Inclusive education: asking the right questions

1
Inclusive education asking the right questions

• Why inclusive education?
• What practices?
• What knowledge?
• Whose voices?

2
Why inclusive education?

• INCLUSION. Inclusion. Inclusion. It seems you can
  hardly turn a corner these days without
  encountering the word. However experts such as
  Julie Allan are constantly turning a blind eye
  to the complaints of teachers that this ideology,
  great on paper, simply does not work We are
  fobbed off with platitudes such as this is a
  challenging issue and more will be done to
  support teachers/learners Senior management,
  keen to keep exclusion figures down, turn a blind
  eye to the outrageous behaviour of pupils. In
  what other profession (except, maybe, nursing)
  would anyone be expected to put up with such
  treatment? Surely our human rights are being
  infringed. Isnt it about time we stood up as a
  profession and said No more? The education
  system will keep functioning without Allan. It
  cannot cope without teachers (Times Educational
  Supplement, 2005).

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Why inclusive education?

• Dear Mr Blair,
• We are a group of disabled and non-disabled young
  people and supporters who believe we should all
  have the right to go to our local mainstream
  school. We feel that children in special schools
  miss out on a decent academic and social
  education and those in mainstream schools, who
  hardly ever see disabled people, miss out on the
  opportunity to learn about and appreciate
  differences, rather than only seeing disabled
  people through the patronising view of the media.
  
• We feel we deserve each others friendship and
  that the segregated education system denies us
  the chance to be together and see each other for
  what we really are. We are asking you to put an
  end to compulsory segregation by changing the
  law. We want to be together!
• Yours sincerely, the Young People of Great
  Britain, c/o Young and Powerful (Shaw, 2002).

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What practices?

• The what works mentality
• The big glossies educational textbooks
  (Brantlinger)
• Present student teachers with idealised versions
  of classroom life
• Theory junk sculpture, a cacophany of
  incompatible explanations (Thomas)
• Irresponsible texts

5
What knowledge?

• Special education fixing children
• Limited knowledge of inclusive education
• Missing voices of children, parents, disabled
  people and minorities
• Exclusionary research

6
Whose voices?

• Children viewed as in need or at risk
  recipients of inclusive education
• Children and young people can tell us
• What it is like to experience inclusion and
  exclusion
• Where some of the barriers to inclusive
  education lie within schools
• How to make inclusive education happen
• How to invent new selves through the the
  experimentation with, and the experience of,
  inclusive education

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Inventing new selves through inclusion

• Childrens rights put into practice in one
  Scottish School
• School councils and assemblies ineffective at
  engaging children
• Special Needs Observation Group (SNOG)
• Alistair and his new self

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Alistair

• A I used to be, like, really really bad. I used
  to fight everybody, but now Ive calmed down
  because Ive got a responsibility to look after
  them.J Can you say more about that?A Well,
  when I started to know them I was, like, I need
  to show them I want to be good, cos I used to get
  into fights and stupid things like that but when
  I started to get to know them and got into the
  SNOG group I started my behaviour I wanted to
  start again and be good.J Is that right?A
  Yeah, cos I didnt want everybody to know me as
  Alistair the bad boy. I want to be good now. So
  thats what I was trying to do when I went into
  the SNOG group.J Wow. So, before you used to
  get into lots of fights?A yeah. Now I get into
  them not that much but sometimes Im amazing and
  no-one thinks that I used to fight and that, but
  I just kick it off again. I just want to be good
  but I cant sometimes. I think Ive really
  improved my behaviour. I used to be really bad
  but now Im not that bad. Im quite good now.

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Alistair

• A I get into a fight or I get angry because it
  didnt happen. If I didnt get to sit beside my
  friends I start to get angry. I just want to be a
  good boy now. As everybody says good boy.
  Thats what I want to be I want to prove them
  all wrong. They all think I cant behave but I
  want to prove them all wrong that I can behave..
  some people just know me as theres Alistair
  stay away from him. But Im to prove them all
  wrong that Im good. Im going to be good. I
  just want to be good now. But I was bad a couple
  of weeks ago.
• J Were you? So what happened then?
• A I was shouting at a teacher. I said something
  to him really bad and I had to get taken homeAt
  the time I was all angry and I just shouted, but
  afterwards I regretted it cos I knew Id done
  wrong, but you cant change the past but you can
  make sure the futures better.

10
Alistair

• I think everyone thats got a disability feels
  better when you treat them the sameI think
  thats how they feel they just like to get on
  with their life Cos they dont like being felt
  sorry for just because they have disabilities
  doesnt mean they should be treated differently.
  Thats what the groups all about to make sure
  people dont treat each other differently because
  they look different. So thats what weve been
  doing

11
Alistair

• I just wanted to have them cos I thought they
  looked amazing. I just wanted to be with them I
  thought they looked so cute and things like that.
  But everybody feels sorry for them but theyre
  just the same as us so they should just be
  treated the same.

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Seen and heard shifting adult/child relationships

• From consultation with children and young people
  to dialogue
• From professionals knowledge of needs to
  parents knowledge of their children
• From provision to the removal of barriers
• From teachers as the sage on the stage to the
  guide on the side
• From special needs to desires
• From codes of practice to a credo for support.

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Identifying good inclusionA credo for support

• Throughout history
• People with physical and mental disabilities
• Have been abandoned at birth
• Banished from society
• Used as court jesters
• Drowned and burned during the inquisition
• Gassed in Nazi Germany
• And still continue to be segregated,
  institutionalized
• Tortured in the name of behaviour management
• Abused, raped, euthanized and murdered
• Now, for the first time, people with disabilities
  are taking
• their rightful place
• As fully contributing citizens.
• The danger is that we will respond with
  remediation
• And benevolence rather than equity and respect.
• And so we offer you
• A Credo for Support
• Do Not see my disability as the problem

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A credo for support

• Support me. I can make my contribution to
• The community on my own.
• Do Not see me as your client.
• I am your fellow citizen.
• See me as your neighbour.
• Remember, none of us can be self-sufficient.
• Do Not try to modify my behaviour.
• Be still listen.
• What you define as inappropriate
• May be my attempt to communicate with you
• In the only way I can.
• Do Not try to change me.
• You have no right.
• Help me learn what I want to know.
• Do Not hide your uncertainty behind
• Professional distance
• Be a person who listens
• And does not takeMy struggles away from me
• By trying to make it all better.

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A credo for support

• And when we struggle with each other,
• Let that give rise to self-reflection.
• Do Not try to control me.
• I have a right to my power as a person.
• What you call non-compliance or manipulation
• May actually be the only way I can
• Exert some control over my life
• Do Not teach me to be obedient, submissive and
  polite.
• I need to feel entitled to say NO
• If I am to protect myself.
• Do Not be charitable towards me
• The last thing the world needs
• Is another Jerry Lewis.
• Be my ally against those
• Who exploit me for their own gratification.
• Do Not try to be my friend.
• I deserve more than that.
• Get to know me.

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A credo for support

• Do Not admire me.
• A desire to live a full life
• Does not warrant adoration.
• Respect me, for respect presumes equity.
• Do Not tell, correct, and lead.
• Listen, Support and Follow.
• Do Not work on me.
• Work with me.
• Kunc and van der Klift (1997)