Inclusive Primary Teaching: A critical approach to equality and special educational needs and disability

by Janet Goepel, Helen Childerhouse, Sheila Sharpe

Overview

This is an invaluable and fully updated text on inclusive practice for all primary trainees and teachers and for those working towards the National Award SEN Co-ordination. It provides an equality- and child-centred approach to inclusion, combining both theory and practice while promoting critical thinking about the complex issues involved. Scenarios are used as the basis for unpicking major topics and provide opportunities for learning in context, while questions and reflections encourage deep thinking about key learning points. This second edition has been fully revised throughout and now includes:
• full reference to the new Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (2014) as well as the Children and Families Act (2014) and Behaviour2Learn
• two completely new chapters on understanding learners who are vulnerable and
understanding learners with communication difficulties
• extended thinking activities and extended reflections to support M-level study
• an improved organisation with emphasis on the national priorities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910391402
Publisher:	Critical Publishing
Publication date:	09/16/2015
Series:	Critical Teaching
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Janet Goepel has been a teacher for many years and developed an interest in special educational needs through having children with additional needs in her class.  She has taught children with profound and multiple learning difficulties who otherwise would have had to attend a special school.  She has also taught children with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD as well as children who have social difficulties. Working with these childrenwas rewarding as well as challenging, taught her a great deal and changed her practice as a teacher. She now teaches Inclusion at Sheffield Hallam University and hopes to pass on her passion for inclusive practice to trainee teachers.

Helen Childerhouse is a senior lecturer in primary and early years teacher education at Sheffield Hallam University. She teaches on undergraduate modules that involve professional practice and supports trainees whilst they are on placement.  She also teaches on the modules which focus on inclusive practice.

Sheila Sharpe is a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University. Her roles include Course Leader for the PG Cert Senco award and the Inclusion co-ordinator for the undergraduate and post graduate Primary and Early Years Teacher Education Programme. She has wide school experience in primary, infant and nursery schools in two local authorities, and has taught children from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures with a range of learning and emotional needs. She has been a SENCO in a primary school which provided insight in to the tensions that exist in schools surrounding inclusive education. She has also worked in an advisory capacity in a local authority giving support to teachers and schools for provision in meeting language and literacy needs of children. Her research interests are in enquiry-led learning for children and trainees.

Janet Goepel was a teacher for many years, working with a range of children with the label of SEN. She moved to working in higher education teaching inclusion and special educational needs after completing her Masters. Her doctoral thesis is concerned with the professionalism of doctors and teachers in working together to support children with special educational needs. She is currently a senior lecturer in primary education at Sheffield Hallam University and teaches inclusion and special educational needs on both the undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher training courses. She is the leader for the PCGE award in Special Educational Needs Coordination and also the National Priority Lead for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) for all primary and early years teacher education courses within the university. 

Helen Childerhouse is a senior lecturer in teacher development at Bishop Grosseteste University where she specialises in professional practice and special educational needs and disability.  She has 15 years' classroom experience as a teacher and has worked in early years as a SENCO and also with children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.  She is passionate about supporting teachers to develop inclusive classroom practice.

Sheila Sharpe was until recently a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University with roles including course leader for the PG Cert Senco award and inclusion co-ordinator for the undergraduate and postgraduate primary and early years teacher education programme. She has taught children from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures with a range of learning and emotional needs. In addition she has been a SENCo in a primary school and has worked in an advisory capacity in a local authority supporting teachers in meeting the language and literacy needs of children. 

Read an Excerpt

Inclusive Primary Teaching

A Critical Approach to Equality and Special Educational Needs and Disability

---

By Janet Goepel, Helen Childerhouse, Sheila Sharpe

Critical Publishing Ltd

Copyright © 2015 Janet Goepel, Helen Childerhouse and Sheila Sharpe
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-910391-40-2

---

CHAPTER 1

Understanding policy

Introduction

The current emphasis in our schools is on standards and how well children achieve. This is driven largely through the framework set out by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). This framework assesses a school against national standards and provides information for parents on how well the school is performing in order for them to make informed choices regarding schools for their children. The inspection process deliberately sets out to drive up standards of effectiveness and performance and to promote rigour in the way a school assesses and monitors its own performance and its capacity to improve. Assessment focuses on the achievement of pupils, the quality of the teaching, the behaviour and safety of the children, as well as the quality of the leadership and management of the school (Ofsted, 2013, p 5). Schools can no longer receive an Ofsted judgement of 'satisfactory'. Schools offering an 'acceptable' standard of education can be considered to be 'good', whereas schools which are not yet 'good' but not considered to be 'inadequate' are considered to 'require improvement'. Other categories which schools may be allocated are 'serious weaknesses' and 'special measures' (Ofsted, 2013, pp 5–6). Many teachers feel the pressure of impending inspections at one day's notice. If you have been into placement schools near or during the time of inspection you will be aware of the impact that this has on teachers.

