Student researchers in the middle: using visual images to make sense of inclusive education

Using 'visual narrative' theoretically and practically, this paper explores issues of inclusive education, during a period of curriculum reform and renewal in Australia. In Australia, the middle years of schooling, Years 5 to 9, are well researched and known as a period when students disengage with learning and participation in schooling. Research in the middle years affirms the importance of engaging with 'student voice'. In this special edition, we are aiming to highlight how the use of visual imagery can be a rich source of understanding, illustrating students' self-knowledge of schooling. Methodologically we refer to our research approach as 'visual narrative'. Other writers in this edition use the term 'photo voice'. For researchers it is important to highlight the differing orientations that 'visual narrative' and 'photo voice' signify. The terms are not mutually exclusive but highlight differing research possibilities and emphasis. Our argument, through the use of visual narrative produced by middle years' students, is that visual texts open out some innovative possibilities for understanding inclusive education and supporting new relationships with our research community. Such approaches are not new; however, in a field such as special education that purports to support marginalised groups, liberatory research methods are under-represented. This paper aims to open out these discussions and provide a way forwards for teachers and researchers interested in breaking apart why it is that inclusive education remains a never-ending struggle.     

Enhancing the contribution of visual methods to inclusive education

This paper examines the use of visual methods in studies of inclusive education. Visual methods have been applied to/with pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in the past but the application has tended to be outside rather than inside schools. We argue that understanding contextual reflexivity is important if visual methods are to be successfully adapted to meet the needs of inclusive research. A case study is used to provide an insight into the strengths, weaknesses and difficulties of mixed method visual research. The final section of the paper explores potential applications, strategies and techniques for including visual methods in inclusivity research.     

Immigrant students' experience of schooling: a narrative inquiry theoretical framework

We explore immigrant students' experience of schooling focusing on Yang Yang and his family. We present insights into immigrant Chinese educational experience in Canada and bring forward a narrative‐inquiry framework for the study of student experience. We find that—contrary to some of the expectations of Chinese immigrants—family relations, student learning, and school policies are complicated, with families finding it difficult to translate Chinese educational values in the Canadian context and their children facing serious learning and social difficulties.     

A case study of inclusive school development: a journey of learning

A global recognition of students' rights requires school organizations to recognize, value and provide for diversity. The move towards more inclusive schooling in Queensland, Australia, requires schools to address professional development on two levels: reculturing of the school to reflect inclusive beliefs and values; and enhancement of teacher skills and knowledge to better address the learning needs of all students. The recently developed Index for Inclusion 2000) is one resource that can facilitate the process of professional development and facilitate change in school culture, policy and teaching practice. The process used incorporates a critical friend and peer mentoring model within an action research framework, which together provide benefits for all involved in the professional development process. The journey of learning incorporating the phases of the Index for Inclusion are reported along with discussions for future directions.     

Civic learning: moving from the apolitical to the socially just

This study examines the knowledge and skills that characterize civic learning for young people. Building on a literature review, it reports an exploratory case study with students and teachers in four secondary schools in the Ottawa, Canada region. The perspectives of researchers co‐operating with educators and students against a backdrop of provincial government curricula and secondary literature on youth citizenship engagement provide an enriched understanding of the state and potential of civic learning. It concludes that current civic learning is primarily characterized by procedural knowledge and compliant codes of behaviour that do not envelope students in collective action for systemic understandings of political issues. This study argues for renewed efforts to put social justice at the heart of student learning. To present a convincing civic educational programme, schools should prepare students to analyse power relationships, investigate the ambiguities of political issues, and embrace opportunities for social change.     

Forging inclusive practice in ethnically-segregated school systems: lessons from one multiethnic,bilingual education classroom in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

This paper offers a perspective on bilingual education (BE) as inclusive education. Ethnolinguistically-separated schools and classrooms in Sri Lanka resulted from an enduring, mother tongue instruction policy which abetted a deeply ethnically-divided nation. More recently, Sri Lanka has experimented with a BE programme in pursuit of enriching the perceived value of the local mother tongues as well as building students’ knowledge of English as a global language. This article presents analysis of the inclusive practice of two Sri Lankan BE teachers in their attempts to advance social cohesion through bilingual education. We demonstrate the logic of practice focussing on four features of the teachers’ work: promoting interethnic relations through regular change of seating arrangements; equal delegation of responsibilities and absence of favouritism; cooperative group work in ethnically heterogeneous groups; and, promoting heteroglossic language practices or translanguaging. The positive, inclusive consequences of these practices are corroborated by focus group data gathered from students in the school. We argue that teachers have a significant role in changing the logic of practice in the classroom, and that the implicit rules teachers encode in their pedagogy can reorient exclusionary, ethnocentric identity positioning towards more inclusive, supraethnic identities.     

