Shaping Diversity, Enabling Participation – Index for Inclusion

Inclusion does not begin with individual measures, but with attitude.
The Index for Inclusion – developed by Tony Booth and Mel Ainscow – is a practice-oriented tool to collectively shape participation, diversity, and justice in educational institutions. In this unit, you will learn how to use the Index with your team to initiate concrete change – guided by shared values and dialogue.

Warm up

Inclusion is a continuous process. It begins with language, relationships, and attitude – and becomes visible in co-creation, flexibility, and diversity.

  • Where do you (unconsciously) contribute to exclusion?

  • Which of your routines are welcoming – and which are excluding?

  • What does “Everyone belongs” mean to you personally?

Exchange with your buddy:


When have you felt excluded yourself?

 

Learn

All children and adults – regardless of origin, gender, language, religion, age, abilities, sexual orientation, or behaviour – should feel welcome, safe, seen, and involved.

 

The Index for Inclusion was developed in 2002 by Booth & Ainscow in the UK and is used worldwide.
Its goal is to support schools and kindergartens in inclusive school development – using guiding principles, reflection questions, and practical impulses.

 

Three dimensions of the Index:

  • Create inclusive culture: shared values, belonging, respectful relationships

  • Develop inclusive structures: resources, responsibilities, decision-making paths

  • Implement inclusive practice: didactics, participation, differentiation, feedback

Not “deficient children” should adapt – but institutions should change so that everyone can belong.

MORE INFO ON THE INDEX

 

Done?

Download the Index  and read the first 10 guiding principles.  You can find the Index in many different languages LINK

 

Here you can find the first 10 guiding principles of the Index

 

Exchange with your buddy:

Where does this appear in your daily life?

 

Dive in 1

Inclusion is not a static condition, but an active, ongoing process.
It begins with the conscious attitude that diversity is normal – and that educational institutions have a responsibility to recognize barriers and actively enable participation for all.


The Index for Inclusion offers not only impulses in this process but also concrete guiding questions and perspectives for action.

Key elements of successful inclusion:

  • Participation of all groups: Children, parents, staff, leadership – all must be included in decision-making processes, not just informed. Participation is an attitude, not a method.

  • Reflection on routines: Who is allowed to speak? Who participates in decisions? Which habits might be excluding?

  • Culture of dialogue instead of case-by-case solutions: Instead of reacting to problems with individual measures, we need structures in which diversity is considered from the outset.

  • Awareness of barriers: Inclusion also means recognizing and jointly removing linguistic, digital, spatial, social, and emotional barriers. This starts with simple wording, includes materials, and ends with the question: “Who can feel safe here?”

  • Inclusive didactics and learning settings: Flexible methods, individualized tasks, visually and linguistically simplified materials enable participation at different levels. Quiet children, neurodivergent learners, and multiply marginalized youth must also be considered in planning.

Creating inclusive frameworks means: Children do not have to “adapt” – they can co-create their form of participation. Inclusion means changing the space so that it accommodates different behaviours, perspectives, and needs – and integrates them.

 

Transfer 1

Choose one guiding principle question from the Index together with your buddy:


GUIDING PRINCIPLE QUESTIONS

Let's go:

Observe your institution over the course of a week with a specific focus on this aspect.

Take notes:

  • What strengthens inclusion – what hinders it?

  • What could be one concrete next step?

 

Transfer 2

Sharpen your individual inclusion lens:

  • Choose an everyday situation (e.g., morning greeting, parent evening, group transition).

  • Analyse it with a focus on participation: Who is being addressed – who is not?

  • Use the reflection grid from the Index (e.g., “room design”, “decision-making”).

  • Formulate one concrete step for change.

You can find a selection of reflection grids

Here you can find a selection of reflection grids

(The Index contains many more HERE)

 

Reflect

Reflect

Choose one area (e.g., “Developing inclusive structures”) – and plan a concrete change:

  • For example: How can decision-making processes become more participatory?

  • What barriers are certain children currently experiencing?

Plan a team meeting with evaluation and goal setting.

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