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.     

The discourse of language learning strategies: towards an inclusive approach

This paper critiques discourse surrounding language learning strategies within Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and argues for the creation of new definitions of language learning strategies that are rooted in the socio-political and socio-economic contexts of the marginalized. Section one of this paper describes linguistic imperialism theory and post-colonial education's responses to allegations therein: multicultural education theory, critical race theory, and technological egalitarianism. This section also highlights the difference between formal and informal learning in order to validate multiple learning strategies. Section two of this paper then analyses two prominent works by Oxford [2002. Language learning strategies around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. 2013. Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. South Melbourne: Heinle Cengage Learning]. This section suggests that even though Oxford [2002. Language learning strategies around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives. Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa] made attempts to incorporate diverse voices into language learning strategy theory, her efforts in turn potentiate those who already have access to education. Finally, the concluding section postulates five principles for including marginalized voices in the discourse of language learning strategies in order to propose contextualized definitions: (1) incorporate non-extractive research among the marginalized, (2) document local knowledges and practices in marginalized communities, (3) confront one's own identity of privilege before, during, and after research, (4) allow those on the margins to define learning strategies, and (5) develop diversity within TESOL.     

Non-traditional students in tertiary education: inter-disciplinary collaboration in curriculum and pedagogy in community services education in Australia

Education policy in Australia has accelerated its aim to increase participation of under-represented groups in tertiary education including students who are culturally and linguistically diverse and have low socio-economic status. These students generally have not had prior access to privileged academic discourse, which can further disadvantage them in their participation and progress in tertiary education. In this article, we outline a cross-discipline curriculum initiative and pedagogy that draws on critical literacy and the metaphor of discourse community to integrate language and academic skills into community services qualifications. We argue that this – supports the genuine participation of under-represented (non-traditional) students. It aspires to not only support students’ entry into the new academic terrain, but to enable students to adopt a critical stance to the discourses in which they are learning to participate. This we argue is crucial, when expertise is not just a way of meeting its ostensible purposes, but is also a way of exercising power. Although we report on the application of this initiative to entry level curricula (Diploma), we suggest that it has relevance and application to Bachelor levels in a range of disciplines, both in supporting pedagogy and for transition to Bachelor level study.     

Perspectives on inclusive education: learning from each other

Many courses of study are currently available that address inclusive education and, increasingly, distance education is seen as a flexible and appropriately inclusive way to deliver such courses. In this article a team of colleagues, Kieron Sheehy, Jonathan Rix, Melanie Nind and Katy Simmons, discusses the development of an Open University course, E243 Inclusive Education: Learning from Each Other, which was launched in February 2004. The team reflects on their own process of learning from each other and from the rich network of people involved, mirroring some of the course themes in their own journeys. Collaborative learning became a key theme within the course, both as a method for teaching within the ‘inclusive classroom’ and also as the process for producing a course in a contested and challenging area. This experience allowed the team to change and develop their own perspectives on important issues and, it is suggested, allowed the course to include ways in which students could be supported in having the same opportunity.     

Teaching through an ethics of belonging,care and obligation as a critical approach to transforming education

This paper considers the experiences of a New Zealand family and their ‘disabled’ daughter Clare’s ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ in her early childhood centre and the implications of these experiences for shifting from a discourse of ‘inclusion’ to ‘belonging’ based on ‘an ethics of care and obligation to others’. I argue that the meanings and understandings of ‘inclusion’ for disabled children in education are variable and that they often default to dominant deficit discourses whilst believing themselves to be ‘inclusive’. I also argue that we must consciously develop a critical awareness of how exclusionary power operates in society and in our own settings. In this paper, I present ideas drawn from a ‘pedagogy of listening’ and Te Whaariki – The New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum to critically reflect on some of the early childhood education experiences of Clare and her family. I suggest that teachers’ use of critical reflective ‘child’s questions’ can be used as tools for educational transformation towards the full and meaningful participation of disabled children in education.     

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.     

