A School Under Scrutiny: A Personal Account of The Impact of Inclusion on a Small Primary School in England

This paper presents a personal account of a teacher who has responsibility for the coordination of pupils with special educational needs. In this paper she has been referred to as Sally. Sally teaches in a school in England with a significantly high proportion of pupils with special educational needs. The account demonstrates how current measures of school effectiveness in England have disadvantaged a small school which has an outstanding local reputation for inclusion. This has led to increased levels of surveillance for the teachers who have chosen to work in this school, whilst other local schools enjoy the benefits of having good reputations. The paper raises questions about whether inclusion is too much of a risk for schools given that they operate within a climate of performativity. Additionally, it raises questions about whether current measures of school effectiveness are fair on those schools with more diverse populations.