Pupil voices have been an important topic in the field of inclusive education in the last few years. In the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the UNCRC) of 1989 and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) of 2006, children's voices have been recognized as valuable (Kefallinou & Howes, 2024). According to the UNCRC article 12, “Children have the right to express themselves freely in all matters affecting them” (United Nations, 1989). This suggests that children’s voices should not only be heard but also acted upon, as they are the experts of their own lives (Alderson, 2008). Voices in this context are understood as a broad concept that includes all forms of verbal and non-verbal expression. The current scoping review aims to map the research on pupil voices on inclusive education, which gives a better understanding of inclusion in educational contexts. These pupil voices can be “seen as an essential element within the process of developing inclusive practices” (Messiou, 2008, p. 8). Thus, mapping research on pupil voices in schools can contribute to closing the gap between ideology and practice in the inclusive education field (Kefallinou & Howes, 2024; Messiou et al., 2024). More than 80 percent of the studies on inclusion focus solely on the inclusion of children with special needs (Messiou, 2016). Therefore, the present scoping review aims to map the diverse experiences of inclusion by all pupils from the ages 6 to 16. The rationale behind including all pupils is that inclusion concerns children and youth experiencing human diversity (Uthus & Qvortrup, 2024). Additionally, doing research with pupils with special needs can lead to differentiation of this group of pupils and eventually exclusion (Messiou, 2016). This implies that the focus of our scoping study is on the voices of all pupils and no division between children with and without special needs is made.                                                                      Inclusion is used as a multi-dimensional concept and should be studied both theoretically and pragmatically to be able to grasp the complexity of this concept. We see inclusion as “a dynamic process and not a static position: it happens at the interface between teacher and pupil, pupils and peers, and pupil and school environment” (Adderley et al., 2014, p. 108). There is a need for deeper insight into the subjective dimensions and lived experiences of inclusion by pupils. Dialogues with pupils is in itself an inclusive practice, that in addition can foster the ongoing dynamic process of inclusion and inclusive practices in schools, which is in line with authors like Adderley et al. (2014) and Messiou (2016). This argues in favor of conducting a scoping review that systematically maps the research that has been done in the field of pupil voices on inclusive education, by looking at the different research methods and conceptualizations of inclusion in the different sources. A scoping review is a flexible method that systematically maps and summarizes the knowledge that exists around a theme and points to its significance for further research and the practice field (Ringnes & Thørrisen, 2024). By achieving a systematic overview of the field, we aim to advance the development of inclusive education research. The primary goal of this study is to map existing research where pupils contribute with their voices in the field of inclusive education.

This leads to the following research questions for this scoping review:

1. What do pupils say about inclusion?
2. Which methods have the researchers used to elicit pupil voices?
3. How do researchers focus on pupil voices, and conceptualize inclusion? 

This scoping review was conducted following the framework by Arksey and O'Malley (2005). After the research questions had been determined, relevant studies were identified by developing a search string and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search string consisted of three important components following the PICo framework: population, (phenomenon) of interest, and context. The population in this search string, are the pupils between 6 and 16 years old, the (phenomenon) of interest is inclusive education and the context is the regular school setting. Different synonyms were used to complement the search string. The searches were performed under the guidance of a librarian by searching in the title, abstract, or keywords in three different databases: Eric, Web of Science, and Education Source. This means that this scoping review has an international focus. Sources were only included if they were (1) journal articles, (2) written after 1989, (3) written in English and (4) peer-reviewed. A pilot search has been conducted together with a librarian to test the screening guide, make adjustments, and reach an agreement with all the authors and the librarian. The search is conducted on the 16th of January 2025, resulting in 6130 results and 4565 results after removal of the duplicates. The first screening process took place in a systematic review management platform called Rayyan based on the title, abstract, and keywords. Articles were included if (1) the population in the articles are primary and secondary school children at the age of 6-16, or partly in this age group, if (2) the studies are empirical studies based on data that is directly collected from pupil their perspectives and if (3) the focus of the study is about the voices of the pupils on inclusion, in mainstream schools. A second screening will take place based on full-text reading. The results of this screening will be charted in a table, by extracting all relevant information from the selected sources. In the last stage, the results will be analyzed, collated, summarized, and reported by answering the research questions.

With this scoping review, our objective is to explore research on pupil voices in inclusive education. Most empirical studies about pupils' voices on inclusion have respondents with special needs. However, we are curious about the experiences of inclusion of all pupils and their views on inclusion. And how do these pupil views relate to “adult or researchers' views” on inclusion? Secondly, we will look into the methods that the researchers have used to elicit pupil voices. When it comes to the use of methods, we are interested in how the researchers have “captured” pupil voices on inclusion. Did they make use of collaborative qualitative research? (Messiou, 2016). Did they use methods that can scope pupil voices in the broad understanding of inclusion as a concept? (Messiou et al., 2024), or did they use methods with a narrow focus like formal interviews or questionnaires with checkbox questions? Which voices are we likely to miss with the use of certain methods? Lastly, we are interested in the diverse conceptualizations of inclusion in the included studies from different contexts because there is no agreement on a universal definition of inclusion (Ainscow, 2020; Messiou, 2016; Messiou et al., 2024). We are eager to explore some of the following questions: Do researchers who work with pupil voices have different understandings of inclusion than other researchers? Where is the focus of their research on inclusion? Is it on social inclusion and feelings of belonging or also on other dimensions of inclusion? (Qvortrup & Qvortrup, 2018). This scoping-review study aims to inform further research on pupil voices in inclusive education. This is beneficial for every child's well-being because this knowledge can influence inclusive practices in schools in the uncertainty of the times we are living in worldwide and in Europe.

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