Inclusive Practice in the Primary School.
How inclusive is Frederick Bird Primary School as a learning community?
‘Inclusive education is an unabashed announcement, a public and political declaration and celebration of difference.’ (Corbett, J. 2001:134)
The principles of inclusion and their implications on school practice have been fiercely debated by leading educational experts for many years. In 1994, delegates from 92 governments met at the world conference on special needs education, to consider policy changes that would enable educators to provide inclusive education for all. The result of this conference was the adoption of ‘The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action’ which provides recommendations and stipulations for the ‘planning and implementation’ of inclusive provision (UNESCO, 1994:2).
The impact of this framework in the UK can be tracked through significant changes made to educational policy. In 1997 The Government introduced the Green Paper; this put inclusion high on the government’s agenda and committed itself to ‘excellence for all’, a vision which, for the first time, encompassed children with special educational needs (DfEE, 1997:5). Current policy, specifically the Every Child Matters(ECM) agenda continues this trend and dictates that every child has the right to an inclusive education, the chance to fulfil their full potential and make a positive contribution to society (DfES, 2003) Through the course of this assignment I will demonstrate how my own educational setting goes above and beyond these policy expectations to provide an inclusive experience to all our pupils within a very diverse but cohesive learning community. I will demonstrate this effectiveness by critically evaluating examples and case studies from current school policy, teaching methods and my own experiences and strategies. I will also make recommendations of how school practice can be enhanced to boost the effectiveness of this provision.
The school in which I am employed as a Teaching Assistant is a
‘Inclusive education is an unabashed announcement, a public and political declaration and celebration of difference.’ (Corbett, J. 2001:134)
The principles of inclusion and their implications on school practice have been fiercely debated by leading educational experts for many years. In 1994, delegates from 92 governments met at the world conference on special needs education, to consider policy changes that would enable educators to provide inclusive education for all. The result of this conference was the adoption of ‘The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action’ which provides recommendations and stipulations for the ‘planning and implementation’ of inclusive provision (UNESCO, 1994:2).
The impact of this framework in the UK can be tracked through significant changes made to educational policy. In 1997 The Government introduced the Green Paper; this put inclusion high on the government’s agenda and committed itself to ‘excellence for all’, a vision which, for the first time, encompassed children with special educational needs (DfEE, 1997:5). Current policy, specifically the Every Child Matters(ECM) agenda continues this trend and dictates that every child has the right to an inclusive education, the chance to fulfil their full potential and make a positive contribution to society (DfES, 2003) Through the course of this assignment I will demonstrate how my own educational setting goes above and beyond these policy expectations to provide an inclusive experience to all our pupils within a very diverse but cohesive learning community. I will demonstrate this effectiveness by critically evaluating examples and case studies from current school policy, teaching methods and my own experiences and strategies. I will also make recommendations of how school practice can be enhanced to boost the effectiveness of this provision.
The school in which I am employed as a Teaching Assistant is a
Bibliography: Ainscow, M. (2001) ‘Taking an inclusive turn’ Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs. 7 (1) pp.3-7 Cline, T., Frederickson, N. (2009) Special Educational Needs, Inclusion and Diversity. Maidenhead: Open University Press Corbett, J. (2001) ‘Teaching approaches which support inclusive education: a connective pedagogy’ British Journal of Special Education. 28 (2) pp.55-59. CSIE(2006) Index for Inclusion: developing play, learning and participation in early years and childcare. Bristol: CSIE. DfEE (1997) The Green Paper: Excellence for All. Manchester: DfEE Publications. DfES (2003) Every Child Matters: Change for Children in Schools. Nottingham: DfES Publications. Feiler, A., Logan, E. (2006) ‘Forging links between parents and schools: a new role for teaching assistants?’ Support for Learning. 21 (3) pp.115-119. Norgate, R., Osborne, C., Traill, M. (2009) ‘Common Assessment Framework (CAF) – early views and issues. Educational Psychology in Practice. 25 (2) pp.139-150. Office for Standards in Education (2006) Inspection Report: Frederick Bird Primary School. London: OfSTED Publications. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/download/(id)/74065/(as)/103695_298753.pdf [accessed 14 March 2011]. UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. ED-94/WS/1 8. UNESCO.