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El presente artículo está estructurado en cuatro partes. En el primer apartado se presenta un breve panorama de la exclusión educativa y social en los países de América Latina y el Caribe. En el segundo, se aborda el significado del movimiento de la educación inclusiva desarrollando sus principales características y señas de identidad. El tercer apartado describe la importancia de la inclusión para hacer efectivo el derecho a una educación de calidad para todos y los sentidos de este movimiento: la inclusión como un asunto de derechos humanos, la inclusión como un medio para brindar una educación de calidad para todos; la inclusión como un elemento de justicia social y como un medio para aprender a ser y a vivir juntos. En el último apartado se señalan algunos lineamientos de políticas para avanzar hacia el desarrollo de escuelas y sistemas educativos más inclusivos
Exclusion is a large-scale phenomena affecting not only those who are out of the school system, but also those who, in spite of acquiring formal schooling, are segregated, discriminated, or are unable to learn due to the poor quality of education they receive. Inclusion has multiple interpretations and is frequently associated with integrating the disabled or others with special education needs, in the ordinary school; however we are dealing with two approaches with different views. Inclusive education aims at offering quality education to all, ensuring full participation and learning achievements of all students, with special emphasis on those who, for various reasons, are excluded or are at risk of being marginalized.
Inclusion implies an in depth transformation of educational systems and the school culture in order to address the diversity of student learning needs. This requires designing intersectoral policies, on a rightsbased approach, for an integral treatment of factors that generate exclusion inside and outside educational systems; to combine global strategies for the population as a whole with emphasis on those of a preventive nature, and measures focused on most vulnerable groups; to progress from homogeneous strategies towards policies that envisage diversity with social cohesion, development of curricula, and inclusive educational systems.
