Inclusive education can be described as an international paradigm that focuses on participation as well as processes of inclusion and exclusion in educational contexts – and the barriers and discrimination embedded therein. On the one hand, this paradigm has been incorporated into the policies of international (educational) organizations, such as the European Union, the OECD, UNESCO or the World Bank, while on the other hand, it has gained significant visibility through international agreements, such as the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education of 1994, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of 2006 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2018. The political normative (pro)positions and goals in inclusive education associated with this are currently adopted in national and regional education policies and, subsequently, specific steering processes in education systems are being initiated. Thereby, inclusion needs to be adapted, at both the national and regional level, into different educational systems with differing historical developments, distinct cultures, normative and legal foundations, and then be transferred into practice and specific conditions. Against this backdrop inclusive education is discussed to be a fuzzy or slippery concept, meaning that it is difficult to define or operationalize it in a clear and precise way. 

As this fuzziness might be very well a problem for developing inclusive education systems, it also presents a specific challenge for international comparative research regarding inclusive education. Therefore the DFG-funded scientific network "Inclusive Education: International and Comparative Perspectives" (2020-2024), researchers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland explore how these processes, reaching from global to local levels, can be studied in an internationally comparative manner. In the framework of the joint work within the network, different theoretical and/or methodological approaches are compared and discussed with scientists from the international arena. The aim is to analyze the potentials and limitations of these approaches for international comparative (educational) research. 

One of many possible examples concerning fuzziness is represented in the terminology “Inklusive Didaktik” - we will use this example as a case during our research workshop. The terminology, literally translated as ‘inclusive didactic’ represents an interesting case for international comparative research. In the German speaking discourse, the terminology is at the core of the discourse surrounding the implementation of inclusive education and the question “how to teach well, in an inclusive manner”. Framing the debates about teaching practices in the context of inclusive education - “didactics” as a concept refers to the “art of teaching”. Even though German speaking countries are only representing a small part of the world, conceptualizations of “inclusive didactics” are diverse and contradictory (Moser Opitz 2014, Zahnd 2021). This is a challenging situation to situate and contrast the specific discourse of “inclusive didactics” against other discourses of e.g. the English-speaking dominating debates and gets even worse because there is no conceptual counterpart to “didactics”. Thus, it remains unclear how to compare and connect two discourses if a core concept of one discourse does not even exist in the other or presents itself in many shapes and forms or interpretations, such as inclusive instruction, inclusive teaching, inclusive pedagogy etc.

Within the research workshop we like to present our ongoing discussion in connection with the case “Inklusive Didaktik” and open it up for a broader discussion within network four.

In the sense of a research workshop, we aim to initiate a theoretical and methodological discussion and to provide the basis for it. Therefore, the analytical focus of the research workshop is rather put on the development process regarding the international comparative research discourse on inclusive education than on the implementation process. Hence, the question is asked how inclusive education is articulated in the research discourse and which symbols of un/belonging and de/classification are made. In addition, we aim to explore which strands of discourse in educational as well as other sciences are connected to the thematic complex of inclusive education, and how, against this background, knowledge production processes, such as data production. The aim is not to evaluate approaches in the sense of a best practice, but to make clear which scope of knowledge are connected with the respective approaches and what they mean in regards of inclusive education. Therefore, the research workshop provides the opportunity to discuss options and opportunities to conduct international comparative research on inclusive education and theoretical and methodological challenges involved in such research designs. To do so, we will firstly present results (e.g. own research from different scientific backrounds and field experience concerning inclusive education) of our network regarding the following aspects: • the diversity of understandings of inclusion and synonymous concepts that deal with inclusive education as well as their theoretical foundations • translating inclusion between “global-national-local” levels and the problem of translation and context-dependence of researcher perspective(s) • classification, categories and the problem of normativity and reification Secondly, we like to exemplify these aspects using a case study of inclusion dynamics regarding the terminology "Inklusive Didaktik". After presenting the theoretical and methodological considerations and the case, this research workshop aims to enable debate about the mentioned aspects with the audience to value the diversity of research perspectives.

The workshop rather likes to open a discussion about the diversity of ways to develop knowledge about inclusive education than to present empirical findings. Especially in the context of this European conference, where different country-specific theoretical and methodological approaches come together, an exchange can be considered extremely fruitful. In addition to productive lines of connection, areas of tension should also be addressed and the question should be continually asked as to which understanding of inclusion is invoked with which approach. Reading inclusion divergently (Amrhein & Naraian 2022) can be seen as a necessary prerequisite for the European and international analysis of inclusive education. At the same time, a methodological discussion is necessary - e.g. using the example of inclusive didactic - which tertium comparationis are tangible, workable and comparable.

Amrhein, B. & Naraian, S. (2022). Reading Inclusion Divergently. Emerald Publishing Limited. Moser Opitz, E. (2014). Inklusive Didaktik im Spannungsfeld von gemeinsamem Lernen und effektiver Förderung. Ein Forschungsüberblick und eine Analyse von didaktischen Konzeptionen für inklusiven Unterricht. In K. Zierer (Hrsg.), Jahrbuch für Allgemeine Didaktik (S. 52–68). Schneider Verlag Hohengehren. Zahnd, R. (2021). Inklusion als Schulkritik. Überlegungen zum Zusammenspiel von Fachdidaktik und inklusiver Pädagogik. In K. Resch, K.-T. Lindner, B. Streese, M. Proyer, & S. Schwab (Hrsg.), Inklusive Schule und Schulentwicklung. Theoretische Grundlagen, empirische Befunde und Praxisbeispiele aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: Bd. Beiträge zur Bildungsforschung (S. 231–237). Waxmann.