The why and how of school inclusion

Inclusion in the regular class and lesson is set as a fundamental human right of all children and strongly supported in Australian and international law.  However, many of us were taught that students with disability are best taught in segregated ‘special’ settings so we may have trouble seeing how it is possible to include students far behind their peers in the mainstream lesson.

• What are the historical, international, moral and empirical underpinnings of inclusion?
• What exactly is meant by inclusion?
• Physical, social and curricular inclusion. What works best and what does a teacher need to know? Practical, evidence based  ways to successfully include all students while  improving academic outcomes for the class.
  

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Rethinking behaviour – what brain research is telling us about working with behaviour in the classroom

• The development of self control – the ultimate behaviour control.
• Using overt research-based strategies to counter bullying.
• Getting positive – how reward and punishment impact on the brain and what it means for classroom practice.

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Current findings of educational research

It seems that every year at least in education there is some new ‘fad’ that promises to dramatically improve learning or behaviour outcomes. The results of a massive review of the literature by a renowned academic shows us:

• How we can judge what works best.
• What works best at a school level.
• What works best at a class level.
• What we can do that will make the most difference.

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Maximising the impact of Educational Assistants

International research including a huge study in the UK show that some common practices of using Education Assistants (EAs) lead to poorer academic and social outcomes than no EA at all. On the other hand, used effectively, EAs can be like gold in producing major short and long term outcomes. This workshop looks at practical strategies for EAs that will really make a difference.

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Building Social Inclusion for ALL students.

All schools are increasingly aware of the issues of student isolation, bullying and mental health but often feel out of their depth in developing effective strategies.  To belong is the foundation of social, academic and personal development but many students feel that they do not belong, with sometimes tragic results.

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Universal Design for Learning and Teaching to Diversity

How can we include all students in the same lesson?  What about the student who doesn’t talk?  What about the student who won’t sit down? Do you really mean including a student with basic counting skills being included in the algebra class?  This workshop looks at how we can include ALL students in the same lesson, such as those with major developmental delay, physical disabilities and behaviour issues as well as students who are far ahead of their peers.

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Solving any problem in 15 Minutes

In effectively every staff room there are several decades, even centuries of experience.  However  we never have time to collaborate, share ideas and work on problems together.  With playground duties and limited lunch recess times, 15 minutes is as much time we get to discuss things with our colleagues. In this short highly practical workshop, a technique designed by a principal in Canada is used to solve real problems facing members of the group who are willing to have them worked on collaboratively.  It is engaging, highly productive and fun, but most important gives a strategy to work on difficult issues in your school.

Changing a school to an inclusive one.

To change a school to an inclusive one requires deep and detailed systemic change at all levels.    Any such change will go against centuries of ‘how this is done’ , many and varied vested interests and the inherent inertia of large organisations.  In short it is difficult, complex and fraught with danger for those trying to achieve the change.  This workshop designed for school leaders starts with the values that are shared and then describes the systematic and detailed processes that need to be gone through to give a chance of success.  The presenter did his PhD on system change and has been involved in several real life examples.

Challenging our assumptions.

Everything is based on belief.  We ‘know’ that the world is flat, the earth is the centre of the universe and segregation is the best way of teaching students with disability.  Of course we now know that all of these statements are incorrect but the whole world believed them at one time (and some people continue to believe in all of them despite massive amounts of contradictory scientific evidence ).  How did these changes in beliefs occur?  In this workshop we look at how a world view changes and the critical importance of assumptions in upholding a paradigm.  The assumptions underpinning segregated education are looked at systematically and alternative inclusive ones substituted.  Unless we get the values and assumptions right, fundamental change will not occur.