Preparing for inclusive education: the pre-course experiences of prospective secondary school teachers on a UK-based training course

Progress towards inclusive education has been linked to the professional development of teachers, including their initial training. This study explores the range and nature of the experiences that students bring to a one-year Post Graduate Certificate in Education course for prospective secondary teachers in England. The data was gathered through questionnaires given to the whole cohort. There was a high response rate although a consequence of this approach was a reliance on self-reports. The analysis illustrates the diversity of experiences across the cohort that may impact on beliefs and attitudes of the individuals. If planning of teacher development is to be effective, providers need information of this type to inform their planning and delivery.     

Resourced provision: the impact of inclusive practices on a mainstream primary school

This personal account from a special educational needs co‐ordinator illustrates the negative impact that resourced provision has had on one school. The provision caters for children with communication and interaction difficulties and is housed in a mainstream primary school. For this school, while the provision has had a beneficial impact on the development of inclusive values among pupils, it has also led to a decline in the overall effectiveness of the school. The achievement data of pupils in the provision has had a detrimental impact on overall school performance data. Current narrow measures of school effectiveness in England mean that schools with increasingly diverse student populations can pay the price for their commitment to inclusion, as this example illustrates.     

Role of secondary schools in the face of student absenteeism: a study of schools in socially underprivileged areas

This paper analyses the reactions to absenteeism in public secondary schools in underprivileged areas of the city of Barcelona, Spain. The data presented are part of a doctoral thesis undertaken after the implementation of the Spanish comprehensive education reform (LOGSE) and they draw attention to important differences between schools. The study examines schools’ practices in the face of absenteeism and assesses their proactive or reactive responses to the requirements of student inclusion, studying their working methods and teacher cultures.     

‘Asking how instead of why’: exploring inclusive approaches to teaching and learning through pupil and teacher responses to a school link project

The association of inclusive education with an equity discourse means that the question of ‘how’ to include is one currently faced by many teachers in the UK. Written by Eve Griffiths, who teaches English, literacy, media studies and drama in a special school in Wolverhampton, this article constructs a set of inclusive principles for teaching and learning and reports on pupil and teacher responses in mainstream and special schools to a three‐week literacy project in which these approaches were implemented. Research diaries and small group‐based interviews were used in both educational settings to access the opinions of 20 pupils with a Statement of special educational needs. The research found that the pedagogical approaches were successful in breaking down some barriers to inclusion between the two groups of pupils, but Eve Griffiths concludes that significant changes would need to be brought about for there to be any longevity in the eradication of these obstructions.     

Transforming for inclusive practice: professional development to support the inclusion of students labelled as emotionally disturbed

Few models of professional development (PD) are designed to bring about the fundamental shifts in thinking about student behaviour that can support the inclusion of students labelled as having emotional/behavioural disabilities within general education classrooms. In this paper, we seek to accomplish two goals: (1) we briefly delineate the features of a model of PD to build the capacity of teachers to create hospitable classrooms for students with labels of emotional disabilities, and (2) we use the context of this PD model to describe the transformative process that occurred within the specialists who implemented it within an urban school district. In narrating their process of change, we illuminate the conditions for learning supported by this model and its potential for promoting inclusive practices within urban schools.     

Exploring the participation and agency of students with special education needs in a Macau-Chinese secondary school

The research explores the perceptions of five secondary school students with special education needs (SEN) about their participation in learning, group membership, and agency within an inclusive school in Macau SAR. This goal is achieved by using students' voices documented in open-ended interviews and is underpinned by the conceptual framework of heutagogy. The aim is to shed light on students' perceptions on school effectiveness in supporting their needs through successful participation and agentic possibilities. Findings showed that students were more prone to social rejection and being isolated or bullied than their peers. They were struggling to feel included or participate, their needs were only partially being met, and they had few opportunities to exert influence on their educational trajectories. Recommendations are provided to assist educators and schools in enhancing students with SEN to connect to the learning process and community, with the provision of appropriate learning adjustments and more active approaches to ensure their acceptance by mainstream students, including the formation of coaching peers to assist in developing social and academic skills under teacher's scaffolding practices. This study highlights the contribution of the heutagogical perspective to advance research on the participation and agency of students with SEN in mainstream schools.     

Accessibility and autonomy preconditions to ‘our’ inclusion: a grounded theory study of the experiences of secondary students with vision impairment

In this paper, I report core findings of a small‐scale qualitative study that I conducted with a group of young people with vision impairment who attended an inclusive secondary school in the Australian state of Queensland. My objective was to capture their voiced experiences of their schooling through face‐to‐face interviews and to develop a substantive theory that was grounded in the collected data. Relevant to the study was my status as an insider researcher, which impacted both data collection and analysis. Here, I develop the methodological process that I followed and present core findings of the study. These findings shed light on the practices within schools that are designed to promote inclusion yet perpetuate exclusion for students with impaired vision.     

