‘Friendly but Demanding’? On Different Meanings of Inclusive Education as an Imagined Concept in National Reform Planning

Since the World Conference on Special Needs Education held in Salamanca in 1994, there has been global political consensus that member states of UNESCO should implement Inclusive Education (IE). The idea that countries “should ensure an inclusive education system at all levels” is also a central objective of the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006 and ratified by Poland in September 2012, and was also in evidence at the International Conference on Education held in Geneva in 2008. The article examines the connection between IE as an imagined concept disseminated by UNESCO and some examples of its various interpretations as reflected in country reports and official statements by various ministers of education worldwide. Particular reference is made to the texts of the Ministry of The National Education in Poland. The underlying theoretical assumptions of the article are drawn from insights produced by strands of sociology of knowledge and sociology of organizations based on neo-institutional theorizing. The methodology used is indepth content analysis.