Inclusion and Psychological Intervention in Schools : A Critical Autoethnography

In painstaking, sensitive and reflective ways, Quicke offers us some moving insights, detailed observations, challenging questions, which combine to pow- fully establish a picture of the complex, social and cultural contexts called schools, in which the struggle for inclusive thinking, values and relations are to be realized.

Within the field of inclusive education, a growing body of literature has contributed to a developing knowledge and understanding of conceptual, empirical, philosophical issues and ideas. However, there is still an urgent need for more detailed accounts of how the struggle for change takes place or ‘gets done’ in specific contexts involving particular people. This important book seeks to meet some of these needs by providing stories from the working life of an educational psychologist in England, and his interventions in schools in attempting to contribute to meeting the diverse needs of a range of pupils. In painstaking, sensitive and reflective ways, Quicke offers us some moving insights, detailed observations, challenging questions, which combine to pow- fully establish a picture of the complex, social and cultural contexts called schools, in which the struggle for inclusive thinking, values and relations are to be realized. The author describes himself as a ‘reflective practitioner’, whose work is not id- logically neutral, but informed by a deep commitment and belief in the well-being of all children. He calls his approach ‘autoethnographic’ in order to emphasize the se- reflective nature of the activity. Thus, the stories involve insights into the ambiguity, self-doubt, contradictions, dilemmas and real messiness of his position and expe- ences within his work context.