Inclusive Learning in education

Introduction

In the following article I discuss the barriers of students with a disability through the lens of the social model of disability in the education setting. I describe how these external barriers to the student can be removed utilising Universal Design Learning approaches to best support the learning outcomes of all students. I outline the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a Disability (NCCD), Queensland Department of Education Inclusive Education policy, Queensland Government (2021) Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE; Australian Government [Department of Education, Skills & Employment], 2012), and other relevant legislation. Furthermore, I discuss the key role of consulting and positive collaborations with students, parents, teacher aides and other professionals to further develop and foster universal design learning practices.

The Social Model of Disability views that disabilities are not within the person but are barriers that are created externally to the person. These barriers cause inequity and discrimination with people with disabilities (The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability, (CRPD, 2008). Historically, society has viewed disability through the lens of the medical model, where it is the person who has the disability, and not their environment that needs adjustments.

The barriers in the Social Model of Disability include attitudinal, unconscious bias, physical, social, and communication in the person’s environment. Students with disabilities are often marginalised, and as educators, we need to continue to be more critical, ethical, and challenge these old views and introduce more inclusive practices to the curriculum and create a universal education design for all students (Starrett, 2012). We need to continue to foster inclusive language practices in all our communication with our colleagues, students, and their families.

The National Consistent Collective of Data on School students with Disability (NCCD) is a data collection process that informs the funding model for students with disability in Australian schools. This funding is based on the students' assessed needs and adjustments required for them to participate in education on the same basis as their peers, which is the right of every student under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA, 1992) and National Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE; Australian Government [Department of Education, Skills & Employment], 2012).

The NCCD has four categories: Physical, Cognitive, Sensory, and Social/Emotional. The NCCD has an annual census period with distinct phases throughout the calendar year. These are the planning, implementation, validation, and reflection phases, ensuring reasonable adjustments are made for the student, and the school is accountable for recording the evidence of these phases in conjunction with Article 24 (United Nations, 2008).

The student, carer/parent (and other professionals if needed) are consulted, with the student and their family to have a voice in making choices for reasonable adjustments in their curriculum, pedagogy, and assessments. This evidence is collected outlining the student’s individual data and learning plan and reviewed annually. The student, carer/parent and their families have the right to equitable treatment, consultation, reasonable adjustments and prevention of victimisation and harassment (NDSE, 2005).

Using the NCCD model, every child has access to multitiers of adjustments guided by co-planning of their teachers, teacher aides, academic learning enhancement and other allied health professionals. Every school needs to provide evidence to the NCCD by assessing the needs of the students with a disability with ongoing monitoring, reviewing adjustments, and continuous consultation and review with the students, carers, and other professionals (Graham, 2019).

Universal approaches are: ‘A set of principles for designing curriculum that provides all individuals with equal opportunities to learn. Teachers plan for the needs of all learners by creating tasks in which all students can participate and demonstrate learning. Then, if a new student joins the class, the teacher does not need to go back and “retrofit” the lesson to accommodate that student’s needs’ (Ashman, 2015, p.406).

Adjustments

Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice (QDTP) involves the teacher(s) and teacher aides to take a whole class approach when teaching, which involves planning, teaching in different modalities, different ways for a student to undertake assessments, reporting, adapting the learning environment, and adding on assisted technologies and/or resources to best support positive learning environments (Disability Discrimination Act, 1992). In addition to the QDTP, there are three levels of adjustments: Supplementary, Substantial, and Extensive. This provides students with a voice in their learning and engages them in learning activities they find meaningful and interesting. The DSE (2005) requires educators to be accountable by providing reasonable adjustments to all students needing support.

Inclusive Education Policy (Queensland Government, 2021)

1. The policy takes a system-wide approach in removing barriers from the education setting and continues to improve practices and policies promoting inclusive education in the community.

2. Leaders at all levels of the education department commit to fostering the values of inclusion and eliminate barriers to people with disabilities.

