This document describes research conducted from 2012-2014 on inclusive schoolwide practices at a primary school. It summarizes: - Increasing numbers of students with special needs attending the school and data showing improved academic performance. - Research methodology involving interviews and observations of staff, students, and parents to understand the school's inclusive culture. - Key elements of the school's approach including "wrapping with support", developing student independence, explicit social skills teaching, and flexible structures. - Leadership providing spaces for sharing best practices and individual feedback to continually improve inclusion. - The school's "language of inclusion" and commitment to welcoming all students "from the gate in".

1. Inclusive Schoolwide
Practices and Principles
Presented by Dr Lindy Abawi
University of Southern Queensland

2. Research Project 2012 - 2014
Students 2011 Sem 1 2012 Sem 1 2013 Sem 1 2014 Sem 1
Diagnosed with
Special Needs
45 55 66 82
Children in care 7 13 16 18
The rapid increase in students with special needs – a testament
to inclusive pedagogy . Numbers have now been capped.
The research:
Creating a culture of inclusion that supports all children
including students with special needs in mainstream
classrooms.

3. The Research
Participants:
 Phase 1: Principal; Head of Special Education; Curriculum
Coordinator; 4 classroom teachers; 3 teacher aides
 Phase 2: Regional Student Support Officer; visiting
speech therapist; Principal of AEIOU kindy; 8 parents of
students with special needs; 3 parents of students
without special needs; 6 students with special needs; 8
students without special needs
Total: 38 participants
Methodology: Phenomenological case study – capturing
the essence of participant lived experiences
Data collection methods: focus groups; interviews;
research assistant observations

4. A process
Picture 003.jpg
ideas.usq.edu.au
Know your community
http://disasurvey.acelleadership.org.au/

6. Visible Commitment

7. Schoolwide Pedagogy in action
 Growing together – working together; communicating
together; celebrating together; the Visions Program;
strong induction processes
 Learning forever – C2C; differentiated learning;
purpose to learn (WALT, WILF, TIB); individual learning
goals (every child); students reflect on own learning
 Supporting each other – targeting support to achieve
learning goals; knowing children as individuals; individual
behaviour support; regular communication with
parents/carers; team approach

8. Developing learner independence
 Goal setting
 Year 7 suitcases
 PODS behaviours
 Critical thinking skills taught throughout KLA’s
 The Vision Program
 Celebrations of personal achievement

9.  I like everything about school. The things I like most are that
I get to play outside and have lunch breaks. I also get to do
these really hard spelling tests. (Yr 2 boy with ASD)
 Teachers help me work out strategies for when I am angry
and when I am in the playground…My friends encourage me
to do my breathing and that because they know my
strategies and that. And then when I‟m feeling a bit angry I
have some friends around me and they encourage me. On
the playground, if I‟m playing with my friends, if they see
that I‟m getting a bit angry they tell me that I‟m looking a bit
angry and that…I can go to my box – my robo box. It‟s full of
clam down things- squishy balls and stuff (Yr 5 boy with
ASD)
Student voice

10. Student voice cont.
 Part of my autism is that I get obsessed with things. Like
I‟m obsessed with the computer and certain games like
Minecraft. I‟m on it every second I can get. But at school I
can‟t because the only computer that has Java that you need
is one in the SEP and you‟re only allowed to do it in that
classroom on Fridays…I‟ve learned other ways to help now.
(Yr 7 boy with ASD)
Research assistant observation of Year 7 focus group discussion: They
understood how all sorts of events could be emotionally traumatic for
students and how this would make them withdraw from play or class
activity. They understood it to be their role to include students and
help them join in with other groups in the playground (for younger
students) or in the classroom…students spoke very frankly about other
students’ problems…and were quite straightforward about the justice
of inclusion. They felt that this was their role as leaders and that they
had learned about inclusion from the Visions program.