A critical and contextual approach to inclusive education: perspectives from an Indian context

Post Salamanca, inclusive education was incorporated in government policies in countries of the North and South. Since then there have been numerous books, articles, and academic debates on the topic but with little representation from the South. This article examines how inclusive education is conceptualised in India, within four recent government policies and in practice. It draws on interview data from a larger study conducted in the metropolitan city of Kolkata and document data. The findings suggest the term inclusive education is well established in government policies and amongst school heads, special educators, and counsellors. While there is consensus on the ‘goodness' of inclusive education and it being synonymous with children with disabilities, there are multiple meanings assigned to inclusive education, inclusive schools, and the includable child. Variations and discrepancies were visible not only between school staff and policy documents but even within policies and schools, respectively. A visible change is schools emerging but varying ‘consciousness of responsibility' towards children with disabilities. Based on the persisting ambiguities surrounding inclusive education, the article argues for developing contextual understanding of how education of children with disabilities can take place in India and adopting a critical stance towards inclusive education.     

Understanding visual and intertextual approaches in pedagogical and curriculum research: a pretext

In our globalised and hypertexual world, representations of curriculum reform are highly visual. The material world of these practices can be analysed through visual research methods. This paper is a pretext developed to explain the elements of the visual and intertextual approaches that can be applied in researching inclusive education through a curriculum focus. The pretext selectively situates recent developments in educational research that use visual methods as a part of the overall quest for ongoing conceptual and professional improvement of understanding a curriculum for all through practitioner and small‐scale research.     

Shaping the boys' agenda: the backlash blockbusters

This article contends that the third generation of cultural–historical activity theory as forwarded in Yrjo Engeström’s version of expansive learning offers the people of South Africa a framework within which to practically realise the objective of a more culturally inclusive and relevant education. By recognising and harnessing the divergent and even opposing principles and values within indigenous and modern western knowledge traditions, the expansive learning framework provides a vehicle for implementing the kind of education which has been conceived of by such policies as the country’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Policy and the Science-IKS curriculum. It is argued that this approach has the potential to take the indigenous knowledge initiatives beyond their current impasse in policies and bureaucratic institutions by generating new forms of cultural activity from the very conflicts inherent in the project. The principles of object orientation, multi-voicedness, historicity, contradictions as a driving force and expansive transformation are outlined at the level of interacting western and IKS, but shown to be operationalised through learning and research activity at a local level in classrooms and communities so that they generate new practices and policies from people’s daily activity.     

Factors contributing to the implementation of inclusive education in Pacific Island countries

This study reports the outcomes of focus group discussions reflected in presentations of concept maps relating to the implementation of inclusive education in the Pacific based on the views of 39 stakeholders from four countries (Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu). Five themes emerged, with one of the strongest being that of culture, community, and religion. This, amongst other ideas, is central to Pacific Islanders’ understandings of inclusive education implementation, and results in some tensions between western educational ideas and the local context. The implications of this paper clearly show that local culture and context must be accounted for, if inclusive education is to be successfully implemented in the region.     

An analysis of the different patterns of 1:1 interactions between educational professionals and their students with varying abilities in inclusive classrooms

The purpose of this study was to examine the different types and patterns of 1:1 interactions provided by general educators, special educators and paraprofessionals to children with mild disabilities (n?=?13), severe disabilities (n?=?13), and children without disabilities (n?=?13) in inclusive classrooms. General educators, special educators, and paraprofessionals' 1:1 interactions with students in three comparison groups were recorded in 17 elementary and middle school classrooms using a partial interval observation system. We found significant differences with respect to interaction frequency and content. Teachers and paraprofessionals had consistently more 1:1 interactions with students with severe disabilities, followed by children with mild disabilities, and then students without disabilities. In comparison to special education teachers and paraprofessionals, general educators interacted significantly more frequently with children without disabilities and children with mild disabilities. In contrast, paraprofessionals interacted significantly more often with students with severe disabilities and less frequently with children with mild disabilities and students without disabilities. Instructional interactions in social, behavioural, and functional domains were infrequent in these classrooms. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings for future research and practice.     

The place of imagination in inclusive pedagogy: thinking with Maxine Greene and Hannah Arendt

Conceptualising difference is a key task for inclusive pedagogy, and vital to the politics of inclusion. My purpose in this paper is to consider the place that imagination has in helping us to conceptualise difference, and to argue that imagination has a key part to play in inclusive pedagogy. To do this I draw closely on the work of Maxine Greene and Hannah Arendt. Arendt’s work provides a means to conceptualise difference whereby difference is itself at the very heart of what constitutes our humanity. Greene’s work on the arts has outlined the value of the imagination, and has argued for the place of the arts in education and pedagogy. What is needed, however, is a careful account of how the imagination is connected to politics. In this paper I take up Greene’s call to ‘release the imagination’ and, drawing on Arendt, develop an account of the relationship between the imagination, thinking, and politics and how this can be used to argue the place of imagination in inclusive pedagogy.     

