The global commitment to an inclusive school and consequent efforts by countries to implement inclusive policies has been followed by task forces investigating the factors that contribute to the successful implementation of this educational model, namely at the policies, schools and teachers’ levels (Connor & Cavendish, 2020). In this regard, the study of teachers' attitudes towards students with additional support needs, their self-efficacy and the variables that underlie the inclusive teacher profile has received increasing attention in the last two decades (e.g., Avramidis & Norwich, 2002). In addition, the social participation of students with support needs has also been under the focus of researchers, especially in the last decade (Koster et al., 2009; Bossaert et al., 2013; Avramidis et al., 2018), with several studies focusing mainly on the way they are accepted and the interactions they establish with their peers (Garrote et al., 2017; Hassani et al., 2022).

However, there are few studies that privilege the perspective of students with additional support needs (Connor & Cavendish, 2020). Listening to what students have to say about their school experience and inclusion is an essential source of information to increase the understanding of other educational actors about inclusive education (Keefe et al., 2006). Several studies refer to the power of the student's voice, not only to: 1) "enter" into their experience of inclusion and a sense of belonging within the school, but also to, 2) increase their involvement in their educational process, by promoting self-determination. Not involving students in decision-making about their learning can contribute to reducing their involvement (Dunleavy, 2008). However, little attention is paid to what these students have to say about their education, which seems to be an omission in the research (Schwab et al., 2018), considering the dominant discourse on the importance of student-centred education to value your voice.

This study aims to listen to the opinion of 3rd to 9th-grade students about their process of inclusion in the educational context. For this, we will study: a) the extent to which students participate in school activities, inside and outside the classroom; b) how they describe their social participation; c) how involved they feel in educational activities; c) the extent to which they feel that they are considered in decision-making about their educational process.

In the mixed-type research, two studies were carried out. Study 1, quantitative, aimed at describing the experience of inclusion of students with and without additional support needs between 8 and 16 years old, the Study 2, qualitative, deepens the theme together with students identified as being at risk of experiencing a negative educational experience. Study 1: describe the experience of inclusion of 280 students aged between 8 and 16 (14 classes from 3rd to 9th grade), namely their participation in academic and social activities; the inclusive climate in the classroom; the feeling of belonging and self-determination. In addition, we analyzed to what extent the way in which students describe their inclusion in school varies according to demographic variables (age/year of schooling; gender) and academic performance (grades in Portuguese and mathematics). A set of sub-scales related to variables under analysis were used in data collection. Study 2: students were selected after being identified by their classroom teachers as being at risk of social exclusion. Eight students with additional support needs responded to an interview aimed at gathering their opinion on different aspects of their school life: participation in activities within the classroom; opinion about leaving the classroom (where they prefer to receive extra support); what they feel when they have support inside and outside the classroom); how well they feel at school; level of participation in decisions about your educational process (is the student heard or does he/she participate in decision-making about intervention objectives, where to intervene...).

Data are still under analysis. Preliminary findings indicate that students with additional support needs experience less sense of belonging to school than typically developing students. Participation, belongingness and self-determination are the three main focuses of this project. The discussion will highlight the importance of teacher education in preparing future teachers to understand students beyond their academic achievement. Incorporating students' voices in education and accessing their experiences in schools is a way to monitor how inclusive education is being implemented. At the same time, this poses new challenges in the traditional power relationship between teachers and students, which will be discussed.

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