11. Mum of boy with ADD, ADHD, & OBD – He was falling very far
behind in schoolwork and they were able to pick up on that and really
work out how to go around it. Now he‟s actually writing and not
arguing too much with them. They worked out a whole schedule when
it started to become too annoying for him and put him on to a
computer. He could finish the work that he was doing by typing it on
to a computer as opposed to having to actually sit there and
handwrite it. And I guess that was the best thing – they actually took
the time to work out what worked for him.
Mum (with bipolar) of two boys with ASD - What they do here is
phenomenal. Not just for the kids, but for the parents … I can be
having the worst BP day. I've just got to glance at G… across the
room and suddenly I just start to calm… I kiss the ground these guys
walk on because they really, really have made a difference…The
minute you walk in the door there's that openness. Like even the girls
in the office - you never feel, like, you can see they are flat out but
who cares? You never get put aside. You're never made to feel out of
place…and my kids feel safe for the first time.
Parent voice

12. Parent voice cont.
Parent of mainstream children: We were like many parents…
we did a bit of shopping around and saw what was around us. Here it
is very much that the children were the focus and what was the best
thing for their needs. I really liked the school‟s perspectives on
behaviour management…Negative behaviours helping them to really
identify those and helping them turn them around as well. And when
you walked in, you were made to feel welcome…
Our eldest is a bright spark amongst the mix and full of personality
which makes life interesting for everybody. We know, we live with it!
But he is academically ahead of many of the other kids in his class
but the teachers have always been really willing to engage with
us…helping him to progress further and work at his standard and to
provide work for him. We are aware that they had the learning
support teacher assess where he was at. So the school has put a
number of programs in place. He‟s involved in extension Science
activities and extension Maths activities.

13. Teacher voice
Support teacher: At our school there are a lot of kids who
aren‟t achieving at their benchmark, especially in our junior classes,
for example reading accuracy might be quite good but
comprehension isn‟t. So we develop individual learning
plans…(talks about One School processes)…I‟m working with some
teachers to make it more specific. And some teachers are really
into that, like with setting what we term as a „smart goal‟, quite a
specific goal. So it might be „Improve from this level to this level in
reading with this percentage of comprehension‟.
Classroom teacher (Yr3/4): It‟s very different here…there are
behaviours I have never seen before. It took me a while but there
was lots of support. The walkie-talkie system is really reassuring
– you know you are not alone! I must admit I will miss the colourful
behaviours when some of these guys leave. Sometimes they just
need their space and then they will be back on board…the others
know that and just keep on working. It has taken awhile but these
things are such good life lessons for all kids.

14. Leadership voice
Head of Special Education Program:You need staff to be willing
to put the extra effort in...like what S… did for Mitch is what I am
talking about. He rode it out and put the effort in… and we‟ve got
a lot of teachers who will put the hours in, who will go the extra
mile and who have the right personality for working with the
children to make it work, who‟ll work as part of a team.
School Principal: That‟s the journey he came on, he didn‟t think
that way in the beginning so I think “Wow that‟s really great!”
…it‟s really strong expectations but I mean the benefits that can
be gained for the classroom teachers in the end is you have less
behaviour issues and you have support. There are benefits to be
gained but you have to put in the hours…we‟re a family and have
to work together.

15. Like schools Reading
and Numeracy
NAPLAN data
Yrs 3–5 2011 - 2013
Making a difference

16. Like schools Reading
and Numeracy
NAPLAN data
Yrs 5-7 2011 - 2013

17. Moral purpose
Research assistant work-shadowed Principal for 2 days: J… talked
with passion about the importance of the „extra‟ things they do
within the school – the woodworking club (run by a retired
manual arts teacher and friends); the reading activities in the
library or in a classroom (adopted grandparents come and read
aloud to those who wish to listen); the two gardening plots (run
by one classroom teacher and her class and the other by a retired
teacher who works with students with special needs or often
referred to as the J Block kids); and, the musical which brings in
parents and another retired teacher to help with costuming,
learning lines, staging and the like. She strongly believes that to
cater for all learners extension activities, creative activities
and more than anything activities that allow students to socialise
in a positive interdependent way are necessary ways of
developing life skills and providing opportunities to shine for
those who are not academically gifted.

