Inclusion

What knowledge enables inclusion

Mike Blamires, Principal Lecturer

Canterbury Christ Church University

This presentation considers issues underlying the theory and practice of enabling inclusion in the context of mainstream secondary and primary schools and their support services.

Summary:

Inclusion and rights

assumes1. Students have a right to be part of the

mainstream2. They also have a right to positive evaluation

and respectBut there is also a third implied right to..3. Individually relevant learning

Lunt & Norwich 1999

What is inclusion ?

What is inclusion for ?

Vision Skills ResourcesIncentives+ ++ = Treadmill

On The Treadmill: The Complexity of Educational Inclusion

“The term is open to confusion i.e.1. It is about learning in the same place on the same curriculum as others

(Bailey,1998)

2. Tomlinson’s(1997) view that it is not necessarily about being in the same place and curriculum

3. Booth & Ainscow’s (1998) view that it is not a state at all but an unending process of increasing participation

4. Thomas’s (1997) view that it about accepting all children

5. Sebba & Sachdev’s (1997) view that it about schools responding and restructuring their provision

6. Florien’s(1998) view that opportunity to participate in inclusion is about active involvement and choice and not something done to the disabled”

Lunt & Norwich 1999

Integration or Inclusion ?

• The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE, 1989) uses the terms inclusion and inclusive education instead of integration and integrated education to reflect new understanding of disability issues and equality opportunity:

• ‘While integration may be construed as something done to disabled people by able bodied people according to their standards and conditions, inclusion better conveys a right to belong to the mainstream and a joint undertaking toend discrimination and work towards equal opportunities for all children.’


“Well, Miss M she’s really great and ma new schools its so good and everybody is like understanding and part of it is like am Maxine the new girl with the lap top and everything and like everyone just accepted that from thestart and they just, like lots of people use lap tops and like they just like they ask you why you’ve got one and everything but then they just take it as a normal thing.”(Maxine starting a new mainstream school, Davis & Watson, 1999).


“I don’t fit in at school. Nobody wants me near them, because they think, “It can happen to me.” Most of the time I get very lonely. Not most of the time, all of the time, I’m really lonely and sad”

(Young woman, Tisdall, 1990).

Learningpractice

Learning as doing

community

Learning as belonging

meaning

Learning as experience

identity

Learning as becoming

Components of a social model of learning (Etienne Wenger 1997)

Extending horizons: A developmental model of inclusion:

Enabling Learning

Perhaps a catch phrase ?

The Bio/Psycho/Social Model

Psychologicalfactors

Socialfactors

Biologicalfactors

Norwich 1990

That a person has difficulties does not always mean they are incapable of ever learning or that they should not have the opportunity to experience or learn.

Stefan, would you like to stop talking

with Freda and Vanya and get on with your work ?

Is it a good career move to have a label of autism, dyspraxia or Roma ?

Ethical Dimensions… Labels and Baggage

Is the label a signpost to understanding ?

Vision Skills ResourcesIncentives Action Plan+ +++ = Change

Skills ResourcesIncentives Action Plan+++ = Confusion

Vision ResourcesIncentives Action Plan+++ = Anxiety

Vision Skills Resources Action Plan+ ++ = Resistance

Vision Skills Incentives Action Plan+ ++ = Frustration


Thousand (2000) adapted from Knoster, T. (1991)

Managing Complex Change


Confusion

Some answers may need questioning..

Different groups may experience similar exclusionary forces

Inclusive schools are effective schools

Good practice for one subgroup of learners is good practice for all

Expertise is not needed for inclusion

The complexity of educational Inclusion

The term is open to confusion i.e.1. It is about learning in the same place on the same curriculum as others

(Bailey,1998)

2. Tomlinson’s(1997) view that it is not necessarily about being in the same place and curriculum

3. Booth & Ainscow’s view that it is not a state at all but an unending process of increasing participation

4. Thomas’s view that it about accepting all children

5. Sebba & Sachdev’s view that it about schools responding and restructuring their provision

6. Florien’s view that opportunity to participate in inclusion is about active involvement and choice and not something done to the disabled

Lunt & Norwich 1999


Confusion : Extended concepts of inclusion

This broadening of the the concept of inclusion and exclusionary processes has been extended beyond areas of SEN and disability to include other groupings.


“Special educational needs”

Disability

Socio Economic Depravation

Teenage Mothers

Learners with HIV Aids

Travellers

Ethnic MinoritiesGender

Different groups may experience similar exclusionary forces

Confusion and Conflation ?

“It is important that the distinction between more specific disability and broader all encompassing meaning are not blurred.

Different disadvantaged groups can have distinct identities related to their social and personal conditions and even may have multiple identities.”

Lunt & Norwich 1999


Resistance : Good practice for one subgroup of learners is good practice

for all

• School effectiveness proponents focus upon the capability of promoting learning for the majority

• Effective schools for all proponents assume that school and teaching changes geared to those with difficulties and disabilities will benefit those without difficulties.


Resistance : So how do these adaptations benefit all ?

• Error free learning identified as a factor in the education of pupil’s with Down Syndrome

• The teaching of Braille as a method of reading

• The use of chubby pencils• The provision of an electric

wheelchair and ramps


Resistance : Who is included in the all ?

