The current crisis of the research regarding teachers’ views about inclusive education consists of tension between two problematic camps. On the one hand, the first camp, which can be defined as the psychological school, examines teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge roots from an inherently individualistic and reductionist perspective to determine whether teachers reject or adopt the idea of inclusive education. The second camp, which can be called structuralist tradition, on the other hand, focuses on socio-cultural barriers teachers face when they intend to become active agents for promoting inclusive education. 

Even if these two camps seem opposite perspectives, they still fall into the same pitfall by overlooking their hidden assumptions about teacher agency. The former camp looks for the explanation for the failure of THE inclusive education project in the gap between teachers’ beliefs and actions, serving the responsibilisation mechanisms of neoliberalism (Done & Murphy, 2018). Similarly, the structuralist camp- ignores the teacher agency’s transformative capacity and power to change the status quo.          

Current explanations point out that neoliberalism has a discursive capacity to demarcate the fields of validity, normativity, and actuality within a particular economic rationality (Grimaldi, 2012). In the education field, we can observe this through either human actions or the products designated to guide these actions, such as policy texts or curricula. However, this does not necessarily mean that all actions are determined by the coercive power of a neoliberal discourse since there would otherwise be little or no autonomy for the agency. Instead, the status of teacher agency remains preserved by conceptualising the neoliberal discourse as a mechanism that imposes limits on what we can say.

The way of dealing with the impact of competitive economic rationale of neoliberalism on education, we need research that presupposes that there is room for a change and a role for teacher agency in making inclusion replace the current dominant educational discourses. From this point forth, this research project formulises its research question as follows; to what extent and in what ways are teachers’ views and actions of inclusive education informed by neo-liberalisation discourses in Scotland?

This study is based on a methodology informed by a critical realist view, which focuses on investigating actors’ actions to gain insight into deeper social mechanisms (Bhaskar, 1998). In this sense, the problem or context of this research can be summarised as the relationship between the limits set by neo-liberalisation discourses in education and teachers’ tendencies in the field of inclusive education. Therefore, exploring what views teachers hold about inclusive education and what particular references can be found to dominant neo-liberalisation discourses in these views can ultimately contribute to analysing dynamics for social change in the field. This study employs two data sources to answer the research question. The first data source will be derived from the analysis of 4 key policy documents, all of which frame the policy of inclusive education in primary schools in Scotland. 1-Additional support for learning: Statutory guidance 2- Supporting children’s learning: Code of practice 3- Included, engaged, and involved: Part 1; Attendance in Scottish schools 4- Included, engaged, and involved: Part 2; A positive approach to preventing and managing school exclusions the second data come from semi-structured interviews with teachers working in primary schools in Scotland.

As the data analysis is still ongoing, the themes that are likely to emerge in this study are listed below. The gap between teachers' ethical positioning and views on inclusive education under the current policy framework Moderation strategies in education policy as a neoliberal mechanism The problem of discourse in teachers' views on and actions about inclusive education; the dilemma between unwillingness for change and discontentment with the status quo.

Bhaskar, R. (1998). The possibility of naturalism : a philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences (3rd ed.). London ; New York: Routledge. Done, E. J., & Murphy, M. (2018). The responsibilisation of teachers: a neoliberal solution to the problem of inclusion. Discourse (Abingdon, England), 39(1), 142-155. doi:10.1080/01596306.2016.1243517 Grimaldi, E. (2012). Neoliberalism and the marginalisation of social justice: The making of an education policy to combat social exclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16(11), 1131-1154.