18. Getting the best fit…

19. The pieces
I think there are lots of elements… I think it is top down and
bottom up as well. I think that groundwork that the
teachers and the teacher aides are putting in and the things
that they bring to the table as well, it makes it run. The levels
that we‟ve got going at the moment and the way it’s
timetabled…we‟ve set it up… the building blocks were already
here and in place before the Special Education Program got
larger. It‟s that, human element… to me the caring side of
things is really important here…it‟s a level of caring. Like I think
that, coming back to that aspect of, if it was your child what
would you want for them? And if teachers and teacher aides are
genuinely caring about the children they have high
expectations for them and not just thinking oh that‟s another
child in their class, “They‟re only reading at a level 4, oh well
that‟s the best I can do for now” if they‟ve got that attitude then
it‟s not going to, the day will run but it‟s not going to go as well
as we feel it probably is for us at the moment. (HOSE)

20. The structure
Large class –
Visions program;
science; SOSE;
music; HPE
Small
class
‘Wrapping with Support’

21. The leadership
Principal and HOSE: So we‟re always saying there‟s something
else we can sort of add to the layer and enable it to be able to be
better, to be able to meet the challenge because there‟s always
new challenges but an ability to be able to discuss it openly and
honestly and sometimes I call behaviours of staff sometimes. As
leaders sometimes we have to do that… And [those] professional
conversations that we have, where we‟re just up to we‟re
actually giving individual feedback to those teachers… so we had
to timetable where the four of us then went and talked to every
teacher at the beginning of the year and gave general feedback
about the questions we asked of them…Now we‟re up to where we
did it again and we‟ve given them individual feedback to be able
to say, “well these are the things we‟re asking you to find, to
justify or to show us what you are doing or whatever it is and then
we find if it‟s not working and then we go into classrooms…We‟re
looking, seeing, helping, doing, asking...No one ever says no
they don‟t want us there „cos they know we‟re there to help.

22.  Developing learner independence – modelling and speaking out loud
 Active and empathetic listening (student, parent, teacher)
 Explicit teaching of social skills and inclusive practice
 Extension activities, creative activities developing interests, gifts and talents
 Socialise in a positive interdependent way
 Explicit teaching of life skills
 Identifying and creating opportunities to shine
 Top down and bottom up decision making and shared commitment
 Importance of the initial groundwork (teachers and the teacher aides)
 Layers of support – timetabled and resourced flexibly with best fit in mind
 The visible human element - the caring side – “from the gate in”
 High expectations (academic/behaviour) – negotiated, supported and
celebrated
 Professional conversations – providing spaces and places for sharing (not
just added on at the end of a day)
 Individual feedback – staff, students and leaders
 Looking, seeing, helping, doing, asking – ‘Wrapping with Support’

23. Inclusive foundations
 ‘Whole child’ decision making
 Commitment to vision, values & principles
 Parallel leadership – School Management Team
 Metastrategic leadership
 Capacity building targeted to need
 Shared decision making (staff, doctors, parents)
 Risk-taking in a safe no blame environment
 Flexible structures and processes
 Wrapping with support (all parties)
 Explicit teaching of social skills
 Getting the best fit
 Strong induction processes
 Positive relationships

24. The essence: A language of inclusion
Phrase Meaning
Wrapping with support Support structures, resources and personnel
that target needs of all students – students
with special needs; ‘children-in-care’ needs;
mainstream student needs
J Block kids The students with special needs who are
supported by the SEP program in J Block
Vision Program or Vision’s
time
The social skills program developed by school
staff and run weekly
Large class/small class Mainstream classes/SEP classes
Getting the right fit Staffing and student placement
Slow transitions Allowing students to face difficult situations
through a gradual conditioning process

25. Inclusion from the gate in
When a student turns up for enrolment there is
a welcome – there are not the blockers – and
that’s the big difference …it’s a small school
mindset. Every child who walks in is
welcomed…it’s got a family feel...from the gate
in.
Education Queensland District Advisor

26. Contact details:
lindy-anne.abawi@usq.edu.au