Inclusion within innovative learning environments: A new materialist stratigraphy of spatio–political assemblages

Abstract This conceptual inquiry addresses a gap in research on inclusion within Innovative Learning Environments (ILEs): while ILEs are widely promoted as inclusive, studies often focus on well‐resourced schools and overlook how policy and space intra‐act as mutually shaping processes that produce both inclusion and exclusion. It traces spatio–political assemblages across macro, meso and micro scales to identify conditions that support inclusion. Drawing on a new materialist lens, the study proposes a diffractive methodology that reads each component through the others, entangling a rhizomatic review, a two‐round modified Delphi process and analyses anchored in relational, affective and capacitating maps. Findings show that at the macro scale, neoliberal logics and market‐driven school choice intensify inequalities unless paired with redistributive funding and spatial justice measures. At the meso scale, leadership aligned with local culture mediates how policies are felt, forming atmospheres of inclusion and exclusion. At the micro scale, everyday practices such as moving materials, adjusting settings and sharing resources make visible how pedagogy, space and agency co‐unfold. Across shifting territories, spatio–political assemblages require mutating relations that build capacity through affect‐shaped role‐making, so that inclusion arises from these assemblages rather than from either policy or space alone. In light of this, the study calls for broader engagement with these assemblages amid escalating standardisation and outlines an agenda for spatial justice audits, differentiated resourcing and the recognition of all stakeholders as active socio‐spatial citizens. Context and implications Rationale for this study: Is to examine how spatio–political assemblages within ILEs sustain genuine inclusion, demonstrating that spatial justice is culturally situated and that inclusion mutationally fluctuates within the fluid capacities these assemblages enable to support equitable participation. Why findings matter: Findings indicate that inclusion is shaped across scales: at the macro level, neoliberal and market‐driven policies risk deepening inequality without redistributive and spatial justice measures; at the meso and micro levels, leadership and everyday practices mediate how inclusion is enacted through the dynamic interplay of culture, pedagogy, space, and agency. Overall, inclusion emerges from evolving spatio‐political assemblages rather than from policy or space alone. Implications: Grounded in the study's multi‐scalar approach, the implications span policy, practice and research. Policy makers can apply a spatial justice lens to sustain equity and responsiveness in ILEs, while funding practices that reinforce neoliberal logics may reproduce inequality. School leaders can translate policy into culturally aligned, inclusive practice. Designers can treat inclusive design as a fundamental right, integral to openness and flexibility. Teachers can develop micropolitical competencies—rearranging spaces, adapting routines and co‐creating inclusive atmospheres—alongside literacy and numeracy work. Researchers can extend diffractive methods to examine how spatial, social and affective relations shape inclusion in ILEs.