Foundation of special and inclusive education

2. • Diversity is the “New Normal
• ”Inclusive practices must be dynamic and
collaborative.
• To be truly inclusive, educators must
always check for the presence,
participation, and achievement of their
learners.
• Differentiation plays an important role in
the success of inclusive education practices.

3. a. Respond effectively to educational needs of
students with additional needs; and
b. Create safe, inclusive, and responsive learning
environments for students with additional
needs.Topic A. Creating Inclusive Cultures

4. Identify the dimensions and sections of the
index of inclusion;
Explain what stakeholders can do to realize
the objective of inclusion;
Identify some barriers to inclusion

5. Inclusion is as much the responsibility
of society as it is the responsibility of
schools. We realized from the previous
unit that the key to successful inclusive
practices are merging frameworks and
aligning of definitions of disability.

6. In educational reform, stakeholders are those
who are “invested in the welfare and success
of a school and its students”. In other words,
these are the teachers, administrators, school
staff, officials, and other workers, the parents
and their families, the community, the
government.

7. They may also be collective entities like
local businesses, advocacy groups, the
media, sociocultural institutions, and
other organizations that may be directly
or indirectly involved in education.
Stakeholders are important because they
paly a major role in “connecting what is
being taught in a school to its surrounding
community”

8. 1. Set the parameters for inclusion. The government has
identified key people and professions, and highlighted
important factors leading to the success of inclusive
education – i.e., placement process, committees, staffing
and responsibilities, teacher training and compensation,
incentives for private sector participation, and
collaboration of the Department of Education with other
branches of the government.

9. 2. Build key people. The government recognizes the
need for teacher training, both in the special needs
education and general education levels. It also
pushes for the use of evidence-based teaching
framework, provision of student assistance, and
access to instructional materials.

10. Most importantly, calls are made for
continuing research and forming of policies to
be initiated by agencies such as the DEpEd
so as to further refine the inclusive process
and have it tailored to fit the needs of
children with additional needs.

11. 3. Identify and eradicate barriers. UNESCO’s Guide for
Inclusion (2005) advocates for the identification and
removal of obstacles that have to do with transforming
prevailing attitudes and values on a systematic level.
Philippine government seems to be in consonance with
this aspect in the light of its existing legislative policies
that ground the undeniable importance of inclusion.

12. It is also continuously recognizing structures
in education and implementing programs
that highlight the need for primary
stakeholders like the school, the parents, and
other policy makers, to acquire more
understanding and capacity-building to
manage an inclusive environment.

13. Common Barriers to Inclusion
• Attitudes, values system, misconceptions, and societal
norms. These can lead to prejudices and /or actual
resistance to implement inclusive practices (UNESCO,
2005).
• Physical barriers such as lack of buildings, facility,
transportation or road accessibility can literally affect
one’s mobility.
• Curriculum. A rigid “one-size-fits-all” type of
curriculum that does not allow for individual
differences can significantly stunt one’s learning and
opportunity for growth.

14. • Lack of teacher training and low teacher
efficacy. Whether training in teaching
strategies, using curriculum frameworks,
or behavior and classroom management,
lack of training as well as low confidence
in one’s own skills can directly affect how
inclusive practices are implemented.

15. • Poor language communication.
Language barriers may also directly
have implications on how well inclusive
practices are implemented

16. • Lack of funding. Enough funding can
allow for training more teachers as
well as coming up with more
appropriate programs, instructional
materials, or facilities; lack of funds
can be limiting and debilitating to
schools.
• Lack of policies. Policies have the
ability unify beliefs and mobilize
resources; unfortunately, lack of it can
become a convenient justification for
inaction.

17. • Organization of educational systems. Centralized
systems may have some type of detachment in
terms of implementing policies and seeing the
reality of how such policies are affecting learners
and other stakeholders.
• Too much focus on performance-based standards.
Schools have also reportedly refused inclusion
because of fear that the presence of learners with
additional needs will pull down their rankings in
standardized tests.

19. Specific Learning Objectives;
a. Orient yourself of possible steps
that educators can take to facilitate
the much needed societal shift and
inform policy;
b. Identify some areas or aspects of
school to be looked into for policy
formulation.

20. Presentation of Contents
The premise of Inclusion starts
with an acceptance and embracing
of diversity. It is difficult to start
movement if this practice is not
rooted on a culture that assumes
the right perspectives and values.

21. Recently, the pre-service education
curriculum was restructured so that
special needs education units are not
only given to special education
majors but to other education majors
as well. This is a huge step for
teachers and a nod to inclusive
education.

22. List of Possible steps that educators can take to
facilitate the much needed societal shift and
inform policy:
1. Involve other sectors of society. The idea is
for everyone, regardless of their training or
exposure, to become more sensitive and aware
of the PWD population. The more aware the
community is, the more it will be able to help.

23. 2. Collaborate. Del Corro-Taingco (2014) states
that general education teachers are trained in the
general education curriculum but would not know
how to teach and manage children with special
educational needs; while special education
teachers would be equipped to handle atypical
behaviors but would not know much about the
general education curriculum. The collaboration
would guarantee an inclusive program that would
cover as many areas as possible.

