About Inclusion Stories

About

Reflection as a Tool for Professional Development

The Inclusion Stories project is a multi-national Erasmus+ initiative involving eight organisations from Sweden, Hungary, Finland, Greece, Italy, and Portugal. Our mission is to demonstrate that inclusive education is achievable, even in challenging circumstances, by providing educators with the confidence and practical strategies they need.

By utilising the Most Significant Change (MSC) methodology, we capture the human stories of inclusive practice across six European nations. This "Living Gallery" serves as Reflection as a Tool for Professional Development, leveraging multi-media, voice notes, and expert commentary to bridge the gap between abstract theory and the lived reality of the classroom.

Through interactive mapping and Meta-Reflection, educators are invited to analyse and refine their own practice within a collaborative transnational community.

Our Credo

The Guiding Principles for Inclusion Stories

Inclusion is a word and a concept that carries many associations. Sometimes these associations are based on personal experience, and sometimes the understanding of inclusion is a mere theoretical construct with little evidence of how it is actually achieved in real life. We want to bridge the gap between theory and practice by highlighting authentic, lived stories of inclusion.

We honour the UNESCO definition of inclusion:

“Inclusion in education refers to an educational approach that aims to provide equitable learning opportunities for all students, regardless of their backgrounds or abilities. This framework emphasises the importance of accommodating diverse needs within the classroom, fostering an environment where every learner can participate fully. Inclusive education promotes social integration and values the contributions of all individuals in the learning process.”

And the vision expressed by the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education:

“All learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers.”

Our inclusion stories are about individual students who have disabilities or face circumstances that make them vulnerable. However, our focus is not on disability or individual challenges, but on the changes that need to take place for inclusion to happen.

Inclusion is about making an effort to see the potential in everyone, including staff, parents, and caregivers. Moving the focus from the individual student to a shared learning environment designed with all students in mind provides the shift essential for true inclusion. The primary challenge is not simply understanding individual students. We acknowledge that inclusion is about supporting teachers to take responsibility for all students’ learning simultaneously; therefore, the conversation must start with the teaching, not the student. The moment inclusion becomes a discussion about particular groups of students, it stops being a discussion about inclusion.

Therefore, our work on the inclusion stories we collect is centred on reflection regarding significant changes across different perspectives and levels: from the individual level to teaching strategies, the organisation of the school, and communication between the school and wider stakeholders.

Our reflective processes have helped us create a set of core beliefs that will carry us through the project and beyond:

We believe

We believe in the power of authentic stories told by those who are at the centre of the experience.

We believe that inclusion is a process.

We believe that sustainable inclusion is rooted in the relational model. Having a clear theoretical foundation for our inclusive work is essential, and the relational model serves as that foundation.

We believe in empowerment: teachers, students, and stakeholders both inside and outside of schools can and should be empowered to advance inclusion.

We believe that teaching is about nurturing individuals within a collective environment.

We believe that the true challenge of inclusion is translating individual needs into collective teaching practices. Teachers must be part of this conversation so they can take ownership of universal instruction and assessment.

We believe that reflection and analysis are inclusive ways of learning that strengthen professional mastery.

We believe that reflection must be grounded in a clear model to guide thinking and open up space for constructive, challenging conversations.

Why?

Why Inclusion Stories from the Classroom?

Across Europe, inclusive education is a shared ambition. Yet turning this ambition into everyday classroom practice remains a challenge.

Teachers work with increasingly diverse groups of learners, each bringing different strengths, experiences and needs to the classroom. While policies and frameworks can point towards inclusion, they cannot show exactly what it looks like in a particular classroom, with particular students, in particular circumstances. Many educators are therefore left asking a very practical question: How can we make inclusion work in everyday teaching?

Inclusion Stories from the Classroom was created to help bridge the gap between policy, theory and practice. Instead of presenting inclusion as an ideal or a fixed method, the project starts with the experiences of teachers and schools themselves.

By collecting and sharing authentic stories from classrooms across Europe, we want to make inclusive practice visible: the choices teachers make, the challenges they encounter, the strategies they try, and the changes that make a difference for students’ participation and learning.

The project is based on a simple but important idea: inclusion is possible, but it is a continuous process rather than a finished destination. By learning from real classrooms and from one another, educators can develop the confidence, knowledge and professional judgement needed to take the next step towards more inclusive education.

Through these stories, we aim to build not only a collection of examples, but a community for learning, reflection and change.

