How do French teachers understand inclusive education and its implementation?

While inclusive education is widely promoted around the world, the meaning assigned to it remains ambiguous. Regarding that different interpretations have implications for teachers' attitudes and behaviours, those interpretations could possibly exert influence on the inclusive school implementation by teachers. The present study sought to identify how French teachers define inclusive education, as well as the reasons they perceive as justifying its implementation. To this purpose, 251 teachers completed an online questionnaire. The results show that teachers' harbour wide-ranging definitions, with a significant proportion viewing inclusive education as being rooted in an integrative approach (i.e. school viewed as the welcoming place of Special Educational Needs (SEN) students before being the place of their education). Moreover, teachers' perceived reasons, while mainly based on universalist concerns, also often cite non-student-centred aspects like political strategies or material aspects such as funding. The results of this study may help to understand why difficulties persist in the implementation of inclusive education in France and likely abroad as well.