Alongside the constant drive for achievement is the push towards the inclusion of all pupils. The 1997 Green Paper Excellence for all Children: Meeting Special Educational Needs was a commitment by the Labour government to improve the statutory framework for children with special educational needs (SEN). This was followed by other guidance and legislation such as:

• the SEN Code of Practice (SENCoP) (DfES, 2001);

• the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001;

• the Equality Act 2010 (UK Government, 2010);

• most recently, the Children and Families Act 2014;

• and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 0–25 years (DfE, 2015).

All of this policy and guidance presents the teacher with the dilemma of needing to provide inclusion for all children, while at the same time driving up standards for all.

Research by Farrell et al. (2007) suggests that there is neither a positive nor a negative relationship between the inclusion of children with SEN into mainstream schools and the achievement of other pupils, maintaining that many of the strategies that are good for children with SEN are good for all children. However, Glazzard et al. (2010) consider that schools are reluctant to embrace an inclusive education agenda because of the increased emphasis on performance and school accountability (p 5).

Black-Hawkins et al. (2007) recognise that relationships are at the heart of understanding and developing inclusive practice in schools and that an individual's own values and beliefs, as well as those of the institution, play an important role in inclusive practices. They recognise that not all teachers feel confident about how to include all learners and that this can generate feelings of insecurity and lack of competence. They state

If feelings such as fear, humiliation, failure, intolerance and anger are ignored then barriers to inclusion and achievement are strengthened. Similarly, these processes cannot be developed if pleasure, success, happiness, and confidence are not valued and if respect, responsibility, kindness and resilience are not encouraged. (p 31)

Their research considers that inclusive schools are continually looking to solve problems, to re-invent inclusion and to make dynamic links between policy and practice. Furthermore, Black -Hawkins et al. maintain that such schools are effective and able to compete well alongside other schools, not compromising standards for the sake of inclusive practice. Such schools use policies and practices which help to shape the values and beliefs held by those within and to promote a culture of high expectations and the valuing of all (2007, p 30). It can be seen, therefore, that for schools to work towards the achievement of all pupils alongside the inclusion of all, there needs to be a clear understanding of purpose. Successive governments have laid down their expectations through their policies, legislation and guidance. However, it is the responsibility of each school to determine how such policies are to be played out in its setting.

MEETING THE TEACHERS' STANDARDS

Links to Department for Education Teachers' Standards May 2012

Part 2.

Introducing Nasreen

All schools are required to have policies relating to equal opportunities for all children. This relates to any circumstance where children may be considered to be disadvantaged in relation to their peers. It can relate to physical access to a building such as via ramps and the size of doors, as well as access to all curriculum areas, including school trips. The following scenario considers the barriers to learning and participation which need to be removed for Nasreen to play a full part in her education experience.

SCENARIO

Nasreen is a 10-year-old Pakistani girl in Year 6. She has four brothers, two older and two younger than herself. Nasreen had a difficult birth. She has cerebral palsy. This means her speech is not always easy to understand and she has difficulty in walking unaided. She is a wheelchair user and needs help in toileting and dressing. Her hands are also affected by her cerebral palsy such that she is not able to hold a pencil, or a knife and fork. Nasreen's parents wanted her to attend the same school as her brothers, but due to her complex needs, she was unable to start school at the same time as her peers. She was eventually able to attend her local school after several modifications were made to the building and a part-time TA was appointed to support her both in her learning and health needs. As the TA was not full time and the school did not feel they could manage her needs without additional support, Nasreen initially only attended school in the mornings. She was often tired in the afternoon and would go home to rest. Now Nasreen is in Year 6, the TA support has increased and she is able to attend school full time. Her ability to learn is not impaired and she is able to read and understand at the same level as her peers. However, her access to the curriculum is a challenge. For example, the Information Technology (IT) suite is in a room accessed by stairs. There is no lift and so she is taught IT in a separate room away from her peers. Because of her difficulties in holding equipment and resources, Nasreen often just watches the other children as they engage in practical tasks, and the teacher is nervous about her engaging in science, food technology or PE where there could be considered to be health and safety risks. Nasreen needs regular physiotherapy, which is provided by the TA, but as the teacher does not want her missing out on class time, the physiotherapy is carried out at lunch time before Nasreen eats. This means that she does not eat with her peers and her opportunity to socialise at lunch time is reduced.

