A school is a mirror of a society and it projects values and principles which govern thoughts and actions of a particular society. Any primary education system in developed democratic countries should express the most significant values which a particular state and society recognizes and which it wants to instill in future generations. For European states, according to e.g. the Treaty of Lisbon, such values include, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and the respect for human rights and these are necessary pillars for a sustainable social and economic model of Europe. It is uncertain whether the current system of primary education is based on these values. Based on legal, philosophical, pedagogical and economic analysis it has been concluded that elementary schooling fails to reflect those principles (Tannenbergerová, 2014). Therefore, an inclusive school model is offered which brings the society closer to those values and presents a more dignified reflection of the twenty-first century society. An inclusive school is not merely a more dignified reflection of a society but also more efficient means to educate children which develops key competences in children using an appropriate form and not only the contents of education.

Since 2008 I have been working on the Fair School project (coordinated by the League of Human Rights) which promotes and supports inclusive education in the Czech Republic. The League provides certification and evaluation for a range of schools from the whole country if a school submits evidence on its inclusive endeavors. Due to this, schools inquired about a tool which would somehow measure inclusion in a more exact and transparent way and also offered a comparison with other schools.

The League cooperates on projects with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and although the Ministry supports inclusive education, it fails to set general conditions for its development due to ambiguous terminology and disunited approach to elements which determine and form inclusion on the school premises.

These two motives convinced me that it is important to create a tool which may help name and identify those elements which form the basis for inclusive setting of an elementary school.

The goals of a tool for an evaluation of inclusion in schools:

1. to determine the overall inclusion profile of a school (total index);

2. to determine the extent of inclusion in different dimensions (index per dimension);

3. to obtain data for particular indicators - i.e. elements which determine the basic setting of inclusion in a school (a simple statistics of items and the frequency of answers).

Inclusion or inclusive education is a process, not a state, in which elementary schools attempt to effectively include all children in an educational process. Only primary education have been considered in this research as I believe that inclusion is the most important at the level of compulsory education. Inclusion is such a system of primary schooling which allows all children to attend ordinary elementary schools, preferably at the place where they live. All children have their own educational strategy which adapts to their abilities, talents and handicaps. Individualized approach to children is a basis for education as well as the whole organization and school philosophy. Teaching in inclusive schools focuses particularly on the utilization of a potential of each child and it teaches the children to communicate and cooperate with others. The differences between children are perceived as an opportunity for the development of respect to oneself and others. At an inclusive school, there are no differences between special needs children, handicapped or intact children. All are perceived as individuals who have the need to consider their own specifics.

* Booth, T., & Ainscow, M. (2002). Index for inclusion: developing learning and participation in schools. Bristol: CSIE. * De Vaus, D. A. (2002). Surveys in Social Research. Sydney: Allen & Unwin. * Treaty of Lisbon. Taking Europe into the 21st century. (2007). [cited on 23 Jan 2015]. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/archives/lisbon_treaty/ * Lukas, J. (2012). Readiness of Schools for Inclusive Education Available at http://www.evaluacninastroje.cz/nuovckk_portal/Default.aspx?tabid=150&language=cs-CZ * Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. (2010) Sandwell Inclusion Quality Mark (SIQm). West Bromwich: Children and Young People’s Services. * Tannenbergerová, M. (2014). Inclusion in Elementary Schools Development and Verification of an Evaluation Tool. (158 l., [7] l. příl).