Kazakhstan has adopted a path to implement inclusive education. As in many other countries of the world, transition to an inclusive education system is not easy and sometimes riddled with anomalies, contradictions, and challenges. This qualitative study takes account of inclusive education in Kazakhstani schools, analyzes the current state of the move toward inclusive education in Kazakhstani schools, discusses achievements to date, highlights some challenges, and makes recommendations on how the implementation of inclusive education in schools could (if necessary) be improved. A generic qualitative research design was used, involving semistructured interviews conducted with school directors, teachers, professionals, and regional representatives of the Department of Education, representatives of the Psychological Medical and Pedagogical Commission, nongovernmental organizations, and parents. The study uses Ainscow’s levers of change as a theoretical lens to analyze the implication of the transition and implementation toward inclusive education in schools. The study was conducted in 12 inclusive schools in one region north and one region south of Kazakhstan. Data were analyzed using an inductive and thematic content analysis framework, from which themes were derived and used to harvest findings and draw some conclusions. Among the findings of the study is that although there has been some shift toward inclusive education, the concept is still not well understood by stakeholders in Kazakhstani schools, as it is currently mainly aimed at disabled children rather than other categories of diversity.

The qualitative study reported on in this article was motivated by the widely held belief that an inclusive approach to teaching and learning is a productive way of enhancing the participation and achievement of all students. In particular, the study was informed by theories of inclusion and the view that disability as a social construct recognizes the challenges that exist within a social setup. In total, four students and three lecturers participated and the interviews were loosely structured and conversational in order to elicit as much information as possible. The emerging findings were analysed using a rhyzoanalytic approach extracted from the philosophies of difference. The findings suggested that inclusive education in the context of higher education is informed by a complex set of understandings and does not revolve around the mere identification of barriers and associated solutions but involves a whole range of factors. In addition, there is need for continuous reflection among practitioners to make the experiences of all the stakeholders rewarding. Inter-departmental discussions on the best practices should not focus exclusively on disabled students but should include all members of staff as well as the rest of the student population.

Since the advent of the philosophy of inclusion and the inception of inclusive education, following a number of international

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The states of inclusive pedagogy in South African schools remain bleak and teachers are in the dark about what constitutes an inclusive pedagogy in the South African context. This is despite policy changes since the advent of the new educational dispensation in 1994. In this review article the researcher presents the background in terms of inclusive education developments, both within historical and policy contexts. While articulating the conceptualization of inclusive education, the paper also discusses the model of inclusive education with reference to the role of all levels of ecosystemic system support such as school, district, provincial and national level of education. Further, the way barriers to learning and the notion of inclusive pedagogy are conceptualized within the South African context are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the current state of inclusive pedagogic practice in the South African classrooms. Among the findings of this paper is that the way inclusion is conceptualized still bears the hallmarks of the special needs education of the past education dispensation. The paper concludes that a shift from the special need approach to the conceptualization of inclusion is required.