Inclusive EducationDr Julie White

As a teacher….

What do you expect you

might you have to deal

with?

OverviewDeficit, difference, diversity

The language of disability

Inclusive educational practices

And you?

Deficits

Is the cup HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY?

GLEE CLUB http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-national/glee-stars-lea-michele-

jane-lynch-following-lady-gaga-with-comic-book-1

Check out this for Glee Cast picture

What do you notice about the contents of this picture?

Deficits

Visibility

Support

Enabling practices

Visible

Invisible Diabetes

ADHD

Epilepsy

Chron’s Disease

Cystic Fibrosis

Depression

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Cancer

Haemophilia

Lupus

Eating disorder

Asthma

World Health OrganizationDisabilities is an umbrella term, covering

impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions.

Thus disability is a complex phenomenon, reflecting an interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives.

http://www.who.int/topics/disabilities/en/

What difference does language make?

Cripple

Spastic

Retarded

Mongoloid

Lunatic

Apartheid

Nazis

Stereotyping

Labelling

Rights

What inclusive practices might you use?

Speak with parents

Encourage and welcome

Be sensitive in your planning so that you include rather than exclude

Don’t think that the answer is just in resources

Every person is different – whatever their disability or health issue

Remember that standards (e.g. VELS) are made up by bureaucrats –children learn at their own pace

What can this child do?

How can I help this child to belong?

Pictures of three children shown

How can I help this child to learn and to

achieve their full potential?

Potential

How do I know what their potential is?

Do I have the right to decide?

Myth No. 1Probably the most widely-held myth about teaching students with a disability is the belief that a detailed knowledge of the child’s disability is needed before a teaching programme can be commenced. Teachers often say ‘But I know nothing about Down syndrome’ or ‘I haven’t studied cerebral palsy-how could I teach that child?

Foreman, P. (Ed) (2001) Integration and Inclusion in Action (2nd ed.) Southbank, Nelson, p. 25.

Education InstituteRoyal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne

Phone: 9322 5100

Website:

http://www.rch.org.au/edinst/index.cfm?doc_id=10385

Overrepresented groupsAlexander, R. (Ed.) (2010) Children, their World, their Education. Final Report and Recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. London, Routledge.

See chapter 8: ‘Children, Diversity and Equity’.

Over represented groups1 Boys (1 in 40, girls 1 in 100)

2 The poor

3 Particular ethnic groups. e.g Black Carribean children – attributed to low teacher expectations

Alexander (2010, p. 115)

In AustraliaIn Australia, we know that boys from particular

postcodes (poor ones) are often diagnosed as having ADHD and subsequently medicated on the referral of the primary teacher.

And we know that the poor suffer more health issues (e.g. Indigenous Australians)

See Alexander Ch 8How the education system exacerbates

inequalities

Ethnicity

Diversity

Difference

PedagogyPedagogy is the heart of the enterprise. It gives life to educational aims and values, lifts the curriculum from the printed page, mediates learning and knowing, engages, inspires and empowers learners – or sadly may fail to do so.

Alexander (2010, p. 307)

PedagogyPedagogy determines how teachers think and act. Pedagogy affects students’ lives and expectations. Pedagogy is the framework for discussions about teaching and the process by which we do our jobs as teachers. Pedagogy is a body of knowledge that defines us as professionals.

Anderson, P. M. (2005) ‘The Meaning of Pedagogy’, in Kincheloe, J. L. Classroom Teaching: An Introduction, New York, Peter Lang, pp. 53-69.

PedagogyPedagogy demands and constructs complex social relationships. Through exchange, pedagogy becomes productive, constituting the forms of knowing, the conditions for knowing, and the subjectivities of knowers. Pedagogy points to the agency that joins teaching and learning.

Britzman, D. (2003) Practice Makes Practice: A Critical Study of Learning to Teach, New York, State University of New York Press. P. 54.

Your pedagogyAs a teacher, what are your values and beliefs in relation to inclusion and disability?

How will you enact your pedagogy?

Prompts

Social justice

Rights of individuals

Schools should sort out the students from strong to weak

This is not my problem

My own research5 years

10 young people with chronic illness

All over Victoria

Visits in their homes – long conversations

Gave them cameras and video cameras

Interested in getting their perspectives on identity, connection and education

http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/keepingconnected/

3 useful websites:http://www.chronicillness.org.au/invisible/

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/healthwellbeing/wellbeing/disability/default.htm

http://www.primaryreview.org.uk/

Advice Read a lot

Be critical of everything

Ask lots of questions

Look for complexity not reductionism.

Education is a complicated business.

Think a lot

Work out who you are and what you stand for (as a teacher) this year while you’re an education student