Special education's zombies and their consequences

Zombies are defined as ideas or persistent myths that should have died out but have not. Special education's biggest zombie is that only full inclusion brings about true social justice and the most effective education for students with disabilities. Three examples of specific zombies about full inclusion are presented. First, that full inclusion has been internationally accepted policy since the Salamanca Statement in 1994. Second, that the feasibility of full inclusion has been demonstrated in some countries. Third, that there is extensive evidence that inclusion is more effective that special education. Six strategies that have been used to promote these inclusion zombies to the general public and legislators in various countries around the world are discussed. These are: reframing the problem; denying its reality; portraying special education as something of which most people disapprove; presenting full inclusion as something most people want; making the distinction between the two maximally stark; casting all challenges to the zombie as addressing the wrong question or relying on flawed research and demanding unthinking belief in full inclusion. It is concluded that special education's zombies related to full inclusion must be exposed, challenged and finally eradicated so that future education provision for children with disabilities can focus on achievable goals and evidence of effectiveness rather than placement.

Key points

• Special education's biggest zombie is that only full inclusion will bring true social justice to schooling because special education is essentially an inappropriate way of dealing with diversity; is a relic of the last century, unfairly discriminatory and exclusionary.
• Three inclusion zombies are: that full inclusion was recommended by the Salamanca Framework; that full inclusion has been shown to be a feasible approach to meeting all special needs; and that there is convincing research evidence that inclusion is more effective than special education. All three zombies are false but widely disseminated.
• Six strategies are used to promote full inclusion zombies: reframe the nature of the problem; deny the reality of the situation; portray special education as something generally disapproved of; present inclusion as something most people want; make a stark distinction between the two; cast all challenges to the zombie as flawed.
• Full inclusion zombies must be exposed, challenged, and eradicated, so that continued development of theory, research and practice in the education of young people with special needs can once again be the main focus of educators in this field.

     

现代教育理论视野下的成人学生观探析

现代教育视野下的成人学生观与传统教育视野下的成人学生观有着本质的不同。现代教育视野下的学生观强调每一个成人学生都是具有独特发展优势的个体,要求教育者充分相信他们;强调成人学生是主体的人,要求教育者充分发挥他们的主体精神;强调把成人学生当做一个发展的人,要求教育者用发展变化的眼光看待他们;强调成人学生是一个具体的人,要求教育者因材施教;强调成人学生是一个整体的人,要求教育者用联系的、全面的观点对待他们。     

Questioning Secondary Inclusive Education: Are Inclusive Classrooms Always Best for Students?

Educating students with special needs in inclusive settings has become a priority for westernized governments as they strive to create more inclusive societies. While recognizing the societal benefits of inclusion, teachers and parents question whether or not implementation of full inclusion will come at the expense of learners’ individual needs. This is particularly true for students with cognitive disabilities moving into the content-rich, peer-dominated environment of secondary school. It will be maintained within this article that there remains a need for segregated classrooms where students with mild cognitive disabilities can receive the specialized programming and supports that they require in a low-stress environment. Furthermore, educators should continue to prioritize the learning needs of all students with disabilities when contemplating full inclusion. Modeling an inclusive society should not mean inclusion at all costs, but considering what’s best for each student and recognizing that one size does not fit all.     

Guardians of tradition: presentations of inclusion in three introductory special education textbooks

Textbooks contain information. They also contain attitudes, beliefs and values that are conveyed covertly through a variety of mechanisms such as the use of language, the choice of topic inclusion or exclusion, the focus on certain aspects of an issue, the simultaneous omission of other aspects, and other strategies. This paper analyses discussions of inclusion and ‘full’ inclusion in three best‐selling textbooks in the US college market. To analyse the texts, I employ Brantlinger’s method of ideological critique, which applied Thompson’s strategies of symbolic construction. Implications highlight the responsibility of teacher educators: (1) to analyse their course material for ideological underpinnings; (2) to teach future educators to develop a critical consciousness; (3) to model how to consider issues from a range of perspectives; and (4) to provide opportunities for future teachers to develop the habit of listening to the viewpoints of people with disabilities and their families.     

