So-called inclusive education is part of the broader context of the inclusive movement in society at large. The intention is to build a society in which everyone is able to find their place (Pelgrims and al., 2021).  Inclusive education aims to promote inclusive societies (Ebersold, 2017) through schools and educational facilities. It is considered the most effective way of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society aiming at education for all while being mindful of the cost-effectiveness of education systems (Unesco, 1994). It also sees the education system as a vector of social protection, enabling students to assert themselves as actors in their own future, to transform relationships with others and to find a dignified place as human beings, recognized as citizens (Pelgrims and al., 2021). Following the Salamanca Declaration (UNESCO, 1994), schools are taking on the responsibility of changing their practices and adapting to the needs of their pupils. Moreover, the school, as a group of institutions and individuals, is also a place for co-constructing the meaning of knowledge and living together. In this way, everyone, students and professionals alike, are co-constructors and actors in living and becoming together, in a school on movement (Bélanger, 2013). In this respect, moving towards an inclusive society presupposes a decentralization of values and practices that dominate within schools and society in general. Professional training and raising awareness about inclusion issues are ways of building a more inclusive education and, consequently, a more inclusive society.

Engaging, as a school actor or partner, in the movement towards inclusive education requires commitment to a process of transition, transformation, breaking with the past, adjusting routines and changing logics of action and thinking (Ramel, 2015); a process that is inescapably complex and strewn with difficulties (Bergeron and Prud'homme, 2018; Pelgrims and al., 2021; Bélanger and Duchesne, 2011; Rousseau and al., 2017).

Transitions represent periods of change during which habitual practices and routines of operation and participation are disrupted and gradually transformed. They represent a break point with the known and with routines, a readjustment or adaptation to the new (Zittoun and Perret-Clermont, 2002), and the challenge of ensuring a certain continuity. The objects of these transformations are diverse: values, institutions, systems, practices, conceptions, postures and so on.

The lack of collaboration and communication between school, family and community is particularly marked during the transition of special needs children/people (Graziano, 2015; Tepe, 2012). This fact may explain discontinuity in school environments, leading to different expectations of the child, depending on the living environment (Tepe, 2012) or a risk of service breakdown (Sloper, 2004). Planning this transition will be advisable to facilitate the transition for all and support continuity. The continuity of the transition process depends on the dynamics within the inter-professional space (Allenbach and al., 2021; Mérini and Thomazet, 2014).

Thus, the path towards inclusive education involves four, sometimes interconnected, mechanisms: transitions, continuities, ruptures and transformations. They are cross-cutting and apply to all periods of life, from the birth of the person with special needs, through schooling (at school and university level) to taking up a job. The REACH 2024 conference focuses on these mechanisms, combining testimonies from children, teenagers and young people as well as their parents who have experienced at least one of these four mechanisms and testimonies from professional members of schools who have to manage these phenomena throughout the journey from school to work. The conference also focuses on research findings. The aim is to make the link between the experiences of the concerned actors and their parents, professional practices and scientific findings, so that we can propose benchmarks for the transition to inclusive education.

• Scientific papers presenting the results of recent research and field experience (15-20 mins);
• Professional papers presenting professional practices (15-20 mins);
• Student posters.