This paper presents the outcomes of the project Learner Participation in Inclusive Education (LPIE), that was implemented between 2024 and 2025 by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) in close cooperation with five participating member countries: Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Portugal and UK Scotland. The project is situated within a broader European and international effort to strengthen inclusive education systems by improving the generation and use of meaningful data on learners’ experiences. More specifically, the LPIE project addresses the persistent challenge of how to capture and use qualitative insights into learners’ socio-emotional participation to inform policy development and support more effective inclusive education policy implementation.

Inclusive education is fundamentally concerned with ensuring equitable access to high-quality learning opportunities for all learners, irrespective of their individual abilities, backgrounds or needs (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2022). While considerable progress has been made in establishing legislative and structural frameworks for inclusion, less attention has been paid to understanding learners’ lived experiences—particularly their social and emotional participation in school settings.

Against this backdrop, the LPIE project formulates a central research question: How can meaningful qualitative data on learners’ socio‑emotional participation be gathered and used to inform and improve inclusive education policy implementation across European countries?

Three sub questions guide the inquiry:

(1) What data is required to give policy‑makers meaningful insights into learner participation?

(2) What current challenges, gaps or barriers limit the collection and interpretation of relevant qualitative data?

(3) How can stakeholders and policy‑makers build capacity to collect, understand and apply such data to reduce implementation gaps?

To respond to these questions, participating countries collaborated with the EASNIE team to identify and develop an appropriate theoretical and methodological framework. The starting point  was the need for a shared and operational definition of ‘participation’ in education. Early discussions revealed substantial gaps in existing data collection systems concerning socio-emotional participation, prompting the project’s deliberate focus on this dimension. Participation was understood not merely as presence or engagement, but as the degree to which learners experience a sense of belonging, emotional safety and meaningful involvement in groups and activities that are valuable to them.

The project drew on several established theoretical perspectives in the international literature. Among these, the capability approach (CA), developed by Sen (2009), emerged as the most suitable conceptual foundation. The CA is particularly advantageous in a European and international context because it centres on learners’ real opportunities (capabilities) and their actual choices and actions (functionings). It shifts the analytical focus from what policymakers assume learners need to what learners themselves identify as valuable in their daily experiences of schooling.

By emphasising lived experience, agency and meaningful choice, the capability approach provides a nuanced lens for interpreting socio-emotional participation. It helps illuminate whether learners genuinely have the possibility to participate in ways that matter to them, rather than merely appearing included according to institutional metrics. Furthermore, its international relevance allows for meaningful comparison and shared learning across diverse European education systems, supporting convergence with wider global frameworks such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN General Assembly, 2006) and UNESCO’s commitments to inclusive, equitable education (UNESCO, 2017).

Overall, the LPIE project contributes a theoretically grounded and practically oriented framework that can contribute to improving how European countries gather, interpret and use qualitative data on learner participation. By placing learners’ voices and lived experiences at the centre of evidence-informed policy-making, it supports the development of more responsive, equitable and inclusive education systems across Europe.

As methodology for gathering data on learner's socio-emotional participation, a participatory approach was chosen. The photovoice methodology as described by Amanda Latz (2017) and others offers a perfect fit to combine the theoretical background of the capability approach with a qualitative research methodology. Policies and practices to enhance social and emotional inclusion can only fully be evaluated by accessing the lived experiences of learners. While it is possible to infer something about those experiences by examining them from the external perspective, it is also essential to access them from the individual internal perspective, that is by enabling learners to express what it is they experience for themselves. This almost certainly involves the use of qualitative research methods. By applying a participatory research approach participants (in this case, learners and professionals) are seen as actively involved co-researchers who help design the research, generate the data, analyse the data and interpret the findings. The engagement of participants avoids the challenge of policy-makers, practitioners and researchers using interpretations for participants which are not fully meaningful to them. Participation in this form of research is itself a means of enhancing social and emotional inclusion. It enables participants to develop greater understanding of their own lives and greater control over how their lives are understood by others. The analysis of gathered data involves interpreting the findings through the lens of the CA, looking specifically at how social conversion factors—such as school structures, policies and teacher practices—shape learners’ capabilities for participation. The objective is that participants identify what learners value, where barriers lie, and how educational environments can enhance meaningful socio emotional participation. Finally, the issue of how to translate findings for policy levels needs to be addressed. While photovoice aims to capture the attention of policy makers and drive change, clear strategies for achieving this are often lacking in the literature. The multiple streams framework (MSF) (Kingdon, 1984) offers a useful lens, proposing that meaningful policy change occurs when different ‘streams’ come together. In other words when problem, solution, and political contexts align, a policy window is created. In this approach, photovoice findings are analysed to distinguish between situations and problems; recommendations are then developed as potential policy solutions. Policy entrepreneurs—such as teachers, leaders, or parents—can use these opportunities to advocate for change, with successful initiatives often spreading to other contexts through policy isomorphism, thereby amplifying the impact across schools and countries.

Participants of the participatory research projects reported that the photovoice methodology proved highly effective in engaging learners and enabling them to express their perspectives creatively. Learners produced photo exhibitions and annotated posters, which served as catalysts for dialogue among peers, teachers, and other stakeholders. Participants agreed that this approach not only amplified learner voice but also provided valuable insights into socio-emotional participation and well-being. However, several challenges emerged. Time constraints within the curriculum made it difficult for teachers to allocate sufficient time for photovoice activities. Technical issues, such as limited access to devices and connectivity, posed barriers. Ensuring the participation of learners with complex needs required additional planning and support. Despite this, the overall feedback was positive, with participants emphasising the meaningful conversations and high levels of engagement generated by the project. First results of data analysis revealed recurring themes across countries, including the importance of personal space, safe environments, and opportunities for collaboration. Participants agreed on the need to validate these interpretations with learners to uphold participatory principles and avoid misrepresentation. Suggestions for scaling up included embedding photovoice activities into school routines and linking them to broader inclusion strategies. Further discussions explored how findings could inform national inclusive education frameworks. Participants stressed the importance of creating guidelines for policymakers and using visual outputs, such as photographs and exhibitions, as advocacy tools. The final analysis of the data gathered through the piloting projects in the five countries is still ongoing. Until August 2026 all analysis processes will be finalised and final outputs and conclusions can be presented. These will include a clear picture of how this kind of data gathering can inform and improve inclusive education policy development and implementation.

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