Meet our educators

The Inclusion Stories Team includes teachers from around europe:

Sweden: Wallberg Education (Lead Applicant) – resource organisation
Sweden: Kungsgårdsgymnasiet – public school
Finland: Albert Edelfelt School, Porvoo – public school
Greece: 1st Primary School of Vrilissia – public school
Hungary: Deák Diák Primary School – public school
Italy: Istituto Comprensivo Octavia – public school
Portugal: Agrupamento de Escolas Virgínia Moura – public school

Helena Wallberg

Project Coordinator

Helena Wallberg, M.Ed. and Special Education, is a former high school teacher of languages, creative writing and pedagogics. Formerly with the Swedish National Agency for Education, she now works as a consultant to assist schools and groups of schools with their development of inclusive practices. Helena Wallberg is the author of several articles and books on lesson design, feedback, assessment and mentoring, all used for teacher learning communities, a concept about which she is passionate.

Vivien Gyuris

Project Manager, Deceased

Vivien Gyuris was the driving force behind this project. Sadly, we lost her to a serious illness just before the project started. Vivien had extensive experience in working internationally on inclusion matters. She worked with the World Bank, the European Council on Roma inclusion, UNICEF on digital inclusion, and countless other projects where her sharp intellect was an asset to the development of inclusion in different areas. Vivien was studying to attain a PhD in inclusive education with a special interest in our era of migration. Without Vivien, there would be no Inclusion Stories. Find out more about Vivien here.

Simona D'Alessio, PhD

School Principal

Simona is the school principal of a comprehensive school in Rome (PS1 to Grade 8). She is an expert in the area of inclusive education, disability studies in education and policy analysis. Simona has worked both nationally and internationally to support the development of inclusive policies and practice in schools across Europe and in the UAE.

Rosamaria Teodorani

Primary School Teacher and specialist in foreign language teaching

Rosamaria is a primary school teacher with extensive experience in foreign language teaching, gained particularly in international contexts. She has taken part in European education and training programmes focused on the English language, developing expertise in inclusive and innovative teaching methodologies. Since 2012, she has co-ordinated Comenius and Erasmus projects, fostering collaboration among schools, intercultural exchange, and a European dimension in education.

Cecilia Gleisner

School Principal

Cecilia Gleisner serves as principal of a Swedish upper secondary school specialising in vocational education and training. The school prepares students aged 16 to 20 for careers as chefs, bakers, pastry chefs, restaurant service professionals, hairdressers, and hair and make-up stylists. Over recent years, the school has achieved significant improvements in student outcomes through a clear pedagogical vision and leadership that places inclusion at the forefront of educational practice. Prior to her current role, Cecilia worked as a pedagogical development leader at the municipal level, supporting both school leaders and teachers in their efforts to enable every student to reach their full potential.

Rosária Carvalho

Geography Teacher and Project Coordinator

Rosária is a geography teacher and project coordinator at Agrupamento de Escolas Virgínia Moura, Portugal. She has been coordinating the school’s Erasmus+ programme for around ten years. She is also the coordinator of the Network of Schools for Intercultural Education (REEI). Since 2019, when a growing number of migrant pupils began joining the school, she has been closely involved in their welcoming and integration, working with pupils, families, teachers and community partners. Inclusion and intercultural education have been central to her professional work. Her extensive experience in Erasmus+ projects has allowed her to learn from schools across Europe and to explore different approaches to inclusion, diversity and equal opportunities. She is particularly interested in sharing good practice and developing inclusive approaches that help schools become more welcoming and equitable environments for all.

Georgia Giannakopoulou

School Principle, Coordinator of Erasmus+ programmes

Georgia is a school principal and educational leader in Greece with extensive experience in mentoring, inclusive education and supporting learners with special educational needs. She has worked extensively with teachers through professional development, peer learning and reflective practice, promoting inclusive and supportive learning environments. Georgia also has extensive experience in Erasmus+ programmes, coordinating and contributing to international projects, staff mobility, teacher training and cooperation with schools and educational organisations across Europe.

Christina Saiti

Special Educational Needs teacher

Christina is a Primary Special Educational Needs teacher, a graduate of the Department of Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, with postgraduate specialisation in Special Education and Counselling. She currently works as a Special Educational Needs teacher in an inclusion support class at a state primary school and has experience in general, special, and intercultural education. Her academic and professional interests focus on inclusive and differentiated instruction, individualised student support, and strengthening collaboration between school and family.

Janne Salmela

School Principal

Janne Salmela is an internationally experienced school principal currently serving as the principal of Albert Edelfelt School in Porvoo, Finland. Albert Edelfelt School is an all-inclusive public school for grades 1–9 with more than 600 students. Janne has nearly thirty years of experience in the education sector across Finland, Belgium, Qatar, Russia, and Kosovo, working as both a teacher and a principal. Additionally, he has lectured and trained teachers and school leaders abroad.

