Inclusive practice within the lived cultures of school communities: research case studies in teaching,learning and inclusion

This paper provides an account of a teacher's use of theory as a tool to develop inclusive practice through a social studies programme in a new entrant class. The account illustrates the ways in which the teacher drew on research to assist in the facilitation of an inclusive educational environment. Presented are research case studies the teacher encountered in an in-service teacher education programme, and the ‘social constructionist’ and ‘personal tragedy’ models that were used as theoretical tools to assist the teacher's planning and teaching practice. Mounted cameras, broadcast microphones and pre- and post-unit interviews with the teacher and students were used to explore the lived culture of the classroom, and the nature and effectiveness of the strategies the teacher used. An ‘interrupted narrative’ methodology engages the reader in the interplay between research and theory in the research case studies. Four major strategies used by the teacher have been identified and these are presented as theoretical tools for other teachers and teacher educators to use, critique and develop to support inclusive practice in their own contexts.     

The Passing of the Education Reform Act

When the Education Reform Bill, now an Act, was published higher education received little attention. It was a massive Bill, with major changes for the schools. But as time went on reaction outside Parliament, and lobbies within it caused higher education, but mainly the universities and their role, to be forced to the front of the political stage. Although key government concessions were made in the Commons, most of the action happened in the Lords. The government may have wanted to deflect the Lords from making substantial changes to their school reforms by giving their Lordships something to bite on in higher education. Or was it the success of the CVCP campaign, which undoubtedly raised morale in the universities, that was responsible for key changes? Was it luck, political circumstance, or the intellectual vigour of the arguments that led to government defeats on the question of academic freedom? This paper traces the passage of the Bill as it affected higher education.