24. 3. Recognize the shift in roles of teachers.
The SPED teachers’ role must neither be
diminishes nor disregarded. These must
be used to ensure that a good inclusive
education program is provided to children
with additional needs. Conversely,
general education teachers must go
through skills training and capacity-
building workshops to ensure that they
are supporting all types of learners in
their classroom appropriately

25. 4. Include transitions in planning. An
abrupt systematic change that is not well-
planned or disregards practices-whether
existing or implied-may hinder shift to
inclusion and cause resentment from all
stakeholders. Instead, current practices
have to be respected and honored so as to
facilitate gradual shift to inclusive
education.

26. A move to that would greatly help in informing
would be to examine different aspects of the
school. Schools may look at the following:
1.Student Admissions
2.Accessibility to Utilities and Facilities
3. Supports available to students, parents, and
school personnel
4. Learner accommodations
5. Exclusionary or discriminatory incidents
6. Number of bullying cases
7. Faculty and staff promotions

27. Activity: Phone interview a public
elementary or secondary school teacher.
Ask him/her whether they have their
school have provisions that considers
PWDs or learners with additional
needs, as stated above. Specifically,
assess the school through the interview
that will conduct. You may want to use
the table below for your output.

28. Student
Admissions
Accessibility
to Utilities
and Facilities
Supports
available for
students,
parents, and
school
personnel
Learner
accommodati
ons
Exclusionary
or
discriminator
y incidents
Name of Teacher: ( optional)
Name of School :

30. Specific Learning Objective;
a. Tell what is the Universal Design for
Learning and Differentiated Instruction;
b. Explain how instructions are
differentiated;
c. Describe how classes are managed
during differentiated learning.

31. The term “evolving” assumes that we already have
strategies in place which we just have to visit for possible
tweaking.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal Design for Learning (UDL). It is the design of
instructional materials and activities to make the content
information accessible to all children. It is best used in a
general education classroom where learners are different.
Through the provision of delivering content and allowing
student to construct learning in more than one way, UDL
ensures that all students learn genuinely.

32. Elements of UDL:
1.Multiple means of presentation
2.Multiple means of action and
expression
3.Multiple means of engagement

33. In UDL, teachers are supposed to
present information and
materials in many different ways,
taking into consideration that
some student may have not fully
absorbed the lesson the first time
it was presented.

34. The concept of multiple means of
presentation is meant to ensure that all
students are able to access and
understand learning material. After
this, teachers allow students to express
what they learned in various ways, and
finally, the teacher use different
techniques to reinforce learning at the
students’ optimal levels.

35. UDL Principles adapted from Salend
(2011)
1. Equitable use
2. Flexible use
3. Simple and intuitive use
4. Perceptible information
5. Tolerance and error
6. Low physical effort
7. Size and space for approach and use
8. Community of Learners
9. Inclusive environment

36. Differentiated Instruction (DI)
Differentiated instruction refers to a
systematic approach to planning
curriculum and instruction for
academically diverse learners. It is a way
of thinking about the classroom with the
dual goals of honoring each student’s
learning needs and maximizing student’s
learning capacity Tomlinson (2010).

37. When teachers differentiate
instruction, they use a variety of
teaching and learning strategies
that are necessary to meet the
diverse needs of students in any
class (Friend & Bursuck, 2009).

38. Why is there a need to
differentiate instruction?
All learners are unique and have
varying interests, talents,
strengths, as well as needs. Hence,
it is essential that teaching and
learning experiences reflect this
diversity.

39. To ensure engaged, successful,
and flourishing learners,
teaching and learning
experiences need to be designed
in a way that provide
opportunities for students to
learn and demonstrate their
understanding in varied ways.

40. As an overview, differentiation is achieved
by providing materials and tasks:
a. At varied levels
b. With varying levels of instructional
support
c. By using multiple grouping
arrangement
d. That involve student choice; and,
e. Use varied evaluation strategies

41. How is the classroom managed during
differentiated learning?
1. Explain to the students the reason for
differentiation. Make sure this is understood
by all.
2. Use ‘anchor activities” which students can
automatically work on when completing
assigned tasks to maintain a productive work
environment and maximize instructional time
(e.g, journal writing, spelling,)

42. 3. Assign roles during small group
activities/instruction to ensure accountability and a
positive learning environment;
a. Facilitator
b. Recorder
c. Timekeeper
d. Summarizer
e. Presenter
f. Errand
g. Monitor

43. 4. Implement routines for
collaborative work.
a. Establish working groups by
interest, by readiness, etc.
b. Have a plan for quick finishers.
c. Have a plan for when to ask for help
(role of the errand /monitor)

44. UDL is a classroom practice that ensures the
participation and achievement of all types of learners
and where the teacher assumes diversity and
uniqueness for all students in the classroom. Assume
that you are a math teacher, your class is composed of
35 students. Of the 35, one has an official diagnosis
of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
and you suspect that another might have a math
learning disability, create a plan for UDL