Inclusive Practices: How Accepting are Teachers?

This research addressed the question of educators’ beliefs about the rights of children with a disability to be included in regular schools. Principals and teachers from Education Support Centres (ESCs) and attached primary schools in Western Australia rated whether they considered children with either a physical or intellectual disability should be integrated full‐time or part‐time depending upon the degree of the disability (severe, moderate, mild). Acceptance of integration was lower for the child with an intellectual disability than for the child with a physical disability. Acceptance decreased as the degree of severity increased. Educators were more accepting of part‐time integration, but mostly only for the child with a mild or moderate disability. Educators from the ESCs were more accepting than were their regular school peers and as educators became more experienced they became less accepting of inclusion. Educators appeared to have strong beliefs regarding inclusive practices and these beliefs did not necessarily reflect the momentum towards greater inclusion. Discussion of this research focuses on the link between acceptance and commitment to the policy of inclusive education.     

The impact of direct experience on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms

With current inclusion trends, teacher educators are challenged to redesign their programmes to prepare preservice teachers to educate a wide range of students in whole-class settings. This quantitative study examined the impact of an inclusion course and a field experience on preservice teachers' self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms. Based on data collected from 141 participants, the results indicated that both the inclusion course and the field experience produced significant gains in self-efficacy. Participants with prior experience with people with exceptional needs had significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than those without prior experience; however, both groups experienced significant gains after the course and the field experience. Also, the results showed that, during the field experience, as preservice teachers spent more time with direct, individual instruction with students with exceptional needs, and less time with observation and whole-class instruction, their self-efficacy was more likely to increase. Findings were discussed, and implications for practice and future research were suggested.     

Reading for meaning: problematizing inclusion in Indonesian civic education

This paper reports on the use of the Index for Inclusion in five socioeconomically different primary school contexts in Indonesia. The research was designed and developed through Australian and Indonesian teachers and teacher educators collaborative efforts over a year. The work took place during the post‐Suharto reform period and focuses on the field of Civics education. The research examines what the ethic of inclusion means to teachers participating in political and educational democratization as they attempt to embrace and develop citizenship classroom practices that feature respect for difference. The theoretical interest is in both citizenship theory and inclusion; showing how the civic cultures of school and nation intersect; and the implications of that intersection for inclusion theory and cross‐cultural theorizing of inclusion more broadly.     

Pre-service education and attitudes towards inclusion: the role of the teacher educator within a permeated teaching model

This study examines the role of teacher educators working within a permeated teaching model in Northern Ireland, and student teachers' attitudes towards special educational needs (SEN) and inclusion. A cohort of 125 student teachers representing eight subject areas responded to a survey exploring attitudes towards issues relating to inclusive education. Interviews conducted with the subject teacher educators examined their beliefs about inclusion, personal efficacy and the extent to which the outworking of a permeated model was an effective method of programme delivery. The findings indicate that while student attitudes towards the philosophy of inclusion were generally positive, those of the teacher educators were not necessarily reflected in the views of their subject group. The research evidenced a lack of uniformity in approach in promoting inclusion and inclusive practices across subjects, suggesting that the use of a permeated model did not always provide equity of student experience when selection of course content was the choice of the individual subject tutor. Teacher educators identified lack of personal knowledge, time restrictions within the pre-service programme and lack of resources as the main barriers to effective practice in supporting student teachers' learning in SEN and inclusion.     

