Achieving educational inclusion for all students is still a major challenge worldwide. Efforts to avoid any type of segregation in classrooms and schools have led to a wealth of research on the topic. Theoretical developments and models on inclusive education and inclusive pedagogy have acknowledged the need to broaden the concept of inclusion (Artiles, Harris-Murri & Rostenberg, 2006; Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011). This paper builds on those contributions to explore the relationship between educational and social inclusion. To study this relationship, we conducted a four-year longitudinal case study within the framework of the large-scale, EU-funded INCLUD-ED project. The school analysed was located in a highly socially marginalised area in Spain. It had been implementing inclusive strategies in the classrooms and beyond within the school, named Successful Educational Actions (SEAs), for three years and had achieved significant improvements in reducing school absenteeism and increasing pupils’ performance. The analysis conducted in a four year longitudinal study indicates the implementation of SEAs seems to contribute the transformation and improvements beyond the school. Improvements observed relate to the living conditions of the families, helping reverse critical situations derived from poverty, and promoting social inclusion for children and families living in that neighbourhood. This case study shows that it is not necessary to wait for young generations to achieve school success and the subsequent greater facilities for their inclusion in other social areas; social inclusion for children and their families and community starts to be improved from the moment that the SEAs start to be implemented. The transferability of these SEAs to reducing both educational and social disadvantages in other marginalised areas in Europe and beyond is discussed.

Artiles, A.; Harris-Murri, N. & Rostenberg, D (2006) Inclusion as Social Justice: Critical Notes on Discourses, Assumptions, and the Road Ahead, Theory Into Practice, 45(3), 260-268 Florian, L. and Black-Hawkins, K. (2011), Exploring inclusive pedagogy. British Educational Research Journal, 37: 813–828.