In Portugal, the legal framework creates conditions for increased participation of the educational community in promoting inclusive education. Measures to support student learning and inclusion highlight the role of middle-tier structures in promoting this participation. In line with this, international organisations also emphasise the same direction, showing political alignment at both national and transnational levels. The study follows the theoretical-methodological proposal of Stephen Ball's policy cycle with data analysis following the thematic analysis method. In this article, via an analysis of international and national documents, it is demonstrated how the relevance of the participation of the educational community emerges as a theme in inclusive education, as well as how this theme is interpreted and translated in the context of practice by middle leaders through interviews. The results show a lack of articulation between the policies advocated by transnational organisations and the practices reported by coordinators (middle leaders) of Multidisciplinary Support Teams for Inclusive Education particularly in terms of inclusion and participation in the educational process.