Hi Rhonda,

You could look at the work by Carol Tomlinson and maybe approach it from the visible evidence of differentiated practice? Hope this helps.

Thanks, Anna. That is a good suggestion. Carol Tomlinson has done seminal work.

Sounds like a project that could be untangled by looking at the work of Yrjo Engestrom at Helsinki, and using the Activity Theory unit of analysis to lay out the various elements of the challenge. The AT unit of analysis is driven by purpose; any time you have a set of relationships that are joined together in some purpose, it's illuminating to try laying them out on the AT expansive learning model. I this case you would have to distinguish between the teacher as subject and the students as subject: is the teacher an instrument of the students' learning in an activity system intended to create a collective learning experience?

Hi Rhonda

I have just published my research in this area using a poststructural framework. 

Watson, K. (2017). Inside the 'Inclusive' Early Childhood Classroom: The Power of the 'Normal' New York: Peter Lang.

Inclusive teaching strategies refer to teaching approaches that address the needs of students with their own backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities. These strategies contribute to an overall inclusive learning environment, in which students feel equally valued.  

So before teaching, how do you record, analyze, reflect on the individual needs of students?  Does the IFSP and IEP contribute anything to your understanding of a teacher in a classroom designed to homogenize and create obedient subjects and employees and good, non-protesting citizens? (institutional and contexts and cultural norms vary)

When engaged in teaching, how do you observe interactions that set off an ADS student's buttons or become aware of how a deaf student is processing information or whether the one in the wheelchair with CP over in the 3rd row by the door can do a cluster activity or find accommodation for a team assignment?  

Finally, assessment (the holy of hollies in neoliberal capitalist societies) Is about what the teacher learned about a student's learning style and how they produce knowledge. Then passing it on to other teachers working with the student. The narrative of the student about what they learned and how this changes them is key.  Assessment that is individualized cannot at the same time be standardized, in spite of what the yes we canners wish to say on the subject.  Either the students are exploring a field with coaching and lively discussion or they are being fed what the state educational standards people say is necessary and appropriate at an age level.

So when comments above recommend looking at Finish models, I am not surprised.  The Finns gave up on state-mandated standards and they are doing wonderfully.

Hi

Do you know the book "Index for Inclusion" - Tony Booth & Mel Ainscow? It's a good theoretical help for a research in inclusive seetings.

Paula

Thanks, everyone! This is a great 'Brain's Trust'. I will follow up Ainscow's work as well as Tomlinson's - I've received a really good instrument from her.

Thanks!

Rhonda

Evangelia (Zaimi) March used a triptych of robust but malleable constructs (i.e., environments, activities and interactions) to analyze inclusive contexts in her PhD in 2008 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION. Her doctoral dissertation is available online through the University.

The following chapter, based on the study, is available on ResearchGate. You can see if the tritych is useful for your work.

Gaffney, J. S., & March, E. Z. (2013). Mapping terra incognita: Evolving a flexible structure to conceptualise inclusive education in novel contexts. In M. East & S. May (Eds.), Making a difference in education and social policy (pp. 51-73). Auckland, NZ: Pearson.

Great question and responses,

Jan

I recommend a model of educational dialogue about which I write in many of my publications