Inclusive Education - Part A
Education is a theme that is present in our Dignity Project research. Our data reflects that access to comparable #education is a fundamental piece of #dignity for #peoplewithdisability. In this week's Q and A we asked All Means All - The Australian Alliance for Inclusive Education about inclusion, education and what needs to change. Visit their website: https://allmeansall.org.au
What is inclusion?
Inclusion in education has three main characteristics, all of which have to be present for inclusion to be actually occurring.
The first is physical presence for the same amount of time as everyone else. If a student is regularly ‘pulled out’ for ‘special’ (ie. disability segregated) classes or therapy, the student is likely to rapidly become seen as ‘less of a member’ of the group. “John? Oh, he comes and goes…” is the likely image of a student who is in and out of the class unlike their peers. When pulled out for ‘special’ classes, a student who commonly has less social skills is required to learn two environments, two teachers, two classes of students and to do it in half the time.
The second is socially belonging. To be included, we have to both feel as though we belong to the group and be seen by other group members as belonging to the class. At school this includes friendships that continue into the playground and outside of the school to some extent at least.
The third is engaged in the same lesson. To be included, we have to be transacting the same tasks. If we are in the same room separated out with a teacher aide engaged in different material to the rest of the class, we would not of course consider ourselves included. This means that we have to be included in the same course material, with adjustments and supports made so that we can participate meaningfully. Teachers automatically make adjustments for individual students as part of normal teaching as all students are different in their level of understanding. What is required is extending the ‘bandwidth’ so all students are included in the same lesson. Most important, separated in the classroom with a teacher aide is NOT inclusion.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognises in Article 24, the right to students with disability to an inclusive education. The Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, which is responsible for overseeing compliance with the CRPD, has explained in detail what need to be done to ensure inclusive education meaning of inclusion in its General Comment No. 4[1]:
General Comment No. 4 describes the core features of inclusive education (emphasis added):
a) Whole systems approach: education ministries must ensure that all resources are invested toward advancing inclusive education, and toward introducing and embedding the necessary changes in institutional culture, policies and practices.
b) Whole educational environment: the committed leadership of educational institutions is essential to introduce and embed the culture, policies and practices to achieve inclusive education at all levels: classroom teaching and relationships, board meetings, teacher supervision, counselling services and medical care, school trips, budgetary allocations and any interface with parents of learners with and without disability when applicable, the local community or wider public.
c) Whole person approach: recognition is given to the capacity of every person to learn, and high expectations are established for all learners, including learners with disabilities. Inclusive education offers flexible curricula, teaching and learning methods adapted to different strengths, requirements and learning styles. This approach implies the provision of support and reasonable accommodation and early intervention so that they are able to fulfil their potential. The focus is on learners’ capacities and aspirations rather than content when planning teaching activities. It commits to ending segregation within educational settings by ensuring inclusive classroom teaching in accessible learning environments with appropriate supports. The education system must provide a personalized educational response, rather than expecting the student to fit the system.
d) Supported teachers: All teachers and other staff receive education and training giving them the core values and competencies to accommodate inclusive learning environments, which include teachers with disabilities. The inclusive culture provides an accessible and supportive environment which encourages working through collaboration, interaction and problem-solving.
e) Respect for and value of diversity: All members of the learning community are welcomed equally, with respect for diversity according to, inter alia, disability, race, colour, sex, language, linguistic culture, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status. All students must feel valued, respected, included and listened to. Effective measures to prevent abuse and bullying are in place. Inclusion takes an individual approach to students.
f) Learning-friendly environment: Inclusive learning environments must create an accessible environment where everyone feels safe, supported, stimulated and able to express themselves, with a strong emphasis on involving students themselves in building a positive school community. Recognition is afforded to the peer group in learning, building positive relationships, friendships and acceptance.
g) Effective transitions: Learners with disabilities receive the support to ensure the effective transition from learning at school to vocational and tertiary education, and finally to work. Learners’ capacities and confidence are developed and learners receive reasonable accommodation and equality regarding assessment and examination procedures, and certification of their capacities and attainments on an equal basis with others.
h) Recognition of partnerships. Teacher associations, student associations and federations and OPDs, school boards, parent-teacher associations, and other functioning school support groups, both formal and informal, are all encouraged to increase their understanding and knowledge of disability. Involvement of parents/caregivers and the community must be viewed as assets with resources and strengths to contribute. The relationship between the learning environment and the wider community must be recognized as a route towards inclusive societies.
i) Monitoring: As a continuing process, inclusive education must be monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure that segregation or integration is not happening either formally or informally. Monitoring, according to article 33, should involve persons with disabilities, including children and persons with intensive support requirements, through OPDs, as well as parents or caregivers of children with disabilities where appropriate. Disability-inclusive indicators must be developed and used consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Why is inclusive education important?
- It’s the right thing to do. Look at the diagram below and ask yourself if this is true.
That is, where do students with a disability go after they have completed their segregated schooling? If we are honest, they have been prepared for a life apart, which is opposite to what is regularly proclaimed as the rationale for segregation. As the US Supreme Court stated in the famous case where it was claimed that segregated education on the basis of race was ‘separate but equal’: “Segregated education is inherently unequal”. This is massive discrimination against a whole class of people that is staring us in the face – hidden in plain sight. We all know that segregation is a social wrong and should be avoided in a democratic society, but for students with disability, it continues and receives wide community and often parental support. - It’s a fundamental human right of all students. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (CRPD) Article 24[2] has stated that students with disability have a right to a fully inclusive education with the necessary supports provided so that they can fully participate. This was further clarified in General Comment Number 4 where they stated that inclusive education is a fundamental human right of the child and not the parent. Thus, a parent choosing segregated education for their child with disability would be in breach of the child’s human rights. The CRPD has been ratified by Australia so it is required to be supported in Australian law and practice. Other international human rights instruments also recognise the right of all students to inclusive education and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, includes as part of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal No. 4 on education, which is stated to be to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’.
