Inclusive education and schools as organizations

Abstract Inclusive schools have tended to be analysed from one of two perspectives: either as reified organizations with (relatively) stable characteristics which lead to their becoming 'effective schools for all'; or as 'sites' in which micro-political and other policy processes intersect and (frequently) subvert attempts at inclusion. This paper presents acase study of an apparently inclusive school which, it suggests, cannot be understood fully from either of these perspectives. Instead, a third perspective is proposed which concerns itself with the enduring dilemmas faced by educators and the fundamental social and educational contradictions which those dilemmas illuminate. The implications of this alternative perspective for our understanding of inclusive schools are discussed.