3. The whole school is committed to providing inclusive education including teachers, student aides, volunteers, support staff and their families. The curriculum is delivered in an age-appropriate manner to students with diverse learning needs.

4. Students, families, and the community collaborate with each other. Students and their families have a voice for the supports they need and are actively involved in the collaboration process.

5. All people feel respected and valued for their diversity in all state schools.

6. The workforce employed at state schools are skilled, capable, and confident in providing learning on evidencebased inclusive teaching methods.

7. Learning environments are accessible to ensure all students can participate in classroom activities, extracurricular activities, and events.

8. The schools plan for effective transitions when the child transitions through early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary to provide successful planning and support during the student’s learning journey.

9. All students will have on-going monitoring and evaluation which will occur at all levels in the school, regionally and in the system for the department to continue to improve on building inclusive education environments.

Planning for inclusive practices

Professional collaboration is a process where two or more people come together with an attitude of respect, responsibility, and commitment for the best interest of a shared student (D’Amour et al., 2005; Friend & Cook, 2010). The effectiveness of the classroom is greatly improved when teachers, teacher aides, curriculum leaders, educational psychologists, and other allied health professionals consult and plan together to make effective inclusive learning environments (Murawski & Hughes, 2009). It is critical during the consultation process the teacher have a democratic approach and the student and parent have a voice in their support, adjustments, and educational goals (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2018).

In Australia, all students with a disability must be consulted on the adjustments made to participate in their education (General Comment No. 4 on Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities [United Nations, 2016]). Consultation gives students and their parents/carers a sense of agency when the student and parents can make their own choices and decisions regarding their education (Sen, 1992).

The consultation has to be accessible to the student to ensure the student understands what is asked of them and is able to give feedback which reflects their needs (Gillett-Swan et al., 2020). For example, some barriers to the consultation process may be how the questions are worded, the requirement for the student to reflect on the question, the student being cognitively overloaded by the interviewer, and having accessibility to the language to respond to the interviewer (Tancredi, 2020). In this instance, students are encouraged to have their voice heard by utilising visuals, other communication aides, and/or through the support of an educator, professional, case manager and/or carer to communicate their learning needs and future adjustments to their curriculum (Lyons et al., 2022).

It is important to plan ahead for who will be in the consultation room and gain written consent by the parent and student for the consultation to be audio recorded if needed. I have found it helpful to have pictures, art materials, mind mapping, and fidgets available to best support the student during consultation. It is best if you are seated side-by-side, and the room is at a comfortable room temperature and there is privacy (Tancredi, 2020). While consulting students and parents, it is important to use positive body language, be strength focused, and use inclusive language. Where appropriate, you may engage in developing rapport with the family by discussing similar interests as these exchanges make the interviewee more approachable. The following first four possible consult questions are from Tancredi (2020), and the others are my own.

1. What helps you learn?

2. How can teachers help you understand instructions?

3. Is there anything you would like your teachers to know about you?

5. How do you feel when you attend another classroom to participate in a subject?

6. How do you feel having a one-on-one teacher aide with you? How does it make you feel?

7. Do you feel safe at school?

It is vital in the consultation process to build rapport with the student, parent/carer, and possibly another professional and/ or case manager. The interviewer would ask the student about their interests both inside and out of school, asking about their friendship group, and spending time in their classroom(s). A parent may often come to a consultation feeling apprehensive because they have been advocating for their child. As professionals, we can reassure and give confidence to parents and students that we are capable and have the resources to deliver quality and best practice education pedagogy, including universal design learning for all students.

Discuss with parents the information gained from the consultation via email or phone regarding the learning plan formulated. The interviewer has a formal written record and audio recording in the student’s notes if applicable. The educator takes steps to communicate and implement the plan

with carers, teachers, teacher aides, teacher leaders and other professionals. At minimum, review the plan annually and continue to follow-up with the student, carers, teachers, and other professionals Tancredi (2020).

