This book explores global perspectives on the challenges, dilemmas and opportunities in realising Education for All through understanding the complex relationship between inclusion, social justice and children’s and young people’s rights. Education for All is a key tenet of the UN Sustainable Goals reflected in SDG4: ‘Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning’.

The book is part of the Springer book series ‘Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity’ that seeks to position inclusive education as a strategy for improving educational equity. As outlined in the introduction to the series, the quest for Education for All is a complex endeavour that is subject to the forces of globalization, and the exclusionary pressures associated with migration, mobility, language, ethnicity, disability, and intergenerational poverty, particularly within the context of the pandemic. The book examines a wide range of relevant topics, both theoretical and empirical, to examine how children’s rights and social justice are understood within varied international contexts and how (and, indeed, if) social justice can be promoted through inclusive practice. As such, this book has the potential to advance the field and make a valuable contribution to knowledge, with the final chapter pulling the threads of the discussion together to make recommendations for further research and inform policy, demonstrating the opportunities that there are to make a positive difference in the lives of children and young people across the world. 

Dr Joan G. Mowat, Reader in the Strathclyde Institute of Education, Scotland, UK, having had a successful career in secondary education. She has held multiple leadership roles within the Institute and has been an external examiner at three universities. Her most recent research focusses on how inclusion is portrayed across the four nations of the UK and Ireland, presenting to senior policy makers. A research monograph for Routledge was published in 2022 focussing on building community within schools and relational approaches to promoting positive relationships. She serves on the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group for Children & Young People and has acted as an expert witness to the Scottish Parliament. She co-led a highly successful seminar series focussing on the relationship between poverty, mental health and attainment. 

Dr Stephen J. McKinney, Professor in the School of Education, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He has worked in Education for over thirty years. In the University of Glasgow, he has been the Head of Department of Religious Education (2008-2010), leader of a research and knowledge group, Creativity, Culture and Faith (2012-2017), leader of a research and teaching group (RTG) Pedagogy, Praxis and Faith (2017-2022) and acting leader of  Culture, Literacies, Inclusion and Pedagogy  (RTG) (2024-). He is on the Editorial Board of the International Studies in Catholic Education, Journal of Religious Education, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church and the Journal of Beliefs and Values, His research interests include Catholic schools and faith schools, the impact of poverty on education and social justice. He has produced more than 255 publications.

Dr Gale Macleod, Professor of Interpersonal Relationships in Education at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Her research activity has 3 main strands: young people whose behaviour is disruptive in school, higher education (particularly postgraduate taught), and parental engagement through family learning. She has received funding and published research in all three areas. These broad interests are underpinned by a consistent theoretical approach which focuses on interactions between individuals as members of social groups and how identities are negotiated, resisted and internalised. She has also published on the connections between research and policy specifically in relation to behaviour in schools, and on methodological issues around the possibility of research to authentically ‘capture’ the experiences of marginalised young people.