The Emotional Labour of Inclusion: Supporting educators to feel resourced, in inclusive practice.
For teachers, inclusion is both a professional responsibility and deeply personal work. It asks them to draw upon their lived experiences, values, and beliefs about human potential, alongside their professional expertise. Each decision—whether adapting a lesson, responding to behaviour, or engaging with families—requires emotional investment as well as practical skill. In this way, inclusion is woven into the everyday choices and relationships that define the classroom.
This emotional labour can be profoundly enriching. It enables teachers to form authentic connections, to challenge inequities, and to create spaces where learners feel they belong. It can also nurture teachers’ own sense of purpose, reminding them why they entered the profession. Yet when the weight of these demands is carried in isolation, or when the wider school culture does not provide recognition and support, the same labour can shift from energising to overwhelming. The tension between reward and exhaustion sits at the heart of inclusive practice. Recognising this is vital: educators need to feel resourced—not just with strategies, but with time, trust, and collegial support—if inclusion is to be sustainable and genuinely life-giving for both staff and students.
Ecological Agency and Teacher Flourishing
Recognising the emotional labour of inclusion also means recognising that teachers cannot and should not be expected to carry this work alone. The concept of ecological agency helps to explain why. Agency is shaped by the interplay of personal capacities, professional relationships, and the wider structures in which educators work. A teacher may hold strong values of equity and deep commitment to their students, however without supportive leadership, collegial collaboration, and school systems that prioritise inclusion, their ability to act on those values is constrained.
From an ecological perspective, inclusion becomes a shared responsibility. It is about what individual teachers do, and by how schools as communities create the conditions that make inclusive practice possible. This means valuing teachers’ voices in decision-making, resourcing them with professional learning and time to collaborate, and nurturing a culture where inclusion is understood as central to learning.
When schools attend to these ecological conditions, they enable teachers to sustain the emotional labour of inclusion in ways that are energising rather than depleting. The focus shifts from asking teachers to “do more” towards building environments where inclusive practice can flourish—for staff, students, and the wider community.
A School-Wide Understanding of Inclusion
If inclusion is to be sustainable, schools need a shared, school-wide understanding that inclusion involves everyone—leaders, teachers, support staff, students, and families alike. When inclusion is treated as the responsibility of the whole community, it becomes about shaping those structures so that all learners feel a genuine sense of belonging.
This whole-community lens also challenges narrow definitions of inclusion. Too often, the term is used only in relation to learners with additional support needs or disabilities. While this is important, true inclusion extends far beyond. It means recognising and valuing cultural and linguistic diversity, embracing neurodiversity, attending to wellbeing, and creating space for different ways of learning and participating. In essence, inclusion is about ensuring that every member of the school community—students, families, and staff—feels seen, respected, and able to contribute.
Building this kind of culture requires open dialogue, shared reflection, and collective ownership. It asks schools to listen carefully to the voices of those who have often been marginalised, and to work together in shaping practices that honour diversity. When the whole community is involved, inclusion becomes a shared aspiration—something that strengthens the fabric of the school itself.
Supporting Educators, Reducing Overwhelm
For inclusion to be sustainable, educators need to feel resourced. This means:
Clarity of purpose – developing a shared, lived definition of inclusion across the school so that staff, students, and families understand what it means in practice. Without this clarity, inclusion risks being interpreted inconsistently.
Practical supports – ensuring teachers have access to high-quality training, protected co-planning time, and specialist expertise. These practical resources create confidence.
Emotional support – recognising the emotional labour involved in inclusion and creating safe spaces for reflection, coaching, and peer support. Naming the emotional dimension helps legitimise it, reminding teachers that their wellbeing matters too.
Collective ownership – embedding inclusion as a whole-school value, where responsibility is shared across leadership, staff, students, and families. When everyone feels accountable for inclusion, it shifts from being the work of a few individuals to the fabric of the school community.
When schools embrace these principles, the emotional labour of inclusion transforms into a shared, purposeful journey. Educators feel valued, supported, and able to act with confidence. Students feel recognised, respected, and connected. Families experience genuine partnership. And communities begin to flourish together, grounded in the understanding that inclusion is the very heart of education.