This document provides an introduction to an online module on inclusive education. [1] It outlines the learning outcomes which focus on reflecting on inclusive policies, deploying teaching strategies to meet learning needs, and relating theory to practice. [2] To meet these outcomes, students will need to complete readings, gather evidence on inclusion from their school, and write a 3,000 word case study applying theory to practice. [3] The module discusses defining inclusion and considering different perspectives on inclusive values.

1. UGS1001: Inclusive Education
Session 1: Introduction to the module

2. Watch this video about professional development:
Effective Inclusion - Additional Training for TAs
What are the challenges of your role?
What you hoping to gain from this course?
Share your responses on the discussion area.

3. Consider the Learning Outcomes for this module:
• reflect on inclusive education policies and their
implications for practice
• deploy effective teaching and learning support strategies
to meet learning needs
• analyse and evaluate the appropriateness and
effectiveness of teaching and learning support strategies
• relate theoretical perspectives on teaching and learning to
practice
• plan for appropriate educational provision and support in a
specified area of schooling to meet the specific needs of a
pupil or group of pupils.
What will you need to do to meet these
outcomes?

4. To meet the learning outcomes you will need to
work your way through the online content of this
module and follow the guidance and suggestions
as and when they appear.
You will need to read and begin your reading
now! Read in the area of inclusive education,
policy and theory.
You will also need to begin to be aware of your
school surroundings and practices, and to gather
evidence of ‘inclusion’.

5. Assignment
You will show how you have addressed the three
learning outcomes of this module by writing a 3,000
word assignment:
A case study that demonstrates how to address
particular learning needs and relates theory to practice.
The case study may involve a pupil, a group or a
situation.
Learning outcomes 1-5

6. A case study is an example.
It involves detail.
In the assignment you are showing, through a
specific example, how a child’s learning needs
were met.

7. In order to approach the assignment, you will need to:
- have read around the notion and concept of inclusion and
‘inclusive education’
- have some idea of a working definition of ‘inclusion’ that
suits you.
- locate school documentation relating to special educational
needs and inclusion, such as inclusion statements and policies;
mission statements and departmental working policies.
- recognise how particular support approaches can meet
learner needs.
- show awareness and understanding of social / medical
models of disability. (i.e. how might policy into practice create
medical models that are barriers to inclusion?)

8. Think about what inclusion means to you.
Think of a time when you felt included and really part of a
group that you wanted to be with, such as being picked for
a team event?
What feelings are associated with the experience?
Now think of a time when you were excluded, perhaps from
a social group, a team or a family situation. How did you
feel then?
Share your responses
on the discussion board.

9. Associated feelings
Inclusion Exclusion
valued rejected
at ease upset
content angry
happy frustrated
useful unhappy
hard done by
useless
4

10. ‘Inclusion’….makes us:
• Think!
• Question. Question our own values. Question
accepted and taken for granted assumptions, for
example, about difference
• Reflect. Reflect upon how we approach
difference and diversity in our daily lives and
professional practice
• Change. Change our attitudes and ways of
thinking and change practice

11. Values…
What values do you associate with ‘inclusion’?
Make a five point list and share your list on
the discussion board, saying why you decided
upon these values.

12. Values associated with inclusion might include::
• Respect –for difference / diversity
• Voice
• Participation
• Access
• Acceptance (not accommodation or tolerance)
• Rights
• Equity
• Independence
• Equality of opportunity

13. Some adults who have a disability or a learning difficulty
− many of whom were educated in special schools −
experience the feelings associated with exclusion. They
feel cut off to some extent, perhaps because of
accessibility issues, such as access to public transport or
public buildings, or perhaps because of other people’s
attitudes to them.
Considerable ignorance about disability still exists in
our society. UK government policy has sought to change
this through legislation, such as the Disability
Discrimination Act, and through policy. It wishes to build
the capacity of mainstream schools to meet the needs of
pupils with SEN and/or disabilities. It sees a continuing
role for special schools as part of a broader range of
provision including co-located special and mainstream
schools, as well as specially resourced provision within or
attached to mainstream schools.

14. Principles of an inclusive
education service
 Inclusion is a process by which schools, LAs and others
develop their cultures, policies and practices to include all
pupils
 With the right training, strategies and support nearly all
children with SEN and/or disabilities can be included
successfully in mainstream education
 An inclusive education service offers excellence and
choice and incorporates the views of parents and children
 The interests of all pupils must be safeguarded.

15. It would be helpful to you if you can decide
upon your own working definition of inclusion
(with the assistance of things you encounter in
reading). The following slide offers just one
definition of inclusion offered by the Centre
for Inclusive Education (CSIE). What are your
thoughts on this definition?

16. Defining inclusion
“Inclusion in education involves the processes of
increasing the participation of students in, and reducing
their exclusion from, the cultures, curricula and
communities of local schools. Inclusion is concerned with
the learning participation of all students vulnerable to
exclusionary pressures, not only those with impairments
or categorised as having SEN. Inclusion is concerned
with improving schools for staff as well as for students.”
‘Index for inclusion: developing learning and participation
in schools’, CSIE, 2002
7

17. Inclusive education is....
• ‘about the participation of ALL children and young people and the
removal of all forms of exclusionary practice’. (Barton, 1997: p.
84-85)
• A process of change
• A change in cultures that are often driven by deeply embedded
negative values and beliefs
• The social transformation of education systems and communities.
• Driven by social justice and the need to remove all forms of
inequalities from our education system.
• ‘A challenge to deficit thinking and practice which too often lead
many to believe that some children have to be dealt with in a
separate way’. (Ainscow, 1999, in Armstrong, 2003)
Interpretations of what inclusion means are contentious
17

18. Consider the following:
• Inclusion is not a single movement it is made up of many
strong currents of belief, many local struggles and a myriad
forms of practice.
• It is not something that can be ‘done’ or enacted. It is
more to do with school cultures and ethos. It is a feeling or
a social phenomenon. We can’t say that we ‘do’ inclusion as
that misunderstands what it is.
Do you agree or disagree with the above statements?
Share your views on the discussion board.

19. Consider ‘The journey from segregation to inclusion’ diagram in
resource book.
What are the differences between
segregation, integration and inclusion?
Is integration inclusion?
If not, why not?
Share your thoughts on the discussion area.

20. Activity:
Read ‘The Staffroom’ extract (resource book)
What are the ‘buts’ of inclusion and are they justifiable?
Post your thoughts on the discussion board
See the following article for a further exploration of the ‘buts’ of
inclusion:
Lawson, H., Parker, M., and Sikes, P. (2006) ‘Seeking stories: reflections on
European Journal of Special Needs Education, 21(1), 55-68.
This article is available under ‘Readings’ area.

21. Reading activity 1:
Read:
Dunne, L. (2009) ‘Inclusion’ in A. Walton and G.
Goddard (Eds) Supporting the Whole Child
London: Learning Matters
This is located in your resource book.
Complete the practical and reflective tasks.

22. Reading activity 2:
Read:
Berlach, R., and Chambers, D. (2011) ‘Interpreting inclusivity: an en
International Journal of Inclusive Education 15, 5
This is also in your resource book and online under
‘Readings’
Did this help you in thinking about inclusion and what it
might mean?
Post your thoughts on the article on the discussion board.

23. In session 10, you will present your
assignment draft to the rest of your group,
online, as a single powerpoint slide. There is
some guidance on this in your resource book.

24. For next session:
In preparation for the next session, please read:
Armstrong, F. (2002) ‘
The historical development of special education:
? History of Education 31, 5, 437 -456
Available in ‘Reading’ area or in resource book.