The first contribution of the symposium will define, based on a literature review, some of the challenges that the use of IEPs poses to the development of inclusive education. Our starting point is the idea that the IEP can be considered an embodiment of the “dilemma of difference” (Norwich, 2013). In that perspective, it implies both potentials and risks for the development of inclusive education. On one side, the IEP can be considered a planning instrument that links individual characteristics with the curriculum for all (Ianes et al., 2020). When it acquires such a meaning, it supports a deep understanding of individual talents, preferences and interests and the planning of activities that are sensitive to those characteristics, which enable participation and learning on a high-quality level. On the other side, the IEP can, at the same time, become an instrument of “othering” processes (Martinez & Porter, 2020; Andreasson & Carlsson, 2013) as it is reserved to some students – in most countries those with Special Educational Needs – and can be considered as a marker of difference in the sense that it legitimizes the idea that some students with special needs require special interventions, which are not part of general education. We are in front of a dilemma because the simple abolishment of IEPs would imply the risk of flattening differences and making the offer of mainstream education insensitive to individual differences. Structural tensions implied in the existence of IEPs connected with the dilemma of difference will be discussed. Examples of them regard: • the planning of specific goals for students with IEPs that can generate both practices that reconnect with class goals and others separate from them (Martinez & Porter, 2020) • the planning of placement for students with IEPs that can both activate flexible use of different spaces for all and the establishment of special spaces for special students (Demo, 2015; Norwich, 2013) • the planning of support personnel resources through IEPs that can support both a systemic use of the resources based on shared responsibilities for all students and an individual understanding of special resources for special students (Mitchel et al., 2010)

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