Creating conversations: an inclusive approach to the international networking of knowledge about education

Networking has been central to human communication and social engagement for centuries, but has changed dramatically with the advent of new technology. However, the practice of networking has received little academic attention and tends to be undertheorised. This paper considers the impact of the global digital and communication divide, and the contested nature of inclusive education, on the task of promoting information sharing internationally. A summative case study is presented of a network, established to support the documentation of promising practice on inclusive education in countries with limited access to information and material resources. The case study uses autoethnographic methods to identify key principles for the development of an inclusive network. The significance of this paper is in its proposition of a working model of inclusive networking, which has potential to be developed into a theory.     

Solomon Islands school leaders readiness for inclusive education

In this paper, I critically examine the discourse surrounding response to intervention (RTI), a US-based education reform that has garnered a considerable amount of attention (as well as controversy) in a very short amount of time. A multi-pronged reform effort, RTI is a tiered approach to delivering instructional intervention to students at risk, an on-going and systematic model of monitoring student performance, as well as an alternative to the ability/achievement discrepancy model for identifying learning disabilities. In this paper, I argue, however, that RTI is not so much a reform but a tactic, aimed at returning to the status quo of segregated special education and reinvigorating many of the foundational assumptions of traditional special education practice.     

Establishing the foundations for an inclusive education system in Iraq: reflection on findings from a nationwide survey

This paper reports a national study on the prevalence of childhood disability designed to inform initiatives promoting improved school attendance by children with disabilities in Iraq. The study was commissioned by UNICEF, coordinated by the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, and designed by academics in the UK in consultation with Iraqi academics and professionals. The mixed methods study included a major household survey, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups across four of Iraq's 18 governorates (Erbil, Baghdad, Najaf and Basra). An initial scoping study collected background data through interviews, site-visits and document analysis, establishing the context and informing the design of the main study. In this paper, we provide an overview of the educational context in Iraq, data on school attendance and disability among children aged 6–18 years, and the perspectives and vision for education in Iraq verbalised by key stakeholders. This research provides insights into current patterns of school attendance, and considers some of the implications for inclusive education in Iraq. We conclude by discussing the potential for implementation of Iraqi policy initiatives to impact on the rights of disabled people within education and wider social provision.     

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.     

Women,Citizenship, and the Social Studies

With work currently being undertaken on formulating Australia's first national curriculum, now seems an opportune time to review the current state of play with regard to how well inclusivity is being represented in the developing documentation. An accurate understanding of “what is” is often the first step in preparing for “what may be” on a much broader scale. Accordingly, this essay addresses three matters, and does so by way of engaging in interpretive documentary analysis. First, the notion of inclusivity in education per se is introduced, and the concept itself defined. Second, an examination is undertaken of how the various state jurisdictions currently interpret the notion of inclusivity. Third, consideration is given to the work presently being undertaken on inclusivity as it relates to the national curriculum.     

From special to inclusive education in Macau (SAR)

The education for learners with special education needs (SEN) in Macau (SAR), China, has gradually transitioned over the past 30 years from a completely segregated approach to a more inclusive one. Following a review of the development of special education and the transition towards inclusion in Macau, consideration is given to the enactment of inclusive education in mainstream schools. Interviews with the leaders in a primary and secondary mainstream government school in Macau outline the ways in which learners with SEN are included in mainstream schools. The discussion focuses on a range of issues regarding the inclusion movement in Macau, including management, schooling and the inclusive model that is applied.     

Pedagogical and curriculum renewal in Australia: a visual and intertextual research approach

This article focuses on the intersection between deafness and social class in the context of the unstable economic circumstances in Scotland following the 2007 recession. More specifically, this research investigated the following in the case of young people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH): (1) the interaction between educational attainment and post-school outcomes, and social class; (2) post-school educational experiences in relation to social class. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 young people (aged 18–24) who are DHH. Interview data were analysed alongside administrative and survey data on school and post-school outcomes, and policy documentation. It was found that, in line with the mainstream population, social class is strongly associated with educational outcomes and post-school destinations. The interviews revealed that middle-class young people who are DHH were able to use social networks and the advocacy of parents to mitigate the negative consequences of deafness; this contrasted with the more troubled post-school experiences of young people from less advantaged social backgrounds. This research suggests that if the life chances of deaf young people are to be improved, both social class and deafness need to be taken into consideration by policy-makers and practitioners.