Growing Talent for Inclusion: using an appreciative inquiry approach into investigating classroom dynamics

This paper reports on an Appreciative Inquiry project called ‘Growing Talent for Inclusion’ which has been running since 2002. The project grew out the authors’ work in a Local Authority Support Service assisting schools to meet the needs of pupils with a range of additional educational needs. Faced with a large number of individual referrals, many relating to the emotional, social and behavioural needs of pupils, it was considered that an eco – systemic approach was required and that a priority was to support pupils and teachers in developing more effective and satisfying interpersonal relationships in the classroom. ‘Growing Talent for Inclusion’ uses Appreciative Inquiry to investigate a management change process which has been used within large organisations and communities but less commonly at classroom level. It is a type of action research which is solution not problem focused and therefore lends itself well to a research focus of improving classroom dynamics. The paper introduces a 4‐D Cycle of Appreciative Inquiry: discovery, dream, design and deliver, as advocated by Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987, which guides the identification, acknowledgment and amplification of skills pertinent to improving social dynamics within the classroom and discusses the methodological issues which arise from this collaborative, participative form of inquiry. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used to identify and track the development of attributes for improving working relationships in four different primary and secondary classrooms in three schools. 76 pupils and four teachers have been involved in the project since its inception in 2002 with classes in a further three primary schools using the approach during the academic year 2005–2006. Findings from the project show an increase in the number of pupils with whom other pupils are happy to work, a reduction in the number of pupils identified as socially excluded at the beginning of the project and enhanced capacity of the group in terms of the talents identified for growth. Feedback from staff and students also suggests that the process of noticing and acknowledging strengths has contributed to improvements in working relationships.     

Specific Learning Difficulties and Peer Support

This article describes a project aimed at supporting secondary-school pupils with specific learning difficulties, using a peer support approach. Feedback obtained from the school's special educational needs co-ordinator and from the pupils themselves indicated some degree of success for the project in terms of developments in the pupils' response to learning and in their self-perceptions. The involvement of older pupils as contributors to the group is identified as one factor in the success of the project. The project format and the content of the group sessions are described in sufficient detail to enable colleagues to run similar groups should they wish.     

Children participating as researchers in primary schools: what’s in it for the teachers?

Whilst within universities, research on rather than with children/pupils is a well-established methodology, this paper reports on teachers’ responses to a schools and university-based partnership project, ‘Pupils as Research Partners in Primary (PARPP), which works to co-create pupil-led research opportunities for pupils in research projects informed by pupils’ experiences in primary schools. A previous paper, French and Hobbs, [(2017). “‘So How Well Did It Really Go’? Working with Primary School Pupils as Project Evaluators: A Case Study.” TEAN Journal 9 (1): 56–65] reported on how one PARPP project had a beneficial effect on pupils and their school environment. For this paper the project team interviewed a number of teachers whose pupils in the partner schools were involved in the pilot study phase of the project. Specifically, the teachers were interviewed to ascertain if the involvement of pupils, as lead researchers in projects exploring various aspects of the school environment, had impacted on their perceptions of pupil-led research. Findings suggest that the experiences of teachers in schools where PARPP projects had taken place had led them to re-evaluate the practicality and desirability of encouraging pupils to actively to research their school environments.     

Classroom studies into cognitive style in mathematics for pupils with dyslexia in special education in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK

The project reported here was designed to explore the cognitive style used by pupils with dyslexia when answering a range of mathematical questions. The research involved 132 pupils aged between 9 and 13 years, including 66 pupils in mainstream and 66 pupils in specialist schools, in three countries in Europe.
Detailed studies of the methods used by pupils attempting the given questions on a test of cognitive style suggested that they fell into two main categories. These pupils were observed when completing the test and their responses were categorised accordingly. The resulting numerical data were then analysed for differences between pupils within each country and between their non-dyslexic counterparts.
The results showed significant differences in the balance of cognitive styles employed by pupils with dyslexia as opposed to their non-dyslexic counterparts. Also there were interesting differences occurring between the pupils with dyslexia within the three countries on initial testing. Further differences were established after a six-month intervention period, suggesting that the characteristics of different curriculum models do have an impact upon pupils' flexibility as learners.     

