The goal of this study consists in adapting the new version of the Index for Inclusion, developed by Tony Booth (Booth & Ainscow, 2011) to be applied in the Spanish context, and improving it from a methodological perspective (i.e., to transform it in an assessment tool with psychometric properties).

            The third edition of the Index for Inclusion differs from previous versions of the Index in several aspects. Among them, it tries to respond suggestions that have arisen from its adaptation to be applied in other countries all around the World. In this context and with the intention of providing schools a tool to promote evidence-based practices in inclusive education in Spain, this research is focused on the Questionnaire 1 of Indicators, which is included within the fifth part of the Index. Questionnaire 1 is most commonly used with teaching and non-teaching staff and governors and pretends to assess the three domains of inclusive education: (a) Creating inclusive cultures: assessed by means of ‘Building community’ and ‘Establishing inclusive values’ indicators; (b): Producing inclusive policies: assessed by means of ‘Developing the school for all’ and ‘Organising support for diversity’ indicators; and (c) Evolving inclusive practices: assessed by ‘Constructing curricula for all’ and ‘Orchestrating learning’ indicators. The questionnaire is composed of 70 items with four answer options: ‘Agree’, ‘Agree and disagree’, ‘Disagree’, and ‘Need more information’.

            The adaptation of the last version of the Index for Inclusion to the Spanish context will permit schools to monitor their progresses and challenges in inclusive education. In this way, Spanish schools will be able to assess inclusive education in terms of outcomes, and so develop evidence-based practices to improve inclusion. It is well known that the Index for Inclusion is on the most used to encourage the inclusive development of schools in Europe and all around the world, so this adaptation to the Spanish context will suppose an important contribution not only from a national perspective, but also from an international one, since it will allow for cross-cultural studies. Finally, this study may contribute to the international efforts on the study of the ‘inclusive education’ construct, in the sense that it pretends to achieve an assessment tool allowing researches to if the three-domain model of inclusive education proposed by Booth and Ainscow fits the observed data.

Booth, T. & Ainscow, M. (2011). Index for Inclusion: developing learning and participating schools. Bristol, UK: CESIE. International Test Commission (2010). International Test Commission Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests. [http://www.intestcom.org]