One of the key factor would be use of appropriate to both the students 'with special needs' and other students pedagogical technologies, like online and blended learning that gives the teacher opportunity to mitigate some of the differences in the classroom through, for example, asynchronous learning.
On the one hand it is true for every class in every school that all students are different, even at very selective schools teachers would occasionally deal with marginalisation of some of the students. So inclusion makes things just a little more complex than usual. On the other hand, it takes the teacher to be a little better professional than otherwise, since occasionally she might face by far more complex pedagogical and personal challenges.
It is crucial to never concentrate on those who would have the 'special needs'.
Another key factor is to apply project and problem-based teaching, to bring the students together in common activities, to concentrate on the problems they solve, rather than their differences.
Finally, probably the most important, is to recognise and accept diversity in all forms. Indeed, inclusion is not about teaching an individual, but rather creating a rich learning community. Good luck with your research!
One of the key factor would be use of appropriate to both the students 'with special needs' and other students pedagogical technologies, like online and blended learning that gives the teacher opportunity to mitigate some of the differences in the classroom through, for example, asynchronous learning.
On the one hand it is true for every class in every school that all students are different, even at very selective schools teachers would occasionally deal with marginalisation of some of the students. So inclusion makes things just a little more complex than usual. On the other hand, it takes the teacher to be a little better professional than otherwise, since occasionally she might face by far more complex pedagogical and personal challenges.
It is crucial to never concentrate on those who would have the 'special needs'.
Another key factor is to apply project and problem-based teaching, to bring the students together in common activities, to concentrate on the problems they solve, rather than their differences.
Finally, probably the most important, is to recognise and accept diversity in all forms. Indeed, inclusion is not about teaching an individual, but rather creating a rich learning community. Good luck with your research!
Airat, thank you for adding your voice and perspective to this inquiry; it is appreciated. I hope your comments will help develop a rich sharing of thoughts on this topic by encourage others to contribute. Thank you again.
I agree with Airat and I want to add a bit more. I have done work within the elementary school and I have been conducting a needs assessment with superintendents in my area. What I'm finding is that many teachers are not sure what to do with students who are different. In some sense, there is the idea that these students are bad and should be punished. The challenge with this way of thinking is that students do not have the opportunity to gain a foot hold in their education.
These are often children who are very intelligent but who are not stimulated intellectually with the current curricula. The challenges for students is they become bored and because they are not getting stimulation in one way, they seek it in other ways, which means they may become disruptive in class.
Many teachers feel that these students are aiming at them for their behavior, but I do not believe this is the case. I think students are just asking for attention to their needs and if we could do that, we would have a better situation. To do this, there has to be an understanding between administrators and teachers to treat students as people willing and wanting to learn instead of seeing them as students who do not want to learn. This would help the school environment and this could provide an opportunity for all students.
I think the Ministry of education and oGvernmentth main ones who need to ensure the conditions for inclusive education at any school. After that, management needs to be provided by a sufficient number of assistants to be taught in such departments to be responsible and quality.
Parental engagement is key. It has to be very active and twp-way. An efficient communication system or an online gradebook will not suffice. Parents need to hold the school to account and, just as important, schools need to ask probing questions of parents. "Have you contacted the teacher?" or "Have you monitored your child's marks on the online gradebook and then contacted the teacher?".
Your question is precisely my research on the doctoral thesis I am writing.
In Greece, important obstacles to the implementation of "One School for All" are the attitudes and perceptions of teachers, parents and pupils of general and special education, the time available for teachers to differentiate their teaching, teacher training, the lack of educational material, limited οpportunities for cooperation of the involved people, inadequate support from the local community, etc. Most obstacles are directly linked to education policy.
My goal is to design and develop digital educational and entertainment material (edutainment) to make it the bridge between children of formal development and children with educational needs. I am so interested in the results of your question. Let's keep in touch with "fresh data".
Diana, when some of the students don't get appropriate attention of the teacher due to their cognitive specialty, successful practice is a double-teacher class, where second teacher is always available for those students that otherwise may be left behind in terms of mastering the curriculum. This facilitates both inclusion and higher achievements by those who otherwise would be challenged.
Observing an international community (e.g., Greece, Romania, Viet Nam, Buenos Aires)committed to inclusion and based on experience in NYC I believe the key factors are: 1. Student, Staff & Parent Expectations; 2. Education of Students, Staff & Parents; 3. Systemic involvement of students, parents & staff in the inclusion process; 4. A clear , consistent & coherent message about inclusion to the whole school community; 5. an easy to implementation model that is grounded in transparency & accountability.
Excellent discussion and report : An International response to Inclusion: EUNEC seminar on 'Making education more inclusive' http://www.eunec.eu/eunec-work-news/eunec-seminar-making-education-more-inclusive
- The school ethos should be obvious to any visitor (posters, paintings, music, etc.)
- Doing action research that would guide short and long-term decisions.
- Involving parents and PTAs in decisions that require socio-economic support.
- Never underestimate learners. Develop their analytic, synthetic and evaluation skills as early as age 6; keep learning styles and types, Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking levels, & the Multiple Intelligence theory as the main elements to consider while preparing for instruction.
- Making sure that formative assessment be used to inform instruction and thus use it frequently;
- Making sure that learners be trained to use the necessary test attacking skills.
توزيع الطلاب على شكل مجموعات ، ونجعل لك مجموعة شخصا متميزا قائدا لها، بحيث ينظم الطلاب ويوزع المهام بينهم ، ويدير النقاش ، ثم تعطى الفرصة بين فترة وأخرى لمشاركة الطلاب جماعيا، وبعد ذلك يتم التقييم من قبل الطلاب أولا ، ثم من قبل المعلم، ويعطى بعدها التوجيهات والإرشادات الخاصة والعامة
A key factor is to get a consensus between parents, pupils, educationalists, and the policy makers. It a whole package, and we can't have one without the other.
A " school-wide inclusive practice for all learners in the community" is a beautiful ideal worth aiming and working for, but it may prove difficult to implement because of the obstacles from either party/key players.
Since the answers include most of the things that I would like ti mention, i would only write what I think is missed out; differentiated instruction and assessment. I beleive that differentiation, along with other techniques suggested by other colleagues would be effective for inclusivity.