The document discusses key issues and propositions related to inclusive education. It addresses definitions of inclusion, models of disability, placement approaches, barriers to inclusion, and the complex relationship between inclusion policies and broader social and economic reforms. While no country has fully achieved inclusion, there is consensus around features like access to regular classes and individualized support. Inclusion requires consideration across multiple contexts and transformation of systems beyond just education.

1. ED6306 - Inclusive and Multicultural Education – Dan O’Sullivan Teaching Students with General Learning Disabilities: a) Barriers to Learning b) Principles of Effective Instruction 07/11/11 8 Inclusion: Societal and Whole-School Issues 24/10/11 7 Contextualising Inclusive Education 17/10/11 6 Theme Date Lecture No.

2. Dyslexia ~ From Theory to Practice - Delivering Effective Evidence-Based Instruction 28/11/11 11 Review & Discussion ED6306 Assignment – Guidelines (Submission: December 13 th 2011) 05/12/11 12 Inclusive Classroom Practices: a) Differentiation b) Collaborative Learning Strategies: ~ Peer Tutoring ~ Co-operative Learning (Group Work) 21/11/11 10 Inclusive Classroom Practice: a) In-class Support / Team Teaching 14/11/11 9 Theme Date Lecture No.

3. Contextualising Inclusive Education Dan O’Sullivan ED6306 - Inclusive and Multicultural Education Lecture 6: 17/10/11

7. Proposition 1 Inclusive education extends beyond special needs arising from disabilities – includes consideration of other sources of disadvantage / marginalisation: - gender - socio-economic status / disadvantage - language - ethnicity - geographic isolation………………… Complex inter-relationships that exist among these factors & their interactions with disability [e.g. parents & ‘social capital’] Scope varies internationally N.B. Inclusion of pupils with SEN = central concern of ‘Inclusive’ section of ED6306 Proposition = a suggestion to be considered

8. Contexts of inclusive education consideration should be given to the relationships among the - social political economic cultural and historica l contexts of inclusive education - at macro micro personal and interpersonal levels. Inclusive education embedded in a range of contexts:-

12. Proposition 5 The inclusive education / segregation divide is not limited to the regular class vs. the special class / special school, - also covers a range of other educational provisions that separate students – [ institutional access alone does not equate with educational inclusion ] - Segregating effects of enrolment / selection [and grouping] by academic ability / aptitude: Academic (& social!) selection practices - schooled with “like-ability” peers rather than with peers from an homogeneous “community”. {Issue of schools reproducing inequalities} 2 issues - Mini-special schools attached to the mainstream: Students with SEN ostensibly integrated, but placed in segregated and semi-segregated provision within mainstream schools - largely in isolation from their peers

13. Proposition 6 With regard to students with disabilities, inclusive education is a site of conflicting paradigms, centered on two different conceptualisations of special needs: A) Psycho-medical model: [ “defect model” / “categorical model” etc. ] - Assumption: disability = a stable trait – can be readily diagnosed and categorically grouped – category determines resource provision [ cf. Lecture 1 – Denis Burns - Slide 8: Application Criteria: Resource Teaching ] - School failure - ascribed to some defect, pathology, or inadequacy located within the student . Predominates within many ( most?) systems. - Reduces people to an essentialised set of characteristics - Influences teachers’ expectations ?

14. B) Socio-political model: [“social model” / “relational perspective”] - Special needs = social constructs. Task: Finding a balance between the two paradigms. - Special education = structural inequalities at the macro-social level are reproduced in institutional form. - Attention paid to system deficiencies.

18. Proposition 10 * Societal values & beliefs (12 & 13); * economic factors (14); * a lack of measures to ensure compliance with policies; * the dispersion of responsibility for education; * conservative traditions among teachers, teacher educators and educational researchers; * parental resistance; * lack of skills among teachers; * rigid curricula and examination systems; * fragile democratic institutions; * inadequate educational infrastructures (especially in rural/remote areas); * large class sizes; * resistance from the special education sector (especially special schools); * top-down introduction of inclusive education without adequate preparation of schools/communities. Manifold reasons for Policy / Practice gap in inclusive education: Specified - Enacted - Experienced

21. Proposition 13 Because cultural values and beliefs , levels of economic wealth , and histories mediate the concept of inclusive education, it takes on different meanings in different countries, and even within countries . The form taken by inclusive education in any particular country is influenced by the nature of the settlements reached at any one time between Tensions: global vs. local / modernization vs . traditionalism [Tensions exacerbated by the rapidity of modernization processes] All settlements are: a) complex ; b) unique to each country; c) are in a state of flux. [Also within-country cultural variations] b) modernization values [universal welfare / equity and equality / democracy / human rights / social justice / individualism / parental choice] a) traditional values [social cohesion & group identity / collectivism / images of wholeness / fatalism / hierarchical ordering of society and

25. Mitchell, David (2009) Sixteen propositions on the contexts of inclusive education, in Mitchell, D. (ed.) Contextualising Inclusive Education – Evaluating old and new international perspectives , Abingdon: Routledge, 1-21. [Chapter 1 - Introduction] Boole Q+2 371.9 MITC – 3 copies Recommended websites: Special Education Support Service: www.sess.ie [ Remit: Professional Development] National Council for Special Education: www.ncse.ie [ Remit: Resource Allocation / Research]