Pauliina Impiö

Primary School Teacher

Pauliina Impiö is a Master of Education, primary school teacher and teacher of textile crafts. She has worked at Albert Edelfelt School in Porvoo, Finland, since 2009. It is a comprehensive school for students in grades 1–9. For Pauliina, crafts are much more than simply making things. She believes practical skills and the ability to work with our hands are important for the future, especially in a rapidly changing and unpredictable world. Knowing how to make, repair, create and solve problems with your own hands can be a real strength. Making things can also bring joy, a sense of achievement and a feeling that what we do truly matters.

Teemu Pohjola Korhonen

Vice Principal

Teemu Pohjola Korhonen is currently serving as the Vice Principal of Albert Edelfelt School in Porvoo, Finland. Albert Edelfelt School is a comprehensive public school serving grades 1-9 and educating more than 600 students. Teemu has nearly 20 years of experience in teaching and educational administration at the primary and lower secondary levels (grades 1-9), including extensive experience working with students requiring demanding special support. Teemu's core educational values are the equal worth and unique potential of every student, combined with a commitment to genuinely seeing, hearing, and meeting each learner as an individual.

Teemu Pohjola Korhonen

Class Teacher

Anu Turunen works as a class teacher at the Albert Edelfelt Integrated School in Porvoo. She has been teaching here since 2009, but her overall career as a teacher spans nearly thirty years. The cornerstones of Anu's teaching are positive pedagogy and character strengths. The most essential aspects of her work as an educator are creating a warm and open emotional atmosphere in the classroom, acknowledging students as individuals, and maintaining a supportive approach that recognises and fosters each student's unique strengths. She is currently pursuing studies in "Dogs in Educational and Rehabilitative Work" and is pictured here with her dog Haiku.

Farczádi-Bencze Tamás

Headteacher

Farczádi-Bencze Tamás is a Hungarian educator and the headteacher of Deák Diák Primary and Grammar School in Budapest, where he has taught for nearly three decades and served as principal since 2013. A recipient of the Józsefváros Cross of Honour, his leadership centres on inclusion, equal opportunities, arts education, and building an open, supportive school community, and he has also represented the institution internationally, including presenting its educational work at UNESCO in Paris.

Dávid Mészáros

Teacher

Dávid is a mathematics teacher at the Deák Diák Music Primary and Secondary School with an Education Specialist Degree in financial and economic studies, who also mentors university students and led the school’s first class into their newly established secondary department. His aim is to foster a student-centered environment where everyone develops at their own pace, collaborates effectively, and feels empowered to achieve their goals.

Ildikó Orbán

Deputy Headteacher

Ildikó is an educator at the Deák Diák Music Primary and Secondary School, where she has served as Deputy Headteacher for the past decade, and currently coordinates the development of the secondary school’s sustainability specialization alongside mentoring university students in natural sciences. She is deeply committed to creating an inclusive, safe, and welcoming environment where students from diverse backgrounds feel valued, supported, and empowered to actively participate in the school community.

Eirini Papageorgiou

Social Worker

Eirini is a school social worker based in Vrilissia, Athens. She graduated in 2012 from the Department of Social Work at the University of West Attica and completed a Master of Arts in "Social Work in Education" from the Democritus University of Thrace. She is also a certified professional in systemic and family therapy.

Celina Silva

English Teacher and and President of the General Council

Celina is an English teacher and President of the General Council at her Agrupamento, in Guimarães, Portugal. She is also the Coordinator of the Bilingual Schools Programme in English (PEBI), promoting bilingual education through CLIL approaches and its connection with inclusive education. She is particularly interested in inclusive practices, innovative and active learning methodologies, teacher collaboration and international cooperation. Through her involvement in Erasmus+ and other educational projects, she values the sharing of good practices and professional learning as key to improving education and creating more inclusive, student-centred learning environments.

James Blomfield

AI for Education Consultant

James Blomfield is an AI for Education Consultant with the HOPE Foundation based in Kazakhstan. He has three decades of experience as a teacher, headteacher, and online learning specialist. As the former Head of Community for the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners (IFIP), he consulted directly with UNESCO on the Global Inclusive Schools' Forum. James’s international experience includes visiting schools and participating in educational projects across 25+ countries, from Finland and Zambia to China and the USA. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Visual Arts and a Master’s degree in Computer Science.