Exploring inclusive pedagogy
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine teachers' craft knowledge of their practice of inclusion in terms of what they do, why and how, and identify practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that met the standard of extending what is generally available to everybody, as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some.
Abstract: This paper reports on a study designed to examine teachers' craft knowledge of their practice of ‘inclusion’ in terms of what they do, why and how. The research approach offers an important alternative to studies of students with ‘additional needs’ and the search to articulate the specialist knowledge and skill required to teach them. Through classroom observations and interviews with 11 teachers of students across the full age range in two Scottish primary schools, we investigated how teachers make meaning of the concept of inclusion in their practice by exploring theoretical assumptions drawn from the literature about inclusive pedagogy. The analysis enabled us to identify practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that met the standard of extending what is generally available to everybody, as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some. Examples of the inclusive pedagogical approach are provided.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a study of a new initial teacher education course that starts from the premise that the question is not whether teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach in inclusive classrooms, but how to make best use of what they already know when learners experience difficulty.
Abstract: As the concept of ‘inclusive education’ has gained currency, students who would previously have been referred to specialist forms of provision, having been judged ‘less able’, are now believed to belong in mainstream classrooms. However, it is often argued that teachers lack the necessary knowledge and skills to work with such students in inclusive classrooms. This paper reports findings of a study of a new initial teacher education course that starts from the premise that the question is not whether teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to teach in inclusive classrooms, but how to make best use of what they already know when learners experience difficulty. The theoretical rationale for the development of the course is outlined and examples of how teachers might engage in more inclusive practice are presented.
291 citations
Cites background from "Exploring inclusive pedagogy"
...…creation of a rich learning environment characterised by lessons and learning opportunities that are sufficiently made available to everyone so that all are able to participate in classroom life (for an in-depth discussion see Florian, 2010; Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2010; Florian & Kershner, 2009)....
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TL;DR: Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to respond to individual differences between learners but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when some students are treated differently as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: This study reports on the development and use of an analytical framework for interrogating the practice of newly qualified mainstream teachers recently graduated from a one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) that was informed by a concept of inclusive pedagogy. Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to respond to individual differences between learners but avoids the marginalisation that can occur when some students are treated differently. The analytical framework was based on the principles of inclusive pedagogy, which were linked to the core themes of Aberdeen University’s PGDE course. Its purpose was to provide a robust and coherent framework for documenting inclusive pedagogy in action. This study describes how the framework was developed and used with new teachers in order to further understanding of how reforms of initial teacher education can impact inclusive teaching and learning. The framework was initially designed in the context of...
238 citations
Cites background or methods from "Exploring inclusive pedagogy"
...Equally, it is not easy for an observer to know when and how teachers are extending what is ordinarily available in classrooms to everybody in response to the particular diversity of a class group (Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011)....
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...These attributes were derived from an analysis of the practices of how experienced teachers do their work (Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011; Black-Hawkins and Florian 2012)....
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TL;DR: In this article, a framework for capturing evidence of inclusive education in action is presented as an example of a tool that is both theoretically informed and can be used to transcend contextual differences to obtain a deeper understanding of the ways in which teachers enact inclusive pedagogical practices.
Abstract: Inclusive education takes many forms, raising important questions about what constitutes good practice, what counts as evidence of such practice and how it can be known. This paper responds to Goransson and Nilholm’s critical review of research on inclusive education by considering why a clear working definition of inclusion has thus far proved elusive. It agrees that new types of studies and more theoretically informed work is needed if knowledge about inclusive education is to advance. A framework designed to capture evidence of inclusive education in action is presented as an example of a tool that is both theoretically informed and can be used to transcend contextual differences to obtain a deeper understanding of the ways in which teachers enact inclusive pedagogical practices.
216 citations
Cites background from "Exploring inclusive pedagogy"
...These were based on a concept of inclusive pedagogy that reflected what we had learned from studies of experienced teachers who were able to sustain a commitment to inclusive education over time (Black-Hawkins and Florian 2012; Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities of combining theories of inclusive pedagogy and teacher agency for developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice in teacher education, including nurturing commitment to social justice as part of teachers' sense of purpose; developing competencies in inclusive pedagogogical approaches, including working with others; developing relational agency for transforming the conditions of teachers’ workplaces; and a capacity to reflect on their own practices and environments when seeking to support the learning of all students.
