Barriers that prevent the achievement of inclusive democratic education

Inclusive education inherently involves the inclusion of all citizens in a dem ocratic society. Based on this view, questions emerge with respect to equality and inte gration in educational systems. Although inclusion should be viewed as a requirement in a democratic society, along with the integration in schools of students from different social groups, the concept rarely becomes reality, despite its frequent acceptance in discourse . This article analyzes mechanisms that inhibit agreement on how equality and inclusion can be put into practice in education, taking as an example the case of Chile. One inhibitor is a lack of in-depth discussions about the major tendencies prevailing in contemporary edu cational systems. In addition, three types of segregation are linked to children s exclusion from schools: charges for educational services, schools selection processes and the use of economic incentives. Finally, the article presents possible consequences of two pedagog ical orientations: towards autonomous schools and flexible curriculum.