The meaning of the term ‘inclusion’ is often taken for granted and seldom defined. Empirical research on inclusive education is often normative since it is based on terms such as ‘justice’ and ‘democracy’. Such terms are challenging to translate into real practice because their meanings depend on a subjective evaluation related to the time and place where inclusion is supposed to happen. Inclusive education, therefore, is challenging to explore in research and to achieve in educational situations. This article explores the understanding of inclusive education through the lens of social system theory developed by Niklas Luhmann as well as theory of institutionalism. With the perspectives underlying mechanisms that create inclusion and exclusion in schools are identified at different institutional levels. Furthermore it is shown how subsystems include and exclude, i.e. what criteria apply to the access and rejection of a system. In this theoretical contribution to understanding inclusive education, we seek to intertwine Luhmann’s theory of inclusion and exclusion with the institutional theory of the social construction of reality to discuss how policy, management, teaching, student relationships, and everything within the context of education that involves communication can create institutionalised systems with mechanisms that form persistent exclusion for some students.

Background: Hippotherapy literally means “therapy with the help of a horse” and is derived from the Greek word hippos, meaning “horse.” Hippocrates was the first to describe the benefits of hippotherapy for rehabilitation purposes. Although this therapy has many years of history, few scholars have defined the theoretical bases of hippotherapy and less about how psychologic, physical, social, and educational benefits can be achieved through hippotherapy in children with special needs. Objective: This article is designed from a chronological perspective to provide mental health professionals, educators, and others with current information on how horses can be used as a main tool in an effective and holistic therapy for children with special needs. This is supported by current literature review through a conceptual framework of hippotherapy explained by dynamic system theory along with the theory of neuronal group selection and sensory integration theory. Conclusions: Hippotherapy, by affecting multiple systems such as the sensory, muscular, skeletal, limbic, vestibular, and ocular systems simultaneously, leads to psychologic, social, and educational benefits that will be evidenced in behavioral patterns used in other environments.

Although the Nordic educational models have traditions of inclusion, researchers have found strong evidence that they can reproduce inequalities for minoritized groups attending primary and lower secondary schools. Following Luhmann’s system theory, this structurally orientated study identifies problems in the educational system that are caused by communication at the institutional level and in the translation of inclusive goals in urban educational institutions. We synthetise literature focusing on Norway, Sweden, and Finland to investigate the differences between the Nordic educational systems’ explicit welfare goals and the gap between equity as an ideology and a system output from the functionally differentiated urban compulsory education. This review focuses on 113 peer-reviewed academic articles published during the last decade (after January 2012 until December 2021) that examine educational inequality and marginalisation in Nordic urban schools. Our analysis is based on system theories highlighting three crucial discussions of inequality in the three Nordic systems: residential segregation and school areas, the impact of performance evaluations, and discriminatory support measures. Moreover, the results indicate differences in communication in the different countries.

The objective of this study was to analyze nursing students' beliefs and attitudes toward mental disorder before and after clinical placements. A cross-sectional design was chosen. One hundred ninety-four first- and third-year students in a three-year nursing degree course completed the Attribution Questionnaire AQ-27 regarding Mental Health, the Questionnaire of Beliefs, and a Socio-Demographic Questionnaire. Significant differences were found between students who had experienced mental illness and those who had not. Differences were also found between students with friends who suffered from mental health problems and those who did not. These results emphasize the need for nursing students to have direct interaction with people with a mental illness.

Literature regarding the gap between the conceptualization of inequality and school staffs’ perception of it in Norwegian schools is scarce. Therefore, we explore the challenges that Norwegian school staff have experienced as they work to ensure inclusive education at three schools. We address this challenge by examining three purposefully selected maximum variation schools that are located in a large Norwegian city. This is a qualitative study based on 25 in-depth interviews with school personnel regarding their understanding of anti-oppressive education of children. A relational approach and critical theory are used to organize and explain nested contextual systems. The narratives from school staff are used to identify their perception of their roles in combatting oppression, their patterns of interaction with others within the school community, and their constructions of “otherness.” The theoretical approach comprises a framework that is based on a social network analysis, trust and belonging, and the staff’s perception of their school’s context in relation to anti-oppressive values in critical race theory. We identify various challenges at each urban school that relate to social and organizational factors and discuss how investigating professionals’ meaning-making enables more nuanced images of the Nordic educational model.