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This chapter provides a discussion of Roger Slee and Julie Allan’s 2001 article “Excluding the included: A reconsideration of inclusive education” published in International Studies in Sociology of Education. “Excluding the included” is a salient example of the influential work of these two scholars, threads of which can be found throughout their prior and following work, and in the work of other scholars in the area. The importance of the work and its ongoing impact on the field of inclusive education is discussed.

This chapter explores the contribution of the work of Len Barton to the evolving inclusive education discourse; in particular his 1986 article, The Politics of Special Educational Needs. In this article, he discusses the influence of a sociological lens to problematize the current special education policy, practices, and inquiry. The future directions piece at the end of the article called for teacher awareness of the relationship between the personal and political. I felt I was a living, breathing example of the teacher who Len Barton was talking about. I chose this article because of its particular pertinence to my continuing understandings about the phenomenon of special education and subsequently my research with teachers of students with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

Decision system analysis is a conceptually simple technique that maps the process of group decisions over time. The data is gathered in a variety of ways, but most often some form of protocol analysis is the foremost tool. The data is then condensed and depicted as a flowchart for a specific decision. If several such flowcharts can be assembled within an industry, they can be melded together to form a generic guide that is very useful to practitioners and very interesting to theorists. Here, a brief history of the development of the technique leads to a description of the process. This is followed by a comparison to cognitive mapping (a similar technique applied to mapping thought processes rather than physical processes), and an illustrative longitudinal example of DSA.

This chapter discusses the contribution of Sally Tomlinson’s Sociology of Special Education (1998, 2012). Following a brief biographical overview of Sally Tomlinson, the chapter provides an account of the way in which Tomlinson’s work has contributed to demystifying the social reality surrounding special and inclusive education. This is followed by a consideration of some of the outstanding issues and dilemmas connected with Tomlinson’s work. The chapter concludes by looking to the next decade and beyond and the way in which sociology may contribute to understandings of the field of special and inclusive education.

The traditional and still dominant logic among nearly all empirical positivist researchers in schools of management is to write symmetric (two-directional) variable hypotheses (SVH) even though the same researchers formulate their behavioral theories at the case (typology) identification level. Cyert and March’s (1963), Cyert, R. M., & March, J. G. (1963). A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall), Howard and Sheth’s (1969, Howard, J. A., & Sheth, J. N. (1969). The theory of buyer behavior. New York, NY: Wiley), and Miles, R. E., & Snow, C. C.’s (1978, Miles, R. E., & Snow, C. C. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. [A. D. Meyer, collaborator; H. J. Coleman Jr., contributor]. New York, NY: McGraw Hill) typologies of organizations’ strategy configurations (e.g., “Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders”) are iconic examples of formulating theory at the case identification level. When testing such theories, most researchers automatically, nonconsciously, switch from building theory of beliefs, attitudes, and behavior at the case identification level to empirically testing of two-directional relationships and additive net-effect influences of variables. Formulating theory focusing on creating case identification hypotheses (CIH) to describe, explain, and predict behavior and then empirically testing at SVH is a mismatch and results in shallow data analysis and frequently inaccurate contributions to theory. This chapter describes the mismatch and resulting unattractive outcomes as well as the pervasive practice of examining only fit validity in empirical studies using symmetric tests. The chapter reviews studies in the literature showing how matching both case-based theory and empirical positivist research of CIH is possible and produces findings that advance useful theory and critical thinking by executives and researchers.

This simple case study tells the story of three young men who started an online business-to-business trading portal for fun, and to help fund them through university. They seized the opportunity of a major assignment to ask a new lecturer, the narrator, to guide them into profitability. Reluctantly, the young men were coerced into a literature survey, which proved surprisingly helpful to them. A simple research project followed, using mixed methods (survey, expert opinion, key account interviews). Based on the survey results and some simple frameworks from the literature, the young men not only completed their exercise, but also went on to turn their hobby into a sustainable business. The business still exists today, based on the simple study conducted some 12 years ago.

There is a need for a more critical perspective and reporting about the value of taking a model of inclusion developed in western countries and based upon the human rights ethos applying it in developing countries. This chapter will report firstly on how the Index for Inclusion (hereinafter referred to as the Index) was used in Australia as a tool for review and development; and secondly how the process of using the Index is adjusted for use in the Pacific Islands and other developing nations in collaborative and culturally sensitive ways to support and evaluate progress towards inclusive education. Examples are provided from both contexts to demonstrate the impact of the Index as an effective tool to support a more inclusive response to diversity in schools.