Inclusion extends beyond simply treating everyone equally and pursues to remove barriers so that everyone can truly participate.
WHAT CONCEPTS SHOULD YOU KNOW AS EDUCATOR?
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION is a general principle about building, developing, and designing our schools and organizing the teaching so that everyone has equal opportunities to actively participate, learn, and genuinely be a member of the school society. We want everybody to be on board, which is the opposite of exclusion. This principle includes many aspects from structural elements (education policy, recruitment etc.) to classrooms and activities, methods (for example, differentiation) and pedagogies used so that all students could learn and participate together and in a way that considers different needs. The term ‘differentiation’ refers to different methods or pedagogical arrangements supporting everybody’s possibilities to learn well. The goal is to create a positive atmosphere for learning with a sense of belonging to be able to develop emotional, social and academic skills.
All students have diverse needs, and everyone must be met in a respectful and supportive way. This work includes setting safe boundaries. The common goal is to diminish and remove barriers and obstacles that may lead to exclusion. Saying all this, it must be added that in complex realities and when working with groups, this is a challenging goal and you may not succeed in it perfectly. But we can do our genuine best with the resources we have. It is important to start from somewhere and continue step by step.
Then how can we support inclusion and prevent exclusion? This is an important question for all the teachers to be reflected on. Can you already recognize activities or working practices how you support inclusion and prevent or tackle exclusion? If you made a list of good inclusive practices, what would your list include? Also, it is important to recognize challenges and reflect on next steps how to tackle them: What are the challenges in your work that might be reinforcing exclusion? What steps can be taken to address these issues?
There are many sources where you can review practical insights into inclusive practices at schools. Eg. James A. Banks (1994) has gathered a list of practical examples. Following questions are modified from this James A. Banks’ checklist.
James A. Banks refers in his text to ‘multicultural education’. Today, it is also recognized that this concept has its’ challenges in emphasizing differences more than commonalities, as well as not recognizing the structural level problematise. Still, Banks’ research and list offer a good basis to be applied to this day by bringing to our attention many practical insights to inclusion in schools. By having a conversation with colleagues and students with following questions, it will surely give a good starting point to finding strengths and challenges in your school. From there you can continue to more structural elements: Are there practices or policies that create exclusion or challenge inclusive school practices?
How are different mother languages taken into consideration during lessons? Can the pupils or students benefit from their multilingual skills and if so, how? What kind of support do those pupils get that have just started to learn the teaching language? Do all the parents receive the same information from school?
What kind of methods are being used to support different kinds of learning styles? How are learning difficulties taken into consideration in planning or during the lessons?
What kind of celebrations are organized? Do they take into consideration different worldviews or religions? What are the school meals like? Is the overall atmosphere of the school positively responsive to racial, ethnic, cultural, and language differences?
Is the approach to learning and e.g., the materials critical? Whose history are we studying? Is the narrative critical to historical aspects? What kind of pictures can you find from the materials? For example, are different minority or ethnic groups represented in the materials? Can you find in the materials views that exhibit gender bias?
HOW CAN YOU EXPLAIN IT TO THE STUDENTS?
Inclusion means actively embracing diversity so that everyone feels welcomed, valued, and able to participate and learn, with a strong sense of belonging. Exclusion, whether intentional or not, involves leaving individuals or groups out, leading to isolation, discrimination, and reduced opportunities.
An inclusive learning environment enables all students to learn and participate together by recognising different needs; while difficult to achieve fully, it requires ongoing, step-by-step effort using available resources. Everybody’s participation is important and needed.
| ACTION ITEM | Build inclusion through collaboration: Discuss inclusive practices and challenges with colleagues and students. Use shared reflection to identify strengths, name difficulties, and agree on next steps at both classroom and school level. |
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