promoting academic progress and by working with them from a posture of cultural reciprocity; school authorities should develop effective professional development programmes for educators, which gives attention to participants’ cultural attitudes/expectations, beliefs, knowledge, and skills, as well as the socio-political contexts of education in culturally and linguistically diverse communities; schools should implement early intervention strategies as soon as learning problems are noted. To this list many others could be added. One that is particularly worthy of attention is contained in a publication by Fiedler et al. (2008), who referred to Wisconsin’s Checklist to Address Disproportionality in Special Education (CADSE). This checklist has three broad sections: Culturally responsive beliefs and practices of schools and general education classrooms. Culturally appropriate coordinated early intervening services and referral to special education. Culturally responsive IEP team decision-making evaluation and determination of eligibility. 5.2 Over-representation of Males in Special Education While there is clear international evidence of a gender imbalance in the incidence of disabilities and in special education enrolments, its causes are not so clear. In this section, the research findings showing gender differences, possible causes and educational implications will be outlined. The principal sources of information for this section are a paper by Oswald et al. (2003), with its focus on special education, and an extensive report on boys’ underachievement by Younger et al. (2005); others will be cited where relevant. It should be noted from the outset that in the field of special education, some writers portray the gender imbalance as reflecting either or both an over-identification of males and an under-identification of girls (Wehmeyer & Schwartz, 2001). Also, at least one writer (Evans, 2000) has interpreted the gender imbalance to mean that boys receive more resources than girls to help them gain more access to the curriculum. awareness,
Committee examines each report and makes such suggestions and general recommendations on the report as it may consider appropriate and forwards these to the State Party concerned. The Optional Protocol gives the Committee competence to examine individual complaints with regard to alleged violations of the Convention by States parties. It should be noted, however, that neither the Salamanca Statement nor the Convention explicitly states that all SWSEN should be educated in fully inclusive settings at all levels of the education system. Nor do they explicitly exclude such an interpretation. In other words, there is a degree of ambiguity regarding the intentions of both documents with regard to the meaning of inclusion. With the impetus provided by the UN and UNESCO, and other influences such as those outlined in Chapter One, it is not surprising that virtually all countries have policies on inclusive education, or are in the process of developing them. To attempt to summarise them would be a major task. It is perhaps sufficient to mention some countries’ approaches in order to illustrate the developments that are occurring, England. In this country, the 2004 document Removing barriers to achievement: The Government’s strategy for SEN (Department for Education and Skills, 2004) made a clear commitment to inclusive education by embedding inclusive practice in every school and early years setting. It cited the 1997 Green Paper, Excellence For All Children, as signaling the government’s commitment to the principle of inclusion and the need to rethink the role of special schools within that context. It also referred to The SEN and Disability Act 2001 as delivering ‘a stronger right to mainstream education, making it clear that where parents want a mainstream place for their child, everything possible should be done to provide it’ (p.25). A small, but significant, caveat to the principle of inclusion, however, can be found in the 2001 Code of Practice (Department for Education and Skills, 2001), which stated that ‘A parents’ wish to have their child with a statement educated in the mainstream should only be refused in the small minority of cases where the child’s inclusion would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children’ (p.14). A further indication of England’s commitment to inclusive education is the government’s decision to place the Index for Inclusion (Booth & Ainscow, 2002) in every school. Australia. Several Australian states have made a commitment to inclusive education. In Western Australia, for example, the aim of the Building Inclusive
was the ‘subjective school norm’ as operationalised by the principal’s attitudes towards heterogeneous classrooms. The second major predictor was an ‘interventionist school norm’, a measure derived from a scale ranging from the idea that problems exist within students (‘pathognomonic’), at one end, to the idea that problems result from the interaction between the student and their learning environments (‘interventionist’), at the other end. 13.6.2 Parents’ perceptions Parents play a critical role in bestowing social validity on inclusion and in facilitating its implementation. Duhaney & Salend (2000) reviewed 17 studies published between 1985 and 1998 that investigated the perceptions of inclusion held by parents of children with and without disabilities. They found that these were complex, multidimensional, and affected by a range of intervening variables. Both groups had mixed, but generally positive, perceptions of inclusive education. Parents of children with disabilities believed that inclusion promoted acceptance by peers and helped their children’s social, emotional and academic development. Concerns included a loss of access to specialised personnel. Parents of children without disabilities valued their children’s greater awareness of others’ needs and their enhanced acceptance of human diversity. Some, however, were concerned that their children would not receive sufficient assistance from their teachers and they might emulate inappropriate behaviours of children with disabilities. There is evidence that countries with more segregated provisions (e.g., Belgium, France, the Netherlands (until recently), Germany and Switzerland) report parental pressure for inclusion, and there is positive parental support in countries with existing inclusive practices (e.g., Cyprus, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden). However, parents whose children have more severe special needs are said to prefer segregated settings for their children (e.g., Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2003). 13.6.3 Students’ perceptions Inclusive education involves several stakeholders, not least of which are the students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities. What are their perceptions of inclusive education? Klinger & Vaughn (1999) presented a synthesis of 20 US studies of programmes involving students with high incidence disabilities in