HELIOS Education Gold Award Winner

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a collaborative project between the staff of twelve mainstream schools and Suffolk Local Education Authority staff which has aimed to develop differentiated teaching strategies. The project has developed teaching and assessment techniques for pupils with literacy difficulties and approaches to delivering aspects of the whole curriculum to pupils with special educational needs. The project recognizes the central importance of mainstream teachers if integration for pupils with special educational needs is to be a truly meaningful educational experience.     

Teachers’ perceptions,attitudes and feelings towards pupils of Roma origin*

In this paper, the focus is on schools’ responses to multiculturalism. We present a research project that was designed to explore feelings, perceptions and attitudes of teachers towards pupils of Roma origin in two different Greek schools. Our research strategy involved case studies and in-depth semi-structured interview was our main research technique. The findings suggest that there is a need to rethink and further investigate the issue of who is best suited to teach pupils of Roma origin in Greek schools. We believe that our research could help policymakers, educational administrators and teachers to better understand Roma pupils’ educational needs and plan ways to improve it.     

'Inclusion is more than a place': exploring pupil views and voice in Belfast schools through visual narrative

The research reported in this article by David Ryan, an adviser for special educational needs and inclusion in Belfast, was based on a participatory approach in which young people in a number of schools were encouraged to develop their ideas about inclusion. The project set out to explore any differences in perceptions between pupils with special educational needs and those without. The young people were equipped with cameras and were encouraged to generate 'visual narratives' expressing their views about the 'reasonable adjustments' that mainstream schools might make in order to become more inclusive. David Ryan concludes that education must be personalised so that schools take account of the perspectives of individual pupils in their endeavours to become more inclusive. He also notes that young people appear to have strongly-held views about some of the sensory aspects of the school environment.     

The educational experiences of pupils with a Statement for special educational needs in mainstream primary schools: results from a systematic observation study

Findings from the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff project showed that day-to-day support for pupils with special education needs (SEN) in mainstream UK schools is often provided by teaching assistants (TAs), instead of teachers. This arrangement is the main explanation for other results from the project, which found TA support had a more profound, negative impact on the academic progress of pupils with SEN than pupils without SEN. There is, however, surprisingly little systematic information on the overall support and interactions experienced by pupils with the highest levels of SEN attending mainstream schools (e.g. those with Statements). The Making a Statement project was designed to provide such a picture in state-funded primary schools in England (e.g. schools attended by children aged between five and 11). Extensive systematic observations were conducted of 48 pupils with Statements and 151 average-attaining ‘control’ pupils. Data collected over 2011/12 involved researchers shadowing pupils in Year 5 (nine- and 10-year olds) over one week each. The results, reported here, show that the educational experiences of pupils with Statements is strongly characterised by a high degree of separation from the classroom, their teacher and peers. A clear point to emerge was the intimate connection between TAs and the locations, in and away from the classroom, in which pupils with Statements are taught. The currency of Statements – a set number of hours of TA support – is identified as key factor in why provision leads to these arrangements, and appears to get in the way of schools thinking through appropriate pedagogies for pupils with the most pronounced learning difficulties.     

Writing the Unseen Poem: can the writing of poetry help to support pupils' engagement in the reading of poetry?

This article discusses a small scale project investigating the role of writing poetry in order to strengthen pupils' responses to reading and analysing poetry. This takes place within the context of preparation for a question on unseen poetry in a high stakes examination, in a contemporary climate where creative responses to poetry are reported to be less prevalent than analytical responses within an assessment‐focused curriculum. The project investigates strategies to inspire pupils to write their own poetry and to analyse the work of their peers in order to ‘put themselves in the shoes’ of the poet, supporting them in preparing for the examination question. It also involves teacher‐modelling of the writing and reading processes to support pupils in feeling part of a reading and writing community.     