- It is supported by Australian law. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992[3] (DDA) makes it an offence to discriminate against a person due to a disability. This means that schools are required by law to allow all students into the regular classroom full time in the same way as for other students. In addition, if the student requires adjustments in order to be able to participate on an equal basis with other students, these adjustments must be provided. Obvious examples are ramps for wheelchair access but it also means adjustments to lessons, support during camps and other outdoor activities, assistive technology etc. The Disability Education Standards 2005[4] which have been enacted under the DDA provide Standards for Enrolment; Participation; Curriculum; Support; Harassment, and Treatment of a person who has an associate with a disability. These are minimum standards that all educational institutions are required to meet by law.
- It is backed by over 50 years of research. A ‘review of reviews’ in 2008[5] could find no research article comparing segregated and inclusive education that came out in favour of segregation. This finding was sent to every professor of education in Australia who could be contacted and remains unchallenged.
- Inclusion has been shown to have:
- a significant impact on academic performance[6];
- a positive effect on other students[7];
- highly significant benefits in a matched group study[8],
- lifelong impacts in terms of relationships, competitive employment and independent living[9].
- Common practices of using a teacher aide attached to a student with disability in the regular classroom is not inclusion and has been shown to have a worse academic and social outcome than for similar students without any aide at all[10].
Who benefits from inclusive education?
As seen from the research findings detailed above, the beneficiaries for inclusion are:
- Students with disability. They gain academically, socially from growing up with their neighbourhood peers and have better work and life experiences after school[11]. These findings also apply to students with multiple and complex disabilities[12]. They also do better academically and socially.
- All students. When inclusion is done well, the academic performance of whole schools improves[13] due to teachers learning to teach to diversity and so connecting with many other students who previously would not have been able to keep up with the class lessons. Perhaps more importantly, they grow up with students with disability and often gain life-long friendships as well as practicing values such as compassion, assisting others less fortunate and how we are all fundamentally similar despite individual differences.
- Society. Students who have an inclusive schooling experience are more likely to have a real job, participate in the economy, live independently and be less reliant on income support. By their participation in mainstream society, the adult population gets to experience the benefits and contribution that they can make personally and to the society.
Who does inclusive education well?
Italy shut down its segregated education system in 1971. While the education system is not very inclusive by the definitions above, segregation has not been allowed for half a century. Across the world, New Brunswick in Canada has moved to a full inclusion model with several progressive States in the USA such as Oregon having almost no segregation. In the third world, where the lack of universal education, particularly for girls, is still an issue, many countries are avoiding segregated options and moving straight to supporting all students in the mainstream classroom. In Australia there are individual schools in all States and territories that have worked hard to become inclusion. The Queensland Education Department policy is, in principles, broadly in line with the CRPD and inclusion is supported by a very senior position focused on inclusion. However, the majority of schools al across Australia are not inclusive and with gatekeeping and restrictive practices widespread in both State and private education systems.[14]
Where does Australia sit with understanding and implementation of inclusive education?
Quite poorly. The only policy in line with CRPD is Queensland. Most State and Territory governments continue to invest heavily in segregated education for students with disability.
What is the one thing you want everyone to know about inclusive education?
It is the gateway to a good life, and the realisation of human rights. Segregation is preparing people for life apart; it is a form of discrimination and a violation of human rights.
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To read the rest of this blog and others in full, visit The Dignity Project and join the Community Hub, by clicking the button that says "Join the Community Hub": www.hopkinscentre.edu.au/the-dignity-project
We would love to learn more about your experiences with inclusive education or accessibility options/adjustments.
Some questions to ponder….
- What does inclusive education mean to you?
- Have you experienced inclusive education? Tell us about it?
Email: dignityproject@griffith.edu.au
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[1] https://www.refworld.org/docid/57c977e34.html
[2] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/ConventionRightsPersonsWithDisabilities.aspx#24
[3] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00763
[4] https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2005L00767
[5] https://include.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Inclusion_Segcolumn.pdf
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891422215001353?via%3Dihub
[7]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314288511_Academic_achievement_of_students_without_special_educational_needs_in_inclusive_classrooms_A_meta-analysis
[8] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1540796920943469#articleCitationDownloadContainer
[9] https://alana.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/A_Summary_of_the_evidence_on_inclusive_education.pdf
[10] https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/making-best-use-of-teaching-assistants/
[11] https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/Evidence%20%E2%80%93%20A%20Review%20of%20the%20Literature_0.pdf
[12] See "Does Inclusion Work?", Dr K. de Bruin (2019), Chapter 3 in L.J. Graham (Ed). Inclusive Education in the 21st Century: Theory, Policy and Practice. Sydney: Allen and Unwin
[13] https://alana.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/A_Summary_of_the_evidence_on_inclusive_education.pdf; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314288511_Academic_achievement_of_students_without_special_educational_needs_in_inclusive_classrooms_A_meta-analysis
[14] https://include.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/TIES-4.0-2017.pdf
