In my reading recently, I came across a reference to the concept of “radical inclusion.” I had an idea of what inclusion referenced but I was really curious about what makes it radical. I was rereading Street Data by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan (2021). Radical inclusion happens when we have a mindset where “we commit to identify and include the voices of those who may have never had a seat at the decision-making table but whose experiences and perspectives matter (p. 77).”

I was intrigued and went on a paper equivalent of clicking through an article to learn more about this idea of radical inclusivity. The first text I found was Radical Inclusion by Dr. David Moinina Sengeh. The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education of Sierra Leone, Dr. Sengeh tells the story of how he used radical inclusion to more deeply understand an exclusionary policy and then to guide the larger community to a more inclusive educational system. He lists seven principles of radical inclusion: identify the exclusion, listen to understand and learn, define your role and purpose, build a coalition, develop and enact a plan of advocacy and action, adapt to the new normal, and then relaunch the cycle with a new issue.

Change is never easy. It often means that we have to reflect on our own values, think about how those values align with our current actions and opinions and experiences, and understand that the change is unlikely to impact just us — others will have ideas on the proposed change that might differ from ours. If we really believe in the importance of the proposed change, then it behooves us to engage in self-reflection and to seek out the thoughts of others who may agree with us and those who don’t agree with us. More importantly, in order to be radically inclusive, we have to solicit the opinions of those whose voices are often inaudible in the planning and discussion of policy and continue to attend to those voices throughout the change process.

There are lots of exclusionary policies in schools. Even though people might not want to think about it, schools are very political places. What books are selected as texts, what topics to include or not include, enrollment policies and zoning, assessment systems, and mandates from retention policies to school food are all decisions made by policy makers and elected officials. Educators know that schools tend to be impacted by the political election cycle. This results in lots of change — radically inclusive or not. Every time there is a new administration, educators need to prepare for a new set of initiatives. If the elected officials have a big agenda, it may mean that we encounter a lot of change initiatives in a short amount of time. It is my experience that the first 3 or 4 of Sengeh’s actions happen fairly regularly in the schools I know. Because of the number of initiatives, we often don’t have time to move to principle 5 where we implement a solid plan of action nor do we have time to “adapt to the new normal” before another election cycle brings new initiatives.

It takes imaginative leadership to purse the goal of radical inclusivity in our schools. It takes imagination to create a vision of more equitable schooling. It takes imagination to have empathy with others. It takes imagination to generate solution pathways to our goal of greater inclusivity and equity.

Sengeh writes, “Equity is a state, and inclusion is a process to get you toward that state in which everyone enjoys the same opportunity to be present, to participate, to be seen, and to be oneself. Radical inclusion is using all means to ensure constant progress toward that state of equity for all those excluded. Equity is the goal; inclusion is a crucial first step in getting there” (p. 180). As I read Sengeh’s book, I reflected on how change does not happen as a clean cycle — it is iterative. We need to observe and listen with an open mind, heart, and ear to how it is working and then couple those insights with imaginative, creative solutions as we work to achieve our goal of greater equity.