Abstract: Policies around the world increasingly call for teachers to become ‘agents of change’, often linked to social justice agendas. However, there is little clarity about the kind of competencies such agency involves or how it can be developed in teacher education. This paper draws on theories of teacher agency and inclusive pedagogy to clarify the meaning of teachers as agents of change in the context of inclusion and social justice. Inclusive practice requires the collaboration of teachers and others such as families and other professionals. Agents of change work purposefully with others to challenge the status quo and develop social justice and inclusion. We discuss the possibilities of combining theories of inclusive pedagogy and teacher agency for developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice in teacher education. These possibilities include: 1) nurturing commitment to social justice as part of teachers’ sense of purpose; 2) developing competencies in inclusive pedagogical approaches, including working with others; 3) developing relational agency for transforming the conditions of teachers’ workplaces; and 4) a capacity to reflect on their own practices and environments when seeking to support the learning of all students. Keywords: teacher agency, inclusive pedagogy, teacher competence, teacher education, educational change (Published: 1 September 2015) Citation: Education Inquiry (EDUI) 2015, 6 , 27311, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/edui.v6.27311
176 citations
Cites background from "Exploring inclusive pedagogy"
...The teachers in these studies were committed to raising the achievements of all learners whilst safeguarding the inclusion of those who were vulnerable to exclusion and other forms of marginalisation (see, for example, BlackHawkins, Florian and Rouse 2007; Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011)....
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...It is necessary to make theoretical sense out of how teachers make a difference, and how they engage with school practices that are effective for addressing exclusion and underachievement (Florian 2012; Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011; Hayes et al. 2006; Include-ED 2009)....
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TL;DR: The Inclusive Practice Project (IPP) as mentioned in this paper is a teacher education reform project that has developed an innovative approach to preparing teachers to enter a profession in which they take responsibility for the learning and achievement of all students.
Abstract: The increasing cultural, linguistic, and developmental diversity of today’s classrooms demands more inclusive approaches to schooling, but classroom teachers often report feeling unprepared for inclusive education. This article reports some lessons learned from the Inclusive Practice Project, a teacher education reform project that has developed an innovative approach to preparing teachers to enter a profession in which they take responsibility for the learning and achievement of all students. It identifies four crucial issues, describes how they were addressed, and considers the challenges of professional development of teacher educators that emerged from the project studies. Key lessons focusing on the professional development of teacher educators in the establishment of a new curricular approach to teacher education for inclusive education are discussed.
167 citations
Cites background from "Exploring inclusive pedagogy"
...In a parallel strand of research (Black-Hawkins & Florian, in press; Black-Hawkins, Florian, & Rouse, 2007; Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011; Rouse & Florian, 2006), we had been studying how some teachers are able to be highly inclusive while improving academic standards over time, when others argue…...
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: In this article, a look at the multilayered professional lives of teachers, where moral, historical, personal and epistemological worlds merge, using the language of the metaphor.
Abstract: This text provides a look at the multilayered professional lives of teachers, where moral, historical, personal and epistemological worlds merge. Using the language of the metaphor, the authors explore the realm of teachers' knowledge and how it applies to their lives.
1,194 citations
01 Jan 2000
Abstract: The Index has been radically revised to build on ten years of use in the UK and in 40 other countries to strengthen what it did well and lead thinking about inclusive educational development for the next decade. This is the green edition, contributing to the UN decade of biodiversity, 2011 to 2020. It draws together interventions in education to do with, environmental sustainability, community building, global citizenship, health promotion, democracy, values, rights and non-violence. It elaborates a framework of values as the foundation for principled action to improve schools and communities. It provides a detailed outline of a rights and values based curriculum that reflects the experience and futures of children and can be made relevant to people’s lives in urban or rural areas in any part of the world. Its new subjects incorporate traditional school knowledge though it may most Previous edition translated and adapted for use in 40 countries
908 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Clandinin et al. make the case that it is not only an understanding of teacher knowledge and the education of teachers that will make a difference but attention to the professional knowledge context in which teachers live and work.
