Dr. Alan Gorman:

Over recent years, there has been a significant policy drive in schools. Schools and principals, in particular, are dealing with competing policy agendas in their role. It is important that schools are afforded the time to engage with meaningful professional development. I emphasise that there should be school-based professional development available in order to build a positive school culture. This would look at elements of the school that are working and areas that might need to be addressed.

I refer to the point made about school leaders. Schools should be equipped with understanding what inclusion is and it should not be just a one-off workshop. They should be equipped with the knowledge of how to lead an inclusive school. We must also look at the work done on policy over recent years, coming back to the point I raised. There are many policies that speak to one and other, if one were to sit down and look at them. In looking at our schools, take, for example, the inspectorate's framework for school self-evaluation. That promotes a positive school culture, as does the inclusive education framework, by way of another example. Principals need to be encouraged to look at those policies and support them. Most importantly, they should be provided with the time to engage in professional collaboration, which is meaningful school-based professional development, in order to build a positive school culture that promotes inclusion as well.