Young Voices on Inclusive Education

The work of the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education is mainly targeted towards policy-makers – decision-makers responsible for the development and implementation of policy for inclusive education. However, in order to inform this work in the best ways, the contributions of other stakeholder groups are crucial. One such stakeholder group is the end users of inclusive education – young people with and without special educational needs or disabilities educated in schools and universities across Europe.

This chapter focuses upon the voices of such young people and presents their views on inclusive education in relation to a number of key factors. The chapters draw on the contributions of over 300 young people involved in four parliament ‘hearings’ organised by the European Agency in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015.

The chapter starts from the principle that the voices of young people in education must be listened to when other stakeholders are considering policies for special needs and inclusive education. Their views, experiences and opinions need to be respected and fully taken into account in the work of practitioners, researchers and policy-makers.