Facilitating the learning of all students: the ‘professional positive’ of inclusive practice in Australian primary schools

This article considers the positive aspects of inclusion in Australian primary schools through a historical account of the nation's journey to adopting current policies and practices. The authors suggest that across the different states the picture is positive as there are clear attempts to make Australian schools as inclusive as possible. The importance of adequately resourcing schools to support teachers in the implementation of an inclusive environment is discussed as being second in importance to teacher attitudes to inclusion. The combination of these two factors has a direct influence on a school's ability to be effectively inclusive as it is the teacher at the ground level who must ensure inclusion is effective. As a result of improvements in teacher education programmes at universities, where inclusive education subjects are now compulsory, teaching in an inclusive environment is the ‘professional positive’ of teacher practice, which may potentially improve educational outcomes for all involved.     

Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: a review of the literature

Schools have the potential for significant impact on the lives of Australian students with a refugee background. Many of these young people speak at least one language other than English, have previous histories of interrupted schooling or have experienced trauma during times of displacement and forced migration. Combined with the further challenges of settling within an unfamiliar cultural frame, these students experience a range of circumstances which are not present for many of their Australian-born peers. Australian students with a refugee background have diverse skill and abilities, with many showing independence and resilience. Opportunities for academic learning and development of social capital within the school context can be enhanced with relevant pedagogy and policy which draws upon and highlights the positive individual qualities that these students exhibit. Australian school practices are shaped by both state and federal education policies, which are interpreted and applied by individual schools within their own frameworks. This review considers recent literature on the experiences of Australian students with a refugee background as they participate in schooling, with a focus on the ways in which schools provide either opportunities or barriers to engagement.     

从终身教育、全民教育到全纳教育--国际教育思潮发展趋势探析

在近期的国际教育思潮发展过程中 ,突出的有三大思潮 :终身教育、全民教育和全纳教育。这三大思潮 ,荡涤了传统教育的痼疾、弊病 ,引领了国际教育的发展走势 ,促进了各国教育的改革和发展 ,反映出国际教育发展主潮特征     

Towards a more inclusive approach to intervention research: the case of research in learning disabilities

Intervention research in special education tends to rely on comparisons of mean differences to determine instructional strategies that ‘work’ for students with disabilities. This reliance on mean differences obscures individual variation that is always present in educational research. This paper examines the degree to which individual variation is acknowledged in reports of intervention research published in four leading learning disabilities journals over a five-year period. It was found that, although there was considerable variance present in intervention studies published in these journals, this variability was often unacknowledged. This paper concludes with suggestions for how researchers might acknowledge variance in their research.     

Using activity theory to evaluate a professional learning and development initiative in the use of narrative assessment

Analysis of the impact of professional learning and development (PLD) programmes for educators is complex. This article presents an analysis of a PLD initiative in which classroom teachers learned to use narrative assessment for students with ‘high’ and ‘very high’ learning needs. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the analysis showed how various tensions arose across the activity system of participants during the initiative. Tensions were associated with the roles of those involved, the narrative assessment approach, and the rules of the initiative. While the new narrative assessment approach resulted in benefits for the students and their parents, role conflict emerged in relation to established assessment approaches already used by the educators. It is argued that CHAT enables a more nuanced understanding of the complex ways in which teachers actually engage with official curriculum, pedagogy or assessment PLD initiatives, than do theories that position teachers as simply resistant to change.     

Increasing student voice and empowerment through technology: not just listening to the voice of the learner but using their digital capabilities to benefit a whole college community

ABSTRACT

Perceived as fostering democracy in educational institutions, approaches which encourage student voice are being promoted as supporting greater social equalities and strengthening students’ commitment to their learning. Using student voice as a theme, research funded by Jisc set out to hear learner views and explore their digital preferences when learning in a vocational context. The aim of this research was to enhance digital student practice by exploring how learners experience, use, and wish to work in, a technology-rich environment. A literature review was undertaken to inform the research ?ndings. This article focuses on innovative practice, discovered by serendipity, that went beyond the tenets usually described in the literature on student voice. Using a case study approach this article reports on work underway in one FE institution where students have been appointed as ‘Digi-Pals’ and given a key role to embed the use of digital 25technologies into student and sta? practice. Two theoretical lenses, one focused on technology and the other on student voice, are applied to explore innovative practice. The community of Digi-Pal practice is described and recommendations made for further adoption across the FE and Skills sector.     

Creating spaces to belong: listening to the voice of girls with behavioural,emotional and social difficulties through digital visual and narrative methods

While interest in the voice of children and young people has grown alongside concern for their rights and participation, for those excluded from mainstream education or with a label of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, the issue of student voice takes on particular relevance. Yet the voices of these young people, and particularly girls, are often hidden and unheard both in education and educational research. Using digital visual and narrative methods we have been listening to girls excluded from mainstream education. They attend Kahlo School, a small special, girl-only secondary provision in the south of England, and our focus has been on gathering their views as stakeholders in the school and engaging them in curriculum and school development. In this paper, we reflect on the affordances of visual and digital methods and on how the girls perceive their educational inclusion and exclusion. We discuss the themes of space, identity, relationships and community that have emerged from analysis of the data, and conclude by outlining the importance of the core messages about belonging and not belonging that we heard in the girls' accounts.