Textual Cohesion and Effective Reading: A teaching strategy

The unfamiliarity of the language of books sometimes contributes to the limited effectiveness with which pupils read. An action research project was carried out with a group of primary school teachers and their pupils, who belong to minority ethnic groups, in order to develop a teaching strategy to help these pupils to attend to the cohesive elements of texts, alongside the conceptual content. The teachers selected texts for reading and discussion with their pupils and they included in the discussion some prepared questions aimed at recovering the meaning of cohesive devices in the texts. The teachers found that they developed their own awareness of the linguistic demands on pupils of the texts which they selected, and the responses of the pupils demonstrated the contribution of the cohesive elements of the texts to the interplay of the factors, linguistic and conceptual, which influence pupils' effective reading.     

Using Microcomputers in the Classroom

Drawing upon their practical experience as teachers and as teacher trainers, the authors describe development work done in a school for children with severe learning handicap. The project in question focused upon the communication and learning needs of a boy with athetoid cerebral palsy. Over a period of time, both the computer hardware (mainly communication devices) and software programmes were developed which have made an incalculable contribution to the boy's contact with his teachers and his fellow‐pupils. The work done has already been adapted and made available for other pupils.     

Facilitating the social participation of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools: A review of school-based interventions

Inclusive education of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) has become a global trend. However, a considerable number of studies have shown that mere enrolment in mainstream classrooms is not enough to support the social participation of pupils with SEN. These children are at risk of experiencing difficulties in their involvement with peers at school. Thus, the question arises of how social participation can be fostered in mainstream classrooms. A systematic review of 35 studies was conducted to investigate which interventions are effective in inclusive mainstream preschool and elementary classrooms. Teaching interaction strategies to typically developing pupils, group activities in the academic context (cooperative learning and peer-tutoring), support groups for pupils with SEN, and training paraprofessionals to facilitate social interactions, were found to improve the social participation of pupils with SEN in general education classrooms. Nevertheless, there is need for more intervention studies implementing a variety of strategies and including different groups of pupils with SEN.     

Teachers' views of their pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties

This paper explores the perceptions of a small group of teachers of pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in north‐eastern England. The focus of the paper is their views of their pupils who have PMLD. A total of 14 teachers were interviewed, both individually and in small groups over a four‐year period. This paper stems from the individual interviews, which were validated at the group interview stage. Through the interviews we hear how neurological, developmental and co‐existence issues help shape teachers’ views of their pupils. Thirty years ago this group of pupils received their education from the Department of Health; today they are in schools and we hear the teachers in this project reflect on their students’ learning needs in positive and professional ways. What emerges through this research is the need for teacher educators to support professional development experiences that enable teachers to integrate the distinct perspectives of parents and the more contemporary theories of disability into their understandings of this group of learners. In this way, teachers of pupils with PMLD would build upon their professional knowledge base to include wider parental and societal perspectives.     

INCLUSION: Special or inclusive education: future trends

In this article, Lani Florian, Professor of Social and Educational Inclusion at the University of Aberdeen, examines the relationships between ‘special’ and ‘inclusive’ education. She looks at the notion of specialist knowledge among teachers and at the roles adopted by staff working with pupils with ‘additional’ or ‘special’ needs in mainstream settings. She explores the implications of the use of the concept of ‘special needs’– especially in relation to attempts to implement inclusion in practice – and she notes the tensions that arise from these relationships. She goes on to ask a series of questions: How do teachers respond to differences among their pupils? What knowledge do teachers need in order to respond more effectively to diversity in their classrooms? What are the roles of teacher education and ongoing professional development? How can teachers be better prepared to work in mixed groupings of pupils? In seeking answers to these questions, Lani Florian concludes that we should look at educational practices and undertake a thorough examination of how teachers work in their classrooms. She suggests that it is through an examination of ‘the things that teachers can do’ that we will begin to bring meaning to the concept of inclusion.     

