From invisible question marks to unconditional belonging: Family narratives of inclusive education
Background: Inclusive education is recognised as a human right, yet many children who experience disability and their families continue to encounter exclusion, low expectations, and conditional belonging in education settings. Although policy commitments to inclusion have strengthened, everyday practices may still be shaped by ableist assumptions about competence, communication, and participation.
Aim: This presentation examines whether things are “getting better” in inclusive education by exploring how families of children with disabilities make sense of presuming competence, invisible question marks, and experiences of inclusion and exclusion.
Method/approach: Institutional ethical approval and consent were obtained. Using an interpretivist phenomenological approach, the study drew on interpretative phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews with 12 Australian families. Families had children with disabilities, including intellectual disability, enrolled in ‘mainstream’ early childhood or primary education settings. Interviews explored inclusion, exclusion, competence, family-educator partnerships, and barriers to belonging. Data were analysed case by case before patterns were identified across families.
Results/findings: Families described powerful moments when educators presumed competence by giving children time to communicate, offering choices, building on interests, adapting participation, and treating belonging as unquestioned. These practices supported dignity, agency, peer connection, and authentic inclusion. Families also described persistent invisible question marks in the form of subtle doubts about whether their children could participate, communicate, learn or belong. These doubts appeared through overprotection, low expectations, limited opportunities, and negative assumptions about children.
Conclusion: The study found that progress in inclusive education is uneven. Presuming competence can transform children’s and families’ experiences, but structural ableism and conditional inclusion continue to undermine belonging. The experience of invisible question marks continued to shape practice, even in settings described as inclusive.
Implications for children and families: Children and families benefit when competence and belonging are presumed from the outset, and when children are supported to participate, communicate, and contribute in ways that work for them.
Implications for practitioners: Practitioners can strengthen inclusion by challenging ableist assumptions, working with families, offering flexible supports, and treating every child’s competence and belonging as unconditional.
Funding: Funding for this study was provided by Macquarie University.
Keywords: inclusion, inclusive education, family perspectives, presuming competence, invisible question marks, children’s belonging
This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: