Inclusive education policies in secondary schools: institutional translations and disputes over recognition

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71112/e01ent45

Keywords:

inclusive education, secondary education, educational policies, recognition, policy implementation

Abstract

This article examines how inclusive education policies are configured, negotiated, and reinterpreted in secondary schools through the practices, discourses, and experiences of school actors. The study adopts a qualitative interpretive approach inspired by grounded theory, combining in-depth interviews, institutional observations, and document analysis conducted in public schools implementing inclusive policies. The analysis identified three interrelated configurations: inclusion as a normative mandate that establishes institutional obligations; inclusion as a situated practice dependent on local pedagogical reinterpretations; and inclusion as a field of dispute over recognition and effective participation in classroom life. The findings show that inclusion is not implemented through linear policy transfer but through processes of institutional translation shaped by tensions between equality, pedagogical differentiation, and the historically selective tradition of secondary education. The study concludes that the effectiveness of inclusive policies depends on organizational, cultural, and pedagogical conditions capable of transforming patterns of recognition within school institutions.

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Published

2026-04-06

Issue

Section

Education Sciences

How to Cite

Hidalgo, M. I. . (2026). Inclusive education policies in secondary schools: institutional translations and disputes over recognition. Multidisciplinary Journal Epistemology of the Sciences, 3(2), 149-173. https://doi.org/10.71112/e01ent45