Conclusion

It is key to facilitate consultation and collaboration with students, carers, parents, teachers, teacher aides, learning enhancement and other allied health professional to continue to foster positive relationships and strengthen successful and inclusive student outcomes. The student and their family alongside educators and other educational professionals consult and collaborate with providing strength and evidence-based reasonable adjustments free from victimization and harassment (Australian Government, 2005). As professional and supportive educators, we are cognisant each student has different strengths and challenges, and in today’s world, we need to look at putting all children at the centre of learning and adjust teaching curriculum and pedagogical teaching methods to reflect this shift in inclusive education culture (Gillett-Swan et al., 2023). By providing individualised curriculum and pedagogy to all children, we are improving outcomes for all students, and we are continually improving our service delivery of quality education practices (Gonski et al., 2018).

References

Ashman, A. F. (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity (5th ed.). Pearson Australia.

D’Amour, D., Ferrada-Videla, M., San Martin Rodriquez, L., & Beaulieu, M.D. (2005). The conceptual basis for interprofessional collaboration: Core concepts and theoretical frameworks. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 19(S1), 116-131. https://doi.org./a0.1080/13561820500082529

Australian Government. (1992). Disability Discrimination Act 1992 https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A04426/2018-04-12/ text

Australian Government. (2005). Disability Standards for Education 2005 https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2005L00767/latest/text

Friend, M., & Cook, L. (2010). Interactions: Collaboration skills for school professionals (6th ed.). Pearson.

Gillett-Swan, J., & Sargeant, J. (2018). Assuring children’s right to freedom of opinion and expression in education. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 20(1), 120-127. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2018.1385852

Gonski, D., Arcus, T., Boston, K., Gould, V., Johnston, W., O’Brien, L., & Roberts, M. (2018). Through Growth to achievement: Report of the review to achieve educational excellence in Australian Schools. Australian Government Department of Education and Training. https://www.education.gov.au/recurrentfunding-schools/resources/through-growth-achievementreport-review-achieve-educational-excellence-australianschools

Graham, L. (Ed.). (2019). Inclusive education for the 21st century: Theory, policy and practice. Taylor & Francis Group.

Lyon, R., Carroll, C., Gallagher, A., Merrick, R., & Tancredi, H. (2022). Understanding the perspectives of children and young people with speech, language, and communication needs: How qualitative research can inform. practice. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 24(5), 547-557. https// doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2022.203386669

Murawski, W. W., & Hughes, C. E. (2009). Response to Intervention, collaboration, and co-teaching: A logical combination for successful systemic change. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 53(4), 267-277. https://doi.org/10.3200/PSFL.53.4.267-277

Scruggs, T. E., Mastropieri, M. A., & McDuffie, K. A. (2007). Co-Teaching in Inclusive Classrooms: A Metasynthesis of Qualitative Research. Exceptional Children, 73(4), 392-416. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290707300401

Queensland Government. (2021). Inclusive Education Policy: Version 1.3. https://ppr.qed.qld.gov.au/pp/inclusive-education-policy

Sen, A. (1992). Inequality Reexamined. Harvard University Press.

Starratt, R. J. (2012). A Multidimensional ethical framework. In R. Starratt (Ed.), Cultivating an Ethical School (pp. 35-54). Routledge.

Starratt, R. J. (2014). The purpose of education. In C.M. Branson & S.J. Gross (Eds.), Handbook of Ethical Educational Leadership, (pp.43-69). Routledge.

Tancredi, H. A. (2020). Consulting students with disability: A practical guide for educators and other professionals [PDF]. The Centre for Inclusive Education QUT. https://research.qut.edu. au/c4ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/281/2020/08/PracticeGuide-Student-Consultation.pdf

United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. https:// www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/ convention-rights-child

United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, September 2, 2016, General comment No. 4 on Article 24: Right to inclusive education (CRPD/C/GC/4). https:// tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/ Download.aspx?symbolno=CRPD/C/GC/4&Lang=enLinks to an external site.