The paper reports from the PhD project “Mind the Gap - inclusive practice and challenging behaviour” The project seek to investigate how teachers understand and relate to challenging behaviour. In addition, the project focuses on the importance of the teacher's interpretation for the development of an inclusive practice, and how the teachers' thinking, and attitudes are developed through the professional community.

The ideal of inclusion has been central to the Norwegian school for decades. Nevertheless, there is relatively little theory and knowledge of how to facilitate inclusive practice locally (Florian, 2014; Göransson & Nilholm, 2014; Haug, 2017). Although support for inclusive education is strong, the challenge of inclusive theories is to describe and operationalise the phenomenon appropriately. Based on the social constructivist view, the basis is that theories of ‘inclusive education’ can only be understood as a replication of the phenomenon. This means that such a replication cannot aim to capture all conceivable aspects of the phenomenon. One must therefore decide which parameters around which to build the model. On the one hand, such a replication can be highly simplified and, in this way, become concrete and ‘applicable’ for research and the field of practice. Although such a definition is important and much needed, the danger of such a simplification is obvious. If the replication is too simplified, the theory is always in danger of not addressing the complexity of the phenomenon it seeks to describe. Such a simplification can be seen, for example, when inclusion is limited to solely about placement (Göransson & Nilholm, 2014).

Teachers' attitudes have for a long time been regarded as a critical factor in the development and implementation of an inclusive practice in the school (Norwich, 1994). Although teachers initially seem to give their support to inclusions as an ideal in school, research shows that challenging behaviours are what teachers experience as most demanding in relation to inclusive practice (Armstrong, 2014; MacFarlane & Woolfson, 2013). How schools succeed with inclusive practices in meeting this challenge can therefore be seen as an indicator of work with inclusive practices as a whole. Talking about inclusive practices related to a "special group of students" can be perceived as a paradox. Especially when the concept of inclusion in this study is based on an understanding of inclusion that is based on all students, and not some selected (Nilholm, 2020). A basic starting point in this study is that challenging behaviour is to be regarded as a social construction. It is therefore assumed that students who show challenging behaviour are not considered a static group, nor can the behaviour be understood as characteristics of the student. These distinctions are central and emphasize that the study is about challenging behaviour as a phenomenon and not "students with behavioural difficulties".

Many teachers have reported a lack of competence to include students with challenging behaviour and higher degrees of job stress in meetings with such students (Monsen et al., 2014). Nevertheless, Hind et al. (2019) showed that the more support a teacher receives, the more positive they become towards the inclusion of children with challenging behaviour. Such support can be found both internally with colleagues at the school, or with the school's external supporters. In this study, the professional community includes all professional actors who contribute and influence the teacher's practice. The paper seeks to discuss preliminary results on the following research question: How can support from the professional community contribute to the development of a more inclusive practice in the face of challenging behaviour.

Fetters et al. (2013) place case studies within what they call an "advanced framework mixed method design", where the combination of both qualitative and quantitative data forms the basis for a more complex and comprehensive understanding of the case. To safeguard the complexity, Nilholm (2020) argues that case studies appear to be a very suitable approach in the search for good and applicable theories related to the concept of inclusion. This PDH project is based on a social constructivist approach and leans on Merriam (2016) and Stake (1995) descriptions of case studies. The data collection in the PhD project takes place through five different sub-collections. This paper is based on qualitative interviews with 10 teachers who themselves report on challenging behaviour in their class, as well as observations of approx. 100 teaching hours with the same teachers. In addition, observations have been made of the teachers through their work in the professional community. The process is cumulative where the interview guide was developed based on a literature review (Øen & Krumsvik, 2021). The interview guide focus on two topics, where the first topic is about the teacher's understanding and thinking related to the ideal of inclusion in the face of challenging behaviour. The second topic in the interview guide, which is also the focus of this paper, seeks to highlight how teachers experience support in working with inclusive practices in the face of challenging behaviour. Krischler and Pit-ten Cate (2019) warned against the traditional approaches to professional development in the field of inclusion, which mainly reinforce the concept that inclusive education is about ‘special’ students who require individualized support. Alternatively, they proposed professional development that focuses on a critical discussion of inclusive practice as a concept. This presupposes what Argyris & Schön (1978) refer to as double-circuit learning, which is characterized by deep processes that open new perceptions of reality. It is precisely this type of process that can challenge existing practices and contribute to the development of a more inclusive practice. Based on analysis of the interviews, an observation guide was developed which, among other things, focuses on who the teachers perceive as the most relevant supporters, and what type of support these supporters provide.

This paper is based on interviews and observations that were conducted in the autumn of 2020 and the winter of 2021. It is therefore only possible to point out some preliminary, but equally interesting issues. In their description of inclusive practice, teachers seem to emphasize that the concept of inclusion is a multifaceted and complex concept. The practice also shows that teachers work on many fronts to develop an inclusive practice. Despite this, it seems that the placement part of the concept of inclusion is the very core of the challenge teachers experience. This is where the big dilemmas emerge. It is especially the dichotomies of the individual student vs. all students, and professional development vs. social development that is perceived as a cross-pressure. The teachers value concrete tips and advice that can immediately contribute to solving the challenges they face. Nevertheless, the teachers emphasize the opportunity for reflection on their own practice as particularly important. In addition to the fact that teachers need arenas for reflection, the teachers also emphasize that reflective conversations presuppose that the supporter has knowledge and understanding of life in the classroom. If the school's management or the external supporters are not close enough to the practice, it seems that the teachers do not perceive the support as relevant either. One of the challenges that is particularly interesting is the teachers' balancing between empathic support and forcing a constructive developing reflection in the professional community. Respect for other teachers' autonomy may seem to place limitations on a critical discussion of inclusive practice as a concept.

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