• School effectiveness currently refers to the maximum not the minority

• The modal not the exceptional is the focus of interest

• Schools are not identified as effective when their lowest attaining pupils go on to make significant attainment gains

Lunt & Norwich 1999


On The Treadmill: What strategies should be in the action plan ?

Dilemmas of differenceClark, Dyson & Millward (1998)

i.e.if you treat someone differently they may lose outbut if you treat them the same they may also lose out


An inclusive approach to education involves:

• creating an ethos of achievement for all pupils within a climate of high expectation;

• valuing a broad range of talents, abilities and achievements;

• promoting success and self-esteem by taking action to remove barriers to learning;

• countering conscious and unconscious discrimination that may prevent individuals, or pupils from any particular groups, from thriving in the school; and

• actively promoting understanding and a positive appreciation of the diversity of individuals and groups within society.

“We are as interested in the youngster who has survived despite all the odds and successfully takes his or her place in society, as we are in the youngster who successfully leaves us to go to the likes of Oxford or Cambridge.

We are not particularly interested in short term gains through high profile one-off projects, more in the long game and using as many strategies as possible to meet the needs of ourpupils.”

Secondary headteacher

Features of good practice in developing an inclusive ethos included:

• a school ethos that consistently reflected a set of clearly articulated values;

• a strong feeling amongst pupils, parents, staff and visitors that they were valued;

• a clear sense that pupils were known and treated as individuals by staff;

• a strong sense of pride in the school on the part of pupils;

• good relationships between staff and pupils, and amongst pupils;

• expectations of high standards in every aspect of school life based on the principle that only the best will do;


• a pro-active and positive approach to managing behaviour and discipline, based on encouraging self-awareness, self-respect and co-operation, and focused on improvingthe conditions for learning;

• a balance between pupils’ rights and their responsibilities to the school community;

• the allocation of an appropriate degree of responsibility to pupils within the school, for their own learning and, where appropriate, for supporting others;

• concern to ensure equality of treatment and opportunity and to value the contribution that diversity in language, religion, race, culture and special educational needs can maketo the life of the school;


• opportunities for all pupils to experience success and a sense of achievement, to develop their self-esteem;

• full participation of individuals and groups with special needs in social as well as curricular activities; and

• high levels of consultation with pupils and parents on important aspects of school life and on the extent to which the school was meeting its aims

Features of good practice in leadership and management included:

• a clear vision and strategy for the development of inclusion, pursued effectively through strong leadership from the headteacher and other staff throughout the school;

• an open and accessible management style that sought to involve staff and pupils in decision making;

• good knowledge of individuals on the part of senior promoted staff;

• effective use of the school’s staffing and resources to support and extend learning opportunities, with a focus on outcomes for children, and innovation and flexibility in theway these were achieved;

• concern to monitor the impact of such innovation on individuals and different groups of pupils;

Features of good practice in leadership and management included:

• use of data on attendance, exclusions, participation in extra-curricular activities and attainment to evaluate progress in inclusion and to identify priorities for further action;

• priorities for the future that were clearly articulated in realistic development planning, shared and understood by the staff;

• a strong belief in building effective partnerships with other agencies which support children and families;

• a strong commitment to involving parents and the wider community in supporting effective learning and teaching; and

• procedures to ensure that the views of parents were sought, taken seriously and acted upon where practicable.

Features of good practice in managing the curriculum included:• well-developed systems to review and monitor the range and balance of the curriculum offered in meeting the needs of pupils;

• curriculum planning which ensured a high but appropriate level of challenge for all pupils;

• effective links between, for example, pre-school centres and primary schools, primary and secondary schools, secondary schools and further education colleges, and amongadjacent primary, secondary and special schools, including joint delivery of courses where appropriate;

• effective support for pupils at transition stages in their education to ensure smooth progression;

• good use of staffing, including inter-agency support teams, to offer flexible, alternative provision;

Features of good practice in managing the curriculum included:

• a clear strategy to monitor and evaluate the impact of flexible provision;

• the promotion of healthy lifestyles as an underpinning principle of the curriculum;

• ways of ensuring that the learning opportunities offered by the school met the needs of pupils from all cultures represented in the school, used the different cultural experiences of pupils and their families, and made clear links to the context of the community;

• good links between the schools and the community through involvement in community events and with community groups;


• a wide range of extra-curricular activities, planned and provided to encourage pupils’ personal and social development; and •ways of ensuring that all pupils could access extra-curricular and residential activitieswhere parents had financial hardship or there were barriers of disability.


• a wide range of extra-curricular activities, planned and provided to encourage pupils’ personal and social development; and •ways of ensuring that all pupils could access extra-curricular and residential activitieswhere parents had financial hardship or there were barriers of disability.

Strategy 1:

Clarity of what is expected

Strategy 2:

Predictability / Novelty

Strategy 3:

Feedback (Reward System)

Strategy 4:

Interaction/ group work

Available time for tasks

Strategy 6:

negotiation/conflict (Choice)

Strategy 7:

level of work (Complexity)

Strategy 8:

Modality

Strategy 9:

Language demand

The 9 Key Strategies (?)

Strategy 5:

Blamires 1998

Consider which strategies may be useful in enabling the learning of a child experiencing difficulty in your classroom

Inclusion

Education

terms inclusion

inclusion mike blamires

learning components

new mainstream school

practice learningas

relevant learning lunt

tomlinsons1997 view

ma new schools