Equity, excellence and diversity in a rural secondary school in Spain: ‘Integration is very nice, but …’

This paper addresses the intersection between the inclusion of students with special needs and those with cultural/linguistic differences. Using data from a qualitative study in a rural secondary school in Spain, the author found that school personnel effectively distinguished between cultural needs and cognitive deficits. However, a one‐way model of assimilation, a knowledge transmission model of pedagogy and the retention of the traditional canon as the goal of secondary learning defeated the school’s efforts to implement inclusion for both groups of students in particular, Moroccan immigrants. This mismatch resulted in professional role conflicts and frustration. Spain’s changing education legislation provides the context for the study.