BReflections on a school for all: perceptions of families and teachers regarding the culture, policy, and practice of inclusion in Galicia

This paper examines, for the first time in Galicia (Spain), the culture, policy and practice of teachers and families in six primary schools, with the aim of understanding their reality from an inclusive perspective and, subsequently, being able to establish some course of action for improvement. Within the framework of participatory, descriptive, exploratory and explanatory research, an adaptation of the Index for Inclusion (Booth & Ainscow, 2011) was applied to a sample of 158 families and 85 teachers. Although both groups advocated for an inclusive education, there were some discrepancies between the intentions and the daily reality of schools. Differences between culture and practice were probably the element that most brought those contradictions to light. Some steps towards inclusion have been taken so far, generating a debate on how to improve it in schools. That debate has been led separately by education administrators, teachers or families of students with special educational needs, but a joint analysis of the voices of all families and teachers, key agents to promote a school for all, has been left aside. It is about time new trails were blazed to stimulate reflection and allow for further progress on the path to total inclusion.