From Research and Practice to Recommendations: InclusiveFuture Publishes its First Policy Brief

How can sustainability and inclusion become an integral part of education rather than isolated initiatives? This question lies at the heart of the InclusiveFuture project's first Policy Brief, which brings together the evidence collected during the initial phase of the project and translates it into practical recommendations for education policymakers, authorities and school leaders.

The publication builds on the project's comparative analysis of national education systems, international collection of good practices, and focus group discussions with teachers, school leaders and education experts from eight European countries. Together, these activities revealed common patterns: while sustainability is increasingly recognised as a priority, its implementation often remains fragmented, teacher support is limited, and inclusion is not yet consistently embedded as a cross-cutting principle.

The Policy Brief synthesises these findings into a coherent set of policy recommendations. It proposes practical actions such as strengthening teacher training, embedding sustainability competences more explicitly in curricula, developing assessment and monitoring tools, supporting whole-school approaches, and ensuring that inclusion is integrated into every aspect of sustainability education. These recommendations are intended to support ongoing discussions on education policy at both national and European levels.

This also marks an important transition for the project. With the evidence now consolidated, InclusiveFuture moves from research and pilots towards policy dialogue. During the coming months, the recommendations will be discussed with education authorities and stakeholders through national policy roundtables, creating opportunities to validate, refine and promote their future uptake. Findings will be summarised in the second Policy Brief of the project. 

To make the key messages more accessible, the consortium has also developed a series of visual Policy Flashcards. Each flashcard summarises one strand of the research: from curriculum analysis and focus groups to the collection of best practices; and highlights the main challenges and recommendations in a concise, reader-friendly format.
The first Policy Brief is an important milestone. By translating research into actionable recommendations, it provides a shared foundation for the next phase of InclusiveFuture: working with policymakers, practitioners and schools to advance more sustainable and inclusive education systems across Europe.