Abstract: G ary Fenstermacher, in The Knower and the Known: The Nature of Knowledge in Research on Teaching (1994), reviewed conceptions of knowledge in the literature of research on teaching. His philosophical interest was an epistemological one, an interest in how "notions of knowledge are used and analyzed in a number of research programs that study teachers and their teaching" (p. 3). Fenstermacher structured his review around four questions that he assumed facilitated his epistemological scrutiny: • What is known about effective teaching? • What do teachers know? • What knowledge is essential for teaching? • Who produces knowledge about teaching? The review is informative on the four questions and raises important epistemological issues. We have no quarrel with the way various bodies of work were classified by his use of the questions. We wish to point out that the success of the use of the questions in facilitating his inquiry rests on the acceptability of the questions in the literature of research on teaching. One way or another, these are the questions that govern this literature. It is those four questions that are in question for us in this paper. Though not stated as such, the review, and the work surveyed, implies that valid, reliable, knowledge on the four questions will make possible better educated teachers. This, of course, was not Fenstermacher's concern. However, it might seem that one could hardly deny this implication. Having reliable answers to these questions would surely do that. What alternative social justifications, after all, might be offered in defense of such research? But we think that answers to these questions are only partially capable of creating understandings that might justify the implication in its full-blown sense. We think the narrative context for the ongoing development and expression of teacher knowledge in schools is also of importance. In response to Fenstermacher's review, we would, therefore, like to raise a fifth question that might be worded, "How is teacher knowledge shaped by the professional knowledge context in which teachers work?" We want to make the case that it is not only an understanding of teacher knowledge and the education of teachers that will make a difference but attention to the professional knowledge context in which teachers live and work. We believe that the professional knowledge context shapes the answers that may be given to Fenstermacher's four questions. The professional knowledge context shapes effective teaching, what teachers know, what knowledge is seen as essential for teaching, and who is warranted to produce knowledge about teaching. To demonstrate this, we draw on an earlier argument for understanding the context for teacher knowledge in terms of the idea of a professional knowledge landscape (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995). Following a brief description of the idea of a professional knowledge landscape, we recount three sets of stories and interpret each in terms of that landscape.
889 citations
"Exploring inclusive pedagogy" refers background in this paper
...For these examples to be recognised by, and have professional meaning for, other practitioners it was crucial that we maintained the integrity of the teachers’ own words to provide rich detailed narratives (Clandinin & Connelly, 1996) of their inclusive pedagogy in action....
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TL;DR: The authors found that teachers who have been implementing inclusive programmes, and therefore have active experience of inclusion, possess more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with special needs in the ordinary school were surveyed soon after the release of the Green Paper.
Abstract: Attitudes of mainstream teachers towards the inclusion of children with special needs in the ordinary school were surveyed soon after the release of the Green Paper. The survey was carried out in one Local Education Authority in the south-west of England and the sample comprised of 81 primary and secondary teachers. The analysis revealed that teachers who have been implementing inclusive programmes, and therefore have active experience of inclusion, possess more positive attitudes. Moreover, the data showed the importance of professional development in the formation of positive attitudes towards inclusion. In particular, teachers with university-based professional development appeared both to hold more positive attitudes and to be more confident in meeting the IEP requirements of students with SEN. The role that training at both pre-service and post-service levels has in the development of teachers' support for inclusion is discussed.
841 citations
Additional excerpts
...Email: l.florian@abdn.ac.uk Vol. 37, No.5, October 2011, –8813 28pp. (Lyser et al., 1994; Avramidis et al., 2000; Marshall et al., 2002; Campbell et al., 2003; Lambert et al., 2005; Lambe & Bones, 2006; Sharma et al., 2008)....
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Book•
01 Nov 1999TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on detailed research in two secondary schools showing the real costs of reform in terms of the pressures on teachers and the rationing of educational opportunity, and conclude that rationing education results in growing inequalities based on gender, race and social class.
Abstract: Recent educational reforms in the United Kingdom (UK) have raised standards of achievement, but have also resulted in growing inequalities based on gender, race and social class. School by school league tables play a central role in the reforms. These have created an A to C economy where schools and teachers are judged on the proportion of students attaining five or more grades at levels A to C. To satisfy these demands schools are embracing new and ever more selective attempts to identify ability. This book reports on detailed research in two secondary schools showing the real costs of reform in terms of the pressures on teachers and the rationing of educational opportunity. This publication contains the following chapters: Education and equity; Reforming education: policy and practice; Ability and economy: defining 'ability' in the A-to-C economy; Selection 11-14: fast groups, 'left-over' mixed ability and the subject options process; Selection 14-16: sets, tiers, hidden ceilings and floors; Educational triage and the D-to-C conversion: suitable cases for treatment?; Pupils' experiences and perspectives: living with the rationing of education; and Conclusions: rationing education.
795 citations
"Exploring inclusive pedagogy" refers background in this paper
...…inspectors are trained to judge the extent to which teaching is differentiated by ability level despite the large body of research that documents its negative effects on teacher expectation, student self-perception and curriculum development (e.g. Gillborn & Youdell, 2000; Ireson & Hallam, 2001)....
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