Comparative and ethnographic research on inclusion : the case of English and Greek secondary education

This thesis presents a comparative ethnographic exploration of
inclusion in
English and Greek secondary education, and at the same time it examines how
comparative ethnographic research can be used
for
understanding
inclusion.
Inclusion is seen as
inseparable from exclusion and both of them as relating
to a
citizenship and democratic discourse in education. Educational policy and
practice
in England and Greece are examined
in a comparative way
in an attempt
to highlight how inclusive/exclusive discourses are both localised and part of an
international discourse. The purposes of education
in each socio-political and
cultural context are examined
in
relation to knowledge/ability and
disciplinelbehaviour discourses as presented
in
young people's representations of
their student
identities in mainstream schools. The concept of
"frameworks of
competence"
is used to explore how participants
in schools actively negotiate
inclusion and exclusion.