"It wasnae for me": feelings of belonging, inclusion and exclusion from educational spaces across the 'childhood lifecourse'

Inclusive education and a strong sense of belonging are fundamental to the actualisation of children and young people’s rights; however, children and young people continue to experience blatant, subtle and ‘invisible’ forms of exclusion and othering within mainstream educational institutions that are (falsely) constructed as being ‘inclusive’ of all learners. In this paper, we discuss the ‘fauxclusion’ experienced by 20 girls in educational spaces in the UK, highlighting how exclusionary practices form part of the hidden curriculum within educational systems. Drawing on data from a ‘childhood life-course’ approach, we explore girls’ and young women’s remembrances of their experiences of exclusion from their early years through to post-secondary education. In unpacking their stories, we argue for the importance of a cross-disciplinary ‘bridging’ of early years and youth studies to enable a ‘whole of child’ and ‘whole of life’ approach to emerge. Using this holistic approach, we discuss the complex and nuanced (blatant, subtle, invisible) nature of barriers to inclusion – and emphasise how some of these (e.g., attitudinal and structural) barriers might be addressed in order to facilitate a sense of belonging for all learners in mainstream educational spaces, across the ‘childhood life-course.’