Nasreen's parents recently complained to the school as they felt she was being discriminated against with regard to access to a school visit. The class was being taken to a local theatre performance, but as the seats the children were allocated were upstairs and not wheelchair accessible, Nasreen was told that she had to sit with her TA downstairs or not take part in the visit. Nasreen's parents wanted the school to seat everyone downstairs so that Nasreen could be part of the social group, but the school felt that this would increase the cost of the visit and that some parents would not be able to afford the additional cost.

Critical questions

« How do you think the school is making inclusive provision for Nasreen?

« What further inclusive practices could be carried out to improve Nasreen's educational experience?

« Consider Nasreen's experience of social inclusion. How could that be improved?

« How would you solve the dilemma of how to manage the theatre visit so that Nasreen can be part of her class?

Having begun to consider how Nasreen is being included within a mainstream classroom, as well as some of the barriers to her learning and participation, consider the spidergram on page 14, which provides an overview of some of the issues raised in this scenario.

The spidergram provides an examination of inclusion as it relates to Nasreen, but it is also applicable to other similar incidents and situations. An examination of these issues will enable you to:

• be aware of legislation relating to disability discrimination in schools;

• understand how statutory guidance and policy documents influence and relate to practice in schools;

• identify specific examples of disability discrimination and how they can be overcome.

Additionally, this chapter examines relevant government policy and considers the implications of these for you as a beginner teacher within the context of placement. However, it is important to gain an understanding of some of the commonly used terms which are used when considering the needs of all learners. These are explored in the following section.

Examining terms and concepts

Over the years, various terms and labels have been used to identify children who are at an earlier stage of development or who are considered to have specific difficulties or barriers to learning. Many of the labels that were used to identify particular medical conditions or disabilities are now seen as terms of abuse, for example, spastic (now known as cerebral palsy), idiot, moron and cretin. Evans (2007) reminds us that it is important when talking about children with special needs that the child is seen first and not the disability. She therefore recommends that rather than using the term the SEN child, they should be referred to as the child with SEN. Similarly, rather than the Tourette's child, it should be the child with Tourette's syndrome (p 36). Language is constantly evolving, so it is worth taking a look at the language used in policy and guidance documents to gain a clearer understanding of the concepts and notions which are expected to be enacted in our schools and as part of your professional practice.

Disability

Professor Stephen Hawking, who has had motor neurone disease for most of his adult life, states that disability need not be a barrier to success (World Health Organization, 2011a, p 3), yet the World Report on Disability by the World Health Organization (WHO) states that more than 1 billion people worldwide, about 15 per cent of people, live with some form of disability. Around 200 million of these experience considerable difficulties in functioning and this figure is rising (WHO, 2011a, p 5). Despite Professor Hawking's assertion and own experience, it is known that people with disabilities have poorer health outcomes, lower educational achievements, less economic participation and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is considered to be because people with disabilities may not be able to access services such as health, education, employment and transport in the same way as other non-disabled people (WHO, 2011a, p 5). This can be seen in the scenario as Nasreen was not able to start school at the same time as her peers and was only able to attend part time in the first instance.

Barton considers that status is influenced by cultural images (2005, p 59), while the way people with disabilities are portrayed in the media is considered by Hodkinson and Vickerman (2012) to be detrimental to society's perception of disability. They consider how in fiction people with a disability can often be portrayed as objects of pity or as villains. Furthermore, they observe that newspapers often feature people with impairments in a sensational way, seeing them as different or other and therefore not part of mainstream life. The use of people with disabilities in advertising has often been centred on abnormality and a perceived helplessness or dependency. Such media portrayal promotes a negative conceptualisation of disability in society. This leads to the formation of attitudes, assumptions and expectations of disabled people based on stereotypes, and these can influence the classroom environment (pp 43–49). In a report by Mencap (2007), 82 per cent of children with a learning disability had been bullied, with 79 per cent afraid to go out because of the threat of being bullied. Additionally, 58 per cent of children had been physically hurt. This shows how children with a disability are at risk of social exclusion by their peers and how negative perceptions of disability threaten the inclusion of children with disabilities in our schools.

