Inclusion and education in European countries

The focus in this report is strategies that address the disadvantages experienced byminority background students in schools within the United Kingdom (UK) and the wider policy context in which these operate. More specifically, the focus is on four groups ofstudents:• Ethnic minority students including refugee and asylum seekers' children;• Gypsy/traveller students;• Students in care (Looked After Children - LAC); and,• Linguistic minorities e.g. Gaelic, Welsh.The devolved nature of government in the UK means that while some broad principlesare common across the four nations that constitute the UK (England, Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales), the particular emphases adopted and the strategies developed tofoster social inclusion vary from one to another. In addition, there is no integrated policyfor social inclusion but rather separate policy statements for each of the categories ofdisadvantage identified in the study. All four countries within the UK have a combinationof private and state-funded schooling. In much, if not all, of this report the emphasis ison the state-funded sector.