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Part One
Inclusive classrooms: Ethos and approaches
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1 | Principles of inclusion |
According to statistics compiled by the Commission for Racial Equality (1998), Black pupils are five times more likely to be excluded from school than their White peers. Exclusion in the sense of physical removal from school is, however, only the tip of the iceberg. Some research suggests that prevailing attitudes and behaviour in some schools render Black and Asian children invisible. Based on extensive interviews with teachers, trainee teachers and lecturers in initial teacher education, Russell Jones (1999: 139–42) has devised a typology of disappearance, which describes the various strategies used to avoid ‘race’ and ethnicity in predominantly White schools. These strategies include the following;
• failure to see the ‘race’ or ethnicity of a pupil as a significant aspect of their identity;
• failure to address ‘race’ and ethnicity because it is someone else’s responsibility or is covered by an official or quasi-official document;
• failure to recognise racism as a social problem because the problems faced by Black and Asian pupils are due to them as individuals;
• the view that issues to do with ‘race’ and ethnicity are of low priority in a teacher’s work or that there is insufficient time to deal with them as issues;
• the view that to address issues of ‘race’, ethnicity and racism creates problems or only makes matters worse.
The conclusion is that some schools, notably those with relatively few Black and Asian pupils, whilst not physically excluding those pupils from school, in effect, symbolically exclude them by failing to recognise their ethnic identity. Issues and conflicts that arise in such schools linked to ‘race’ and ethnicity tend to be problematised around the individual rather than dealt with as socially constructed problems. In contrast, inclusive schools recognise the multiple identities of pupils and create school environments in which those identities are valued and respected. They offer support to those pupils who are harassed because of their identity and put in place strategies to challenge prejudice.
In contrast to Jones’s work, Blair and Bourne (1998) identified ways in which ‘race’ and ethnicity are treated as transparent issues by successful multi-ethnic schools. The salient points emerging from their analysis show that effective schools have the following characteristics:
• headteachers who take a strong lead on equality issues;
• an emphasis on listening to, and acting upon, the experiences of pupils and their parents;
• strong links with parents and the local community;
• a concern for developing the ‘whole’ child, including the personal, social and emotional as well as academic potential of individual pupils;
• an inclusive curriculum – one that works within the parameters of the National Curriculum to include a recognition of diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic identities;
• clear practices and procedures for dealing with and preventing racist bullying and harassment;
• the application of strategies to prevent the exclusion of pupils from school for both fixed and permanent periods;
• high expectations of both pupils and teachers supported by clear systems for targeting and monitoring the progress of individual pupils and cohorts of pupils, such as ethnic groups, to ensure equality of outcome.
Blair and Bourne emphasise that successful attempts to create inclusive education depend upon the application of a raft of measures rather than being dependent upon a single factor. In addition to studies of schools and their perceptions and practices in relation to ‘race’ and ethnicity, educationalists in the field of ‘special education’ have also identified important features of inclusive approaches. Some of the inclusive approaches in special education are also applicable to inclusive approaches for cultural diversity, since the intention is to find strategies that involve the whole school community. Ainscow (1999: 149) draws attention to the Index of Inclusion, which was devised by parents, teachers and representatives of disability groups. The Index is based on two sources of information: one is evidence from research into methods of improving participation of pupils previously excluded or marginalised, and the other is evidence of effective methods of school improvement. The Index establishes definitions of inclusion which can be accessed on the website of the Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education (www.inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csiefaqs). In summary, the definitions state that inclusion
• involves the processes of increasing the participation of students in, and reducing their exclusion from, the cultures, curricula and communities of local schools;
• involves restructuring the cultures, policies and practices in schools so that they respond to the diversity of students in their locality;
• is concerned with the learning and participation of all students vulnerable to exclusionary pressures;
• is concerned with improving schools for staff as well as for students;
• views diversity not as a problem to be overcome, but as a rich resource to support the learning of all;
• is concerned with fostering mutually sustaining relationships between schools and communities;
• in education is one aspect of inclusion in society as a whole.
Further reading of the Index’s three main dimensions reveals close parallels to Bourne and Blair’s findings, which demonstrate the importance of drawing on all fields of research and practice in inclusive education. In essence, inclusive approaches begin with the recognition that our society and its schools are populated by people of diverse backgrounds and needs, and that historically some groups and some individuals have been excluded, either physically or symbolically. Inclusive approaches in education seek to change structures, practices and procedures as well as behaviour to ensure that difference not only is accepted but is recognised for its educational value. As Kincheloe and Steinberg (1997: 43) acknowledge:
individuals who belong to divergent socio-economic groups can learn much from one another if provided the space to exchange ideas and analyse mutual difficulties. As such a powerful force, difference must not simply be tolerated but cultivated as a spark to human creativity.
Of course, this point applies equally to differences of gender, religion, culture and ‘race’ as it does to socio-economic status.
