Ethics of Care: A Theoretical Underpinning for Relational Inclusivity

Inclusive education is a paramount objective of contemporary education, as an inclusive society becomes necessary to ensure democracy, justice and peace. However, current individualistic approaches often fail to address the relational nature of students and the need for adaptive and personalized learning. Relational inclusivity emerges as an innovative approach, shifting the focus from individual-centered models to a framework that emphasizes interconnectedness and supportive communities. This paradigm fosters responsive contexts that enhance academic performance, socioemotional and personal development. Relational inclusivity integrates social network analysis to evaluate social dynamics, enabling educators to take informed pedagogical decisions, after identifying key and marginalized students. Despite its wide practical application, relational inclusivity lacks a solid theoretical underpinning that highlights its educational importance and determines its pedagogical principles. The ethics of care, which reconceptualizes people as interdependent beings reliant on caring relationships, provides the necessary theoretical foundation. The objective of this study is to establish the philosophical and theoretical foundations of relational inclusivity based on the ethics of care, promoting an educational shift centered on interdependent relationships. This article employed a theory synthesis design to summarize and integrate the principles of relational inclusivity and the ethics of care into a solid framework. The educational dimension of the ethics of care complements and expands relational inclusivity by emphasizing the importance of nurturing caring relationships within educational contexts. This theoretical synthesis broadens the educational community's understanding of relational education, offering a more adaptive and interdependent approach suited to the complexities of human relationships.