This paper critically examines how UNHCR’s global refugee education strategy, Refugee Education 2030: A Strategy for Refugee Inclusion, frames the concept of ‘inclusion’ for refugee learners. Specifically, it explores the strategy’s advocacy for integrating refugee learners into the national education systems of host countries. A critical discourse analysis of the strategy document reveals multiple themes, four of which are highlighted in this paper: the undefined nature of ‘inclusion’, the use of common-sense framing and truth-making, the linkage of refugee education to national systems and the tension between inclusion as a global responsibility versus an opportunity. The analysis further uncovers the strategy’s reliance on a consensus paradigm underscored by a functionalist perspective of education and neoliberal market-driven approaches, raising critical questions about its ideological foundations and implications. This paper underscores the urgency of critically examining ‘inclusion’ within forced displacement contexts and analysing discursive strategies in refugee education policies to reveal underlying ideologies, power dynamics, and contradictions.