Researching into Some Primary School Children's Views About School: Using Personal Construct Psychology in Practice with Children on the Special Needs Register

This article describes a research project, which collected the views of 13 junior aged children on the special educational needs register of one school about their education. The techniques used for eliciting their views were a series of personal construct psychology (PCP) conversations based on drawings produced by the children of themselves in school. A case study approach was taken within the naturalistic paradigm of 'constructivist inquiry'. The findings indicated that social activities were of greater importance for the pupils than formal learning experiences. Peer relationships were paramount and these defined the positive or negative experiences the pupils had of school in general. The pupils were able to describe a range of problem solving strategies for resolving peer group difficulties. The implications of the study are also discussed.     

What trainees in England learn about teaching pupils with special educational needs/disabilities in their school-based work: the contribution of planned activities in one-year initial training courses☆

The project reported in this paper addresses the issue of trainee teacher learning with regard to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) during the school placement element of one-year postgraduate teacher training programmes in England. Through a focus on the university/school partnership, school organisational and classroom pedagogic processes, the project aimed to improve knowledge and understanding about teacher education relevant to the special educational needs and inclusive education fields. Specifically, the project examined and compared the school-based learning and outcomes of postgraduate teacher trainees in primary and secondary programmes that used different approaches to preparing teachers for the special needs aspects of their future teaching. Three kinds of school-based approaches are examined: one that involved a practical teaching task; a second which involved a pupil-focused task (but not practical teaching); and a third where there was no specific pupil-focused SEND task other than class teaching practice.

The paper reports on what and how trainees learned about teaching pupils with SEND and on differences related to the use of SEND tasks. Findings indicate that what trainees learn about teaching pupils with SEND is strongly interlinked with what they learn about teaching in general. The pedagogic knowledge learned from undertaking planned pupil-focused SEND tasks, however, centres on pupils’ personal learning needs, something that was less likely to be learned from only whole-class teaching experience. Implications for schools, initial teacher education (ITE) providers, national and international policy are presented as evidence-informed questions with possible options.     

Towards inclusion — our shared responsibility for disaffected pupils

Finding ways of successfully including pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools remains a significant challenge as we move towards a more inclusive future. In this article, Fiona MacLeod, Upper School Co-ordinator at Willow Grove School, a special school for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties in Wigan, describes a pilot project designed to promote the reintegration of pupils at transfer to the secondary phase of their education.
She reports on a series of successful placements and discusses the factors that may have helped to sustain the inclusion of some of the pupils in her pilot group. The work described in this article was undertaken as part of the author's MA (special educational needs) programme at Lancaster University.     

Disciplinary exclusion: the influence of school ethos

Disciplinary exclusion is a strategy used by some schools in response to challenging behaviour. While some studies have explored interventions that can be implemented to reduce the exclusion of ‘at risk’ pupils, others have considered how the underlying school ethos influences how challenging behaviour is understood and managed. The current study explored factors within school ethos that may influence how challenging behaviour is managed. It aimed to identify differences in school ethos between excluding and non-excluding primary and junior schools in areas with the highest rates of social deprivation. Three focus groups and two interviews were initially conducted to identify factors that staff believed to be relevant to the inclusion and exclusion of pupils. Focus groups and interviews explored staff perceptions of practices in school and beliefs about inclusion and exclusion. Inductive-semantic thematic analysis was performed to identify statements indicating a difference between excluding and non-excluding schools. Statements were used to create a questionnaire that was distributed to 16 schools and completed by 128 staff. Thematic analysis identified 13 themes, 10 of which indicated a difference in view between excluding and non-excluding schools. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences in responses between groups on the themes of Responsibility, Clarity, Consistency, Behaviour Management, Beliefs about Inclusion and Beliefs about Reducing Exclusion. Further analysis also indicated greater consistency across responses from non-excluding school staff. These findings provide support for previous literature emphasising the importance of some key features of school ethos in creating an inclusive environment.