It is commonly believed that the Paralympics in London 2012 heightened the awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities. Indeed, a survey by Scope prior to the Paralympics suggested that 62 per cent of people with disabilities and their families believed that the games could change the way people think about them. Lord Coe stated that we would never look at disability the same again. A further survey carried out after the Paralympics showed that 72 per cent of people with a disability thought the games had made a positive impact on attitudes, 20 per cent of people with a disability considered the games had changed the way people talked to them, and a further 20 per cent of people surveyed considered that people were now more aware of their needs. However, discriminatory attitudes seemed to be hard to shift. Further questions in the survey revealed the following information.

• 54 per cent of people with disabilities experience discrimination on a regular basis.

• 84 per cent of people with a disability felt others patronised them.

• 63.5 per cent of people with a disability stated that people refused to make adjustments for them or to do things for them. (Scope, 2012)

It would therefore seem that while some people's perceptions of people with disability have changed, there are still entrenched views and attitudes which continue to provide disabling barriers for those with disabilities.

WHO has produced a framework for measuring health and disability known as the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). This framework considers health and disability at both the individual and the population level and also includes a list of environmental factors. The ICF considers that disability can be experienced by anyone, through a decrease in health, an increase in age, or through accident or disease. It therefore becomes mainstream, with an emphasis not on cause, but on impact, thereby allowing all disability to be measured by the same yardstick. Additionally, the ICF considers the social aspects of disability, rather than seeing it as a medical or biological dysfunction (WHO, 2011b).

The medical and social models of disability

Booth and Ainscow (2002) state that within the medical model of disability, difficulties in learning are considered to arise because of deficiencies or impairments within the child. Impairments are seen as a long-term limitation of function, either physical, intellectual or sensory. According to the Office for Disability Issues, the Equality Act (2010) states that a person has a disability if he or she has a substantial or long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities (Great Britain, 2010, p 6). However, within the social model of disability, barriers to learning and participation arise because of the interaction between the child and their environment. The disabilities which arise may be because of discriminatory attitudes, actions, cultures, policies and institutional practices towards impairments or illness (p 6). While Booth and Ainscow acknowledge that there is little a school can do to overcome a child's impairment, they maintain there is a great deal to be done to reduce disabilities caused by discriminatory attitudes and actions as well as institutional barriers (p 7). It would seem that Nasreen's teacher is presented with some dilemmas with regard to how to include her fully in the educational and learning activities presented to the rest of the class, for example in IT, or in practical lessons such as science and PE. Yet teaching a child separately from her peers cannot be seen as full inclusion, and therefore attitudinal and organisational barriers need to be challenged. A further discussion of the medical and social models of disability in relation to children with special educational needs and disability (SEND) can be found in Chapter 4 (see page 64).

(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Inclusive Primary Teaching by Janet Goepel, Helen Childerhouse, Sheila Sharpe. Copyright © 2015 Janet Goepel, Helen Childerhouse and Sheila Sharpe. Excerpted by permission of Critical Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Developing inclusive environments

Chapter 1 – Understanding policy

Chapter 2 –the inclusive classroom

Chapter 3 – the inclusive curriculum

Part 2: Making reasonable adjustments

Chapter 4 – Understanding learners with Special Educational Needs and Disability

Chapter 5 – Understanding learners with English as an additional language

Chapter 6 – Understanding behaviour

Chapter 7 – Understanding identity and gender

Chapter 8 – Understanding race

Chapter 9 - Understanding learners in poverty

Chapter 10 – Understanding learners who are vulnerable learners

Chapter 11 – Understanding learners with communication difficulties

Part 3: Developing partnerships

Chapter 12 – Working with children

Chapter 13 – Working with parents

Chapter 14 – Working with colleagues

Chapter 15 – Working with outside agencies

Glossary 

References

Index