Developing Inclusive School Practice

A Practical Guide

Rita Cheminais

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781134137015
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This practical and comprehensive book for Inclusion Coordinators (SENCOs) covers all the essential aspects of how to manage inclusion more effectively. It informs coordinators about how to move inclusive policy and practice forward, within a range of educational settings. It views inclusion from an equal opportunities perspective, relating to all pupils, irrespective of their ability, disability, age, gender, ethnicity, language and background.

The book explores appointing an inclusion coordinator, the role of the inclusion coordinator, time management for inclusion coordinators, and what an inclusion policy should contain. It covers auditing inclusive practice, reviewing and evaluating inclusion, OFSTED inspecting inclusion, and the role of the governor for inclusion. It also deals with additional target setting; using the revised P scales and the Emotional Behavioural Development (EBD) scales to track and monitor pupil progress; enhancing barrier free learning and participation opportunities; and what to include in a parents/carers guide on inclusion.

Part 1

Strategic Direction and Development of Inclusion

Developing an Inclusive Ethos

Inclusive schools are not focused solely on special educational needs (SEN). They endeavour to create a culture that values all children for what they can achieve and move away from describing children in negative terms for what they cannot do. They focus on a child’s strengths and abilities, and accept human difference as normal.

When developing an inclusive school ethos a good initial starting point is to discover if all school stakeholders share a common understanding about what the term inclusion actually means. Therefore, it is a useful exercise to ask key participants to complete the phrase:

Inclusion is …

Only after examining all the responses can a school ethos be developed.

Villa and Thousand (1995), and the DfEE (2000a) in the training programme for teaching assistants (TAs), focus on the associated feelings of inclusion and exclusion. Another valuable exercise to undertake with staff and pupils in a school is to ask two questions:

• How does it feel to be included?

• How does it feel to be excluded?

Each of these questions is likely to elicit the following answers.

If someone is included they feel wanted, loved, positive, secure, confident, accepted, happy, liked, appreciated, valued, useful, content and at ease.

If someone is excluded they feel rejected, isolated, lonely, inferior, different, worthless, hurt, frustrated, angry, upset, resentful, unhappy, useless, neglected and hard done by.

The purpose behind this second exercise is to raise awareness, increase understanding and change attitudes. It is always beneficial to have past pupils with a diversity of individual needs talking about their experiences of inclusion and exclusion in education and society.

A Policy for Inclusion

The governing body and the head teacher are responsible for determining the school’s inclusive policy and approach; for establishing the appropriate funding and staffing necessary for inclusive provision; and for overseeing inclusive practice within the school.

The Index for Inclusion (Booth and Ainscow 2000) is a valuable audit tool that can support schools in establishing their current position in relation to inclusive culture, policy and practice.

From this point, the inclusion aspects and priorities that need further development can be targeted in the SDP in order to move the school forward in improving educational inclusion.

The development of an inclusion policy is a collaborative process that should involve staff, governors, pupils and parents in its formulation. All stakeholders should be familiar with the contents of the inclusion policy, and relate its guiding principles to their everyday practice.

It is important that the school’s inclusion policy is not seen solely as being just for the benefit of SEN and disabled pupils: this policy also reflects the provision made for girls and boys, minority ethnic and faith groups, travellers’ children, asylum seekers and refugees, EAL pupils, gifted and talented pupils, ‘looked after’ children, disaffected pupils, sick children, young carers, children from families under stress, pregnant schoolgirls and teenage mothers.

Schools may be well advised to review related existing policies such as the equal opportunities policy, the SEN policy, the teaching and learning policy, the behaviour and anti-bullying policy and the assessment policy, to see how inclusive they already are. Where best practice exists in relation to educational inclusion, these schools have a ‘stand alone’ inclusion policy, which does however make reference to the other relevant school policies. An example of a school’s inclusion policy can be found in the Appendix.

What Should be in a School Inclusion Policy?

General rationale	how the policy links to the school’s general aims, philosophy, mission statement, admission arrangements; why the policy is necessary.
Aims and objectives	guiding principles to inclusive provision and objectives employed to achieve inclusion.
Definition of inclusion	this will reflect national and local definitions in relation to the school’s context.
Coordinating inclusion	name the INCO; outline roles/responsibilities of INCO, governing body, head teacher, teachers/LSAs.
Inclusive provision	in-class, out-of-class, pastoral support, setting/grouping arrangements, mentoring, peer tutoring, curriculum entitlement and access; and extra-curricular/out-of-school opportunities, links with other schools.
Specialist provision	specify any specialist facilities, equipment, expertise the school has to ensure physical and curriculum access.
External support	outline of arrangements for external support services involvement, e.g. service level agreement, brief outline of input/provision from education, health, social services, voluntary organisations, i.e. nature of outreach work.
Resource allocation	explanation of how resources are allocated to meet inclusion; outline of expenditure breakdown.
Assessment procedures	arrangements for assessment, identifying and targeting underachieving/minority groups; monitoring and reviewing pupil progress.
Professional development	outline of how school will provide training for teachers/support staff.
Parent partnership	arrangements made for fostering positive parental links/support; outline of how parental concerns/complaints are addressed.
Evaluating policy	success criteria/evidence of impact of policy.

(CSIE 1996:14–18)

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Inclusion Policy

Evidence that the inclusion policy has been effective will need to be gathered annually. The governing body, the head teacher, parents, the LEA and OFSTED, prior to inspection, will want to know how inclusive practice has improved within the school.

Evidence will show that all stakeholders are familiar with the policy and refer to it regularly to inform their practice. The policy will need to indicate that it has had a positive impact upon the sc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part 1: Strategic Direction and Development of Inclusion
• Part 2: Teaching and Learning in Inclusive Schools
• Part 3: Developing Positive Inclusive Relationships
• Part 4: Staff Deployment and Resources to Promote Inclusion
• Appendix: Example of a School Inclusion Policy
• Key Addresses of Official Agencies
• Bibliography
• Index