Model appropriate voice levels (for example, ask the learners to distinguish between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ voices). Encourage learners to speak quietly in group activities and when moving furniture. Use music to calm the class (but take care that this does not itself become ‘noise’ and forces learners to speak even louder to make themselves heard). Keep doors and windows closed, provided there is adequate ventilation. Check the noise levels of any heating, ventilation and air conditioning system in your classroom. Involve an audiologist and/or a speech and language therapist in working out ways to make classrooms acoustically satisfactory. 15.5 Interactive Effects of Different Features of Classroom Environments Recent research has highlighted the importance of considering the complex interactions and additive effects among various aspects of indoor environmental quality on student achievement. For example, in a UK study, researchers found the following classroom characteristics related positively to achievement: (a) light: e.g., classrooms receive natural light from more than one orientation, and they have high quality and quantity of electric lighting; (b) choice: e.g., classrooms have high quality and purpose-designed furniture, fixtures and equipment, including ergonomic tables and chairs; (c) flexibility: various zones can allow varied learning activities at the same time, and teachers can easily change the space configuration; (d) connection: wide corridors can ease movement, and pathways have clear way-finding features; (e) complexity: classrooms are designed with quiet visual environments balanced with a certain level of complexity; and (f) colour: warm colours in senior grades’ classrooms and bright, cool colours in junior grades’ classrooms (Barrett, 2013). 15.6 Summary Learners who spend time in well-designed, well-maintained classrooms that are comfortable, well lit, reasonably quiet, and properly ventilated with healthy air will learn more efficiently and enjoy their educational experiences. Children should receive 2-3 hours per day in daylight conditions. What constitutes good design of indoor physical environments for SWSEN is also good design for all learners.
Options that scaffold coping skills and strategies Options that develop self-assessment and reflection © 2009 by CAST. All rights reserved. CAST (2008). Universal design for learning guidelines version 1.0. Wakefield, MA: Author. Table 23.1 Universal Design for Learning Guidelines More specifically, citing Lance & Wehmeyer (2001), Wehmeyer et al. (2002) identified six criteria of UDL: Equitable use: materials can be used by students who speak various languages; they address a variety of levels in cognitive taxonomies and provide alternatives that appear equivalent and, thus, do not stigmatise students. Flexible use: materials provide multiple means of representation, presentation and student expression. Simple and intuitive use: materials are easy to use and avoid unnecessary complexity; directions are clear and concise; and examples are provided. Perceptible information: materials communicate needed information to students independent of ambient conditions or students’ sensory abilities; essential information is highlighted; and redundancy is included. Tolerance for error: students have ample time to respond, are provided with feedback, can undo previous responses, can monitor progress, and are provided with adequate practice time. Low physical and cognitive effort: materials present information in chunks that can be completed in a reasonable time frame. Elsewhere, the present writer pointed out that as rehabilitation services expand, particularly in the area of assistive technology, there will be an increasing need for some degree of international standardisation (Mitchell, 1999). 23.3 Summary Universal Design (UD) had its origins in architecture and engineering, and has been increasingly emphasised in education, where it is usually referred to as Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
The model asked schools to classify each student within one of the following four broad categories of disability: physical cognitive social/emotional sensory These are linked to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Australian Human Rights Commission interpretation: Disability Discrimination Act 1992 Disability Standards for Education 2005 Australian Human Rights Commission interpretation of the DDA definition Primary disability categories used in the national data collection process total or partial loss of a part of the body Neurological Physical the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part the person’s body Physical the presence in the body of organisms causing disease or illness Physical disfigurement the presence in the body or organisms capable of causing disease or illness The presence in the body of disease causing organisms total or partial loss of the person’s bodily or mental functions Intellectual Cognitive disorder or malfunction that results in the person learning differently from a person without the disorder or malfunction Learning disabilities total or partial loss of the person’s bodily or mental functions Sensory Sensory the malfunction, malformation or disfigurement of a part of the person’s body a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person’s thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgements or that results in disturbed behaviour Psychiatric Social/ Emotional