The CECI Network Meeting

On 23rd March, the CECI network has its online meetings among the key network members – Lani Florian, Michael Shevlin, Gillean McCluskey and Meng Deng, convened by me. During the meeting, we first shared why we were interested in getting involved in the network – we believed that learning about pupils’ views had a lot to offer on how to support children’s lives and inclusion through practices and services. I stressed that at a time when there was growing enthusiasm for promoting inclusive education and provision in China, it was critical to ensure the presence of children’s voices. Inclusive teachers, as shown in the Imagining Inclusive Schooling project, could have already embedded the ‘listening’ in their daily interactions with pupils.

We were very clear about an ethical approach and a principle of reciprocity in international research. Meng also argued that international collaborative research should support each country to explore local approaches to inclusive education. Thus rather than reproducing a ‘helper and the helped’ relation, we ought to seek what could be learned by academics in western/northern contexts through working with a developing context as China. Indeed, our societies were all facing similar challenges to enhance the participation of every child.

We concluded that the development of teachers’ practices in support of their professional competence for inclusive education, and the promoting of the views of children in inclusive practice development and quality monitoring, would be the key areas for future research.