Barriers to inclusion: insights of special and general educators from the US and St. Lucia

Globally, inclusion has been touted as best practice for working with students with disabilities. Despite the universal acceptance of inclusion, educators have identified several challenges in using inclusive practices. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of general and special educators from the United States and St. Lucia on barriers to inclusion. Using qualitative research methodology, 32 teachers were interviewed. Data were analyzed inductively and special and general educators’ perception of barriers emerged under six themes: inadequate resources and time, environmental and professional barriers, lack of administrative support, negative attitudes of stakeholders, differing interpretation on inclusion, and unsuitable curriculum and assessment. Analysis was also guided by Lewin’s (1947) theory of planned change. Results indicated that teachers across regions identified similar obstacles to inclusion with time and limited resources being the predominant problem. The main difference was that environmental and professional barriers were identified by more teachers from the US, while lack of administrative support was predominantly identified by teachers from St. Lucia. In analyzing the responses from both general and special educators, the researcher found that there were no major differences based on participants’ role. Recommendations and implications for practice are discussed.     

Conceptualisations of disability and inclusion: perspectives of educators of young children

This grounded theory study explores beliefs about disability and inclusion from the perspectives of educators of young children in their respective roles as elementary school teachers and early childhood educators, in Ontario, Canada. The social relational model described by Reindal is used as a theoretical framework for interviews with four educators. The interview data provide a theory of educators' beliefs and show the relationship of the beliefs to their practice. Implications based on the theory are presented for both policy and professional development.     

A learning experience: case study of an integrated resource teacher

This article looks at a year in the life of a special education teacher. The author reflects on her debut as an inclusion specialist in 1996 and gives an in‐depth study of how her training, previous experience and approach to teaching was put to the test in a new educational environment. This piece explores the challenges that resource teachers and other special educators may face in the light of recent policies regarding inclusion. The inclusion specialist is required to be a teacher, manager, liaison, trainer and more, as she/he learns to get the maximum from students and co‐workers in what is often an already strained workplace. Personal narrative is tied to the literature and, through hindsight, the author relates the change that took place as experience was melded with study and reflection. The result is a portrayal of how a change of policy can affect an individual teacher and researcher, as well as a whole school, and provides an uncommon research approach to the field of research into inclusivity.     

音乐教学的"情感"美

提出音乐教师应有全方位的感染力 ,要更新自我 ,进入角色 ,通过再度创造赋予作品新的生命力 ,才能充分体现音乐教学中的“情感”美 ,使学生受到真正的美的薰陶与感染。     

班级管理要“首尾兼顾”——兼谈“二八定律”和“长尾理论”在班级管理中的共生运用

教育工作者尤其是班主任在班级管理的过程中,既要做到注重对少数优等生的培养和管理,更要注重对多数中等生和所谓的“后进生”进行培优转化工作。因此,在运用“二八定律”的同时,还要充分利用“长尾理论”,克服二者之间的冲突,做到班级管理的“首尾兼顾”。     

Designing Classrooms for Diversity: Fostering Social Inclusion

Responding to the growing diversity of students within North American schools today, educators have recognized the value of social inclusion as an important goal, supporting both social-emotional and academic success for all students. This special issue explores how teachers play a significant role in promoting inclusive classes by understanding the social dynamics that operate in educational contexts. Addressing a number of different forms that diversity can take (gender, ethnicity, physical and/or mental exceptionalities), these articles rightfully focus attention on group processes that promote inclusion versus exclusion and their impact, and underscore the need for teacher training in such efforts. Supporting and extending this discussion, we present an overview of recent efforts to promote “universal design for learning” in education, which focuses on academic as well as social inclusion, in hopes that educators consider even broader approaches to celebrating diversity and teaching students to relate to others with acceptance and respect.     

Email Forum Usage as an Identity Maintenance Strategy for Educators Working with Pupils with Special Educational Needs

The moves towards the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) into mainstream settings places particular responsibilities on SEN educators in these schools, who are charged with both meeting such pupils’ individual needs and promoting more inclusive contexts. The resultant tensions may be reflected in how SEN educators see their professional identities. We studied the determinants of SEN educators’ usage of a professional email forum, one unrestricted support and information mechanism for SEN coordinators. Drawing on social psychological identity theory we predicted the usage of a professional email forum by SEN educators. We hypothesised that particular characteristics of SEN educators, relating to how they regard their professional identity, would predict the usage of the forum. An email forum survey comprising Likert‐style questions to assess identification, prototypicality, and forum usage was completed by 130 SEN educators. We found use of the forum was highest when users felt they were not central members of their professional group, but at the same time this group was important to their identities. We discuss these findings in relation to the policy and practice of educational inclusion.     

Modeling Resilience in an Alternative Education Context

Black and Latino students and the educators who serve as their advocates must be resilient in a highly contentious and racialized public education system. Modeling resilience in the public education system relies on individual assets and the extent to which one’s school possesses the resources and support needed to cultivate such assets. This study used interviews and site observations to explore the degree to which educators and students model resilience in an alternative education program. Findings suggest educators engage a sense of agency when they advocate for inclusion of Black and Latino students. In addition, an alternative education context can provide resources and cultivate strong relationships, a sense of self-efficacy and future orientation among educators and students. These findings highlight the assets educators and advocates need and the programs required to promote resilience in the public education system.     

Multiculturalism,education for sustainable development (ESD) and the shifting discursive landscape of social inclusion

Australia has a long and sometimes turbulent relationship with the migrant Other. This paper examines a component of this relationship via the window of contemporary multicultural policy. The paper begins with an analysis of the political and social conditions that enabled a national and bipartisan policy of multiculturalism to emerge as formalised federal policy during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The paper re-problematises the influences that helped shape Australia's articulation of race and ethnicity and argues that multiculturalism, within a post-September 11 environment, can no longer be framed solely within its traditional framework of social justice. The paper positions education for sustainable development (ESD) as an emerging discursive field that provides educators with an alternative road map for critiquing Australia's fluid relationship with the migrant Other. By linking the tenets of multiculturalism with ESD, this paper suggests pre-service teacher educators are presented with a productive, and at the same time politically palatable, means for regaining pedagogical traction for a semi-dormant agenda of social inclusion.     

A Review of Research on Technology-Assisted Teaching and Learning of Chinese as a Second or Foreign Language from 2008 to 2018

More and more studies are examining the use of technology in the teaching of Mandarin Chinese as a second or foreign language (L2 Chinese). The current study involved a systematic review of the literature in the field published outside China from 2008 to 2018. A total of 33 studies met the inclusion criteria. The current review study aimed: (1) to examine the research topics and technologies used in the literature; (2) to identify the benefits of, and challenges involved in, the use of technologies in L2 Chinese teaching and learning; and (3) to suggest implications for practitioners and directions for further research. The review study provides educators and researchers with an overview of recent developments in this field, which could be helpful in informing teaching practice and further research.     

Constructions of caring professionalism: a case study of teacher educators

This article investigates the professionalism of a group of women teacher educators working on initial teacher education (ITE) courses for intending primary school teachers in England. The article draws on data from an empirical study in the education departments of two universities. At the time of the research, these universities had just undergone major changes to the ways in which their ITE courses were organized and taught. The data show how the women teacher educators challenged these changes to their established ways of working and the implied threats to their constructions of caring professionalism. The article analyses how and why the changes affected the women’s senses of professionalism, drawing on Davies’ concept of gendered inclusion in professional life. It also discusses how and why these women’s form of professionalism developed within these institutional settings by identifying a cumulative convergence of discourses within the field of primary ITE.     

Inclusive attitudes: a pre‐service analysis

This enquiry has shown that pre‐service teachers in Ontario, Canada (n = 141), believe they have the prerequisite training and knowledge to be inclusive educators. They believe inclusion is effective and produces required results for both identified and non‐identified students. Inclusion was viewed as a difficult proposition dependent upon several variables such as time, resources, facilities and personnel. Inclusion challenges make them want to experiment with instructional modes, and a minority suggested they did not have a positive experience with inclusion. Most believed that they would be included in planning for inclusion and maintained a positive attitude towards inclusion.