Features of inclusive classrooms
Whilst recognising that inclusion is a multi-dimensional issue that must operate at all levels of school, my intention in this book is to focus on inclusion at the level of classroom practice. More specifically, I want to look at curriculum content and the organisation of learning and especially the use of resources that encourage collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is important to inclusive classroom organisation because it increases the opportunities pupils have to share their knowledge, including specific cultural knowledge. When pupils work together to achieve a collective goal they utilise and develop important communication and social skills. If the materials they use reflect cultural, religious and ethnic diversity in appropriate ways, not just of pupils within the classroom or school but of society as a whole, then significant messages are delivered to pupils about the positive value attributed by school to social and cultural diversity. In turn, a classroom ethos that encourages pupils to share their thoughts, ideas, knowledge and skills, led by teachers who elicit and who genuinely value the contributions of all pupils, is likely to generate the kind of social relationships which make pupils feel psychologically secure in their learning. The Index of Inclusion referred to above identifies a comprehensive range of indicators of inclusive cultures and practices that schools can use to evaluate their own performance in relation to inclusive education. Listed below are some of the specific indicators from the Index that can be applied to classroom practice.
• Everyone is made to feel welcome.
• Students help one another.
• Staff collaborate with one another.
• Staff and students treat one another with respect.
• High expectations are set for all pupils.
• Students are equally valued.
• Staff seek to remove all barriers to learning and participation in school.
• Lessons are responsive to student diversity.
• Lessons are made accessible to all students.
• Lessons develop an understanding of difference.
• Students are actively involved in their own learning.
• Students learn collaboratively.
• Assessment encourages the achievements of all students.
• Classroom discipline is based on mutual respect.
• Teachers plan, review and teach in partnership.
• Teachers are concerned to support the learning and participation of all students.
• Student difference is used as a resource for teaching and learning.
• Staff develop resources to support learning and participation.
One important feature of an inclusive classroom is the development of attitudes and cognitive resources that lead to open rather than closed perceptions of difference. In its discussion of ‘Islamophobia’ or anti-Muslim prejudice, the Runnymede Trust (www.runnymedetrust.org/beb/islamophobia/nature.html) has identified and contrasted eight sets of open and closed views of Islam. These views are set out in Table 1.1. Reactions following the events of 11 September 2001, which have led some people to conflate Islam with terrorism, give the discussion added significance and highlight the need for those with influence to model open attitudes to the religion and its adherents. What is stated under the heading of ‘Open views of Islam’ could be applied to any religious, cultural or ethnic group that is subject to prejudice and discrimination. Indeed, recognition that all groups are diverse within themselves must be a central concept in inclusion as is the acknowledgement that difference does not imply superior or inferior relations between groups and that different groups often share similarities, be those differences based on religion or some other marker of difference.
Table 1.1 Closed and open views of Islam
Distinctions 1. Monolithic versus diverse | Closed views of Islam Islam is seen as a single monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to new realities. | Open views of Islam Islam is seen as diverse and progressive, with internal differences, debates and developments. |
2. Separate versus interacting | Islam is seen as separate and other, i.e. (a) not having any aims or values in common with other cultures; (b) not affected by them; (c) not influencing them. | Islam is seen as interdependent with other faiths and cultures, i.e. (a) having certain shared values and aims; (b) affected by them; (c) enriching them. |
3. Inferior versus different | Islam is seen as inferior to the West – barbaric, irrational, primitive, sexist. | Islam is seen as distinctively different, but not deficient or inferior and equally worthy of respect. |
4. Enemy versus partner | Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism, engaged in a clash of civilisations. | Islam is seen as an actual or potential partner in joint cooperative enterprises and in the solution of shared problems. |
5. Manipulative versus sincere | Islam is seen as a political ideology used for political or military advantage. | Islam is seen as a genuine religious faith, practised sincerely by its adherents. |
6. Criticisms of West rejected versus considered | Criticisms made by Islam of the West are rejected out of hand. | Criticisms of the West and other cultures are considered and debated. |
7. Discrimination defended versus criticised | Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society. | Debates and disagreements with Islam do not diminish efforts to combat discrimination and exclusion. |
8. Islamophobia seen as natural versus problematic | Anti-Muslim hostility is accepted as natural and normal. | Critical views of Islam are themselves subjected to critique, lest they be inaccurate and unfair. |
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The long-term needs of the EAL learner
Children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) have already acquired comprehensive linguistic competence in a first and possibly second language before exposure to English. In the early years of EAL acquisition, English will be the child’s weakest language, which is a problem for schools that are dependent upon achieving good SATs results, but in itself, the fact that English is the weaker language is not a problem. Providing the child has exposure to a rich, comprehensible diet of English, acquisition will occur. Cummins (1984) estimates that oral fluency in the social use of an additional language can be acquired within two years. However, it can take up to seven years for a child to become fully competent in the use of that language for cognitive and academic purposes. This time span has implications for the asse...
