Ensuring inclusion and equity in education is a challenge. Although the main principle is straightforward ‘Every learner matters and matters equally’ (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 2017) the efforts towards its achievement are complex (Messiou 2017). At the forefront of the complexities surrounding inclusion and equity in education is teacher professional development since, teachers, are considered the agents (Pantić and Florian 2015) who can support and sustain the equal valuing of all children in schools across the world (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2018). This study (Gerosimou and Messiou 2023) focuses on teacher professional development and more specifically it seeks to address the research question: ‘What areas should be considered in teacher professional development for promoting the equal valuing of all children?’ Based on the naturalist paradigm, the study followed a qualitative research approach, using a ‘collective type’ of case study research design. It was carried out in two primary schools in Cyprus and the participants were all the school staff in these two schools (i.e. two head teachers, forty-five teachers, three special teachers, two speech therapists, two school escorts). Qualitative methods were used: i.e. participant observations, critical incidents, informal conversational interviews, and semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that in order to encourage the equal valuing of all children, teachers’ professional development should address two areas: (a) the dominant value system, which represents a set of values that relate to a deficit way of thinking about children’s perceived abilities, immigrant status, and family background and (b) pedagogical strategies concerning individual children and the whole classroom, to address diversity. It is argued that these areas are intertwined in ways that influence and interact with each other. Conceptualising teachers ‘professional development through this spectrum of interactions has implications for understanding and developing teacher professional development opportunities as a means of promoting inclusion and equity in schools (Gerosimou and Messiou 2023).

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