). While the premise of inclusive education relates to human rights, this issue is, nevertheless, also a matter of controversy among researchers and teachers alike (Allan, 2008; Jóhannesson, 2006; Jónsson, 2011; Kozleski, Artiles and Waitoller, 2011; Slee, 2011). The piece of work introduced is about inclusive education in two European countries. The study is framed within an interpretive paradigm, informed by the theoretical perspectives of social constructionism and post-structuralism (Berger and Luckman, 1966; Bogdan and Biklen 2003; Ferguson and Ferguson, 1995; Foucault, 1979).

The main research question for the overall project is: How do teachers construct their meaning and knowledge about their concepts and understanding on inclusive education? The findings were introduced by three themes, each of which was given an “independent life” in a relevant book chapter and journal articles. In this paper I will focus on a common thread that was detected in the overall findings – in all themes –that is, the notion of exclusion. Inclusion is a multiple, complex and multi-layered concept. The same principles apply to the concept of exclusion (Slee, 2011) which is an indispensable adjunct when exploring